Overview of the Research and Innovation Sector in the Western Balkans
This overview of the research sector in the Western Balkans is a companion piece to the Western Balkans regional research and development (R and D) strategy for innovation. The strategy aims to strengthen the region's research capacity, enhanc...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/10/18433250/western-balkans-regional-research-development-strategy-innovation-overview-research-innovation-sector-western-balkans http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16625 |
| Summary: | This overview of the research sector in
the Western Balkans is a companion piece to the Western
Balkans regional research and development (R and D) strategy
for innovation. The strategy aims to strengthen the
region's research capacity, enhance intraregional
cooperation, promote collaboration with business sectors,
explore possibilities for financing R and D from European
Union (EU) funding schemes and other external sources, and
help integrate the region into the European research area
(ERA) and innovation union. This overview provides the
background and analysis that informed the development of the
strategy. The background work includes four studies on the
different components of the research sector, a policy
questionnaire, and seven country studies reviewing key
policies, institutions, and performance of the national
research sectors. This overview outlines the performance of
the research and innovation sector, and describes the major
drivers of this performance. It starts by presenting a
framework of the different components of research and
innovation in the Western Balkans. This leads into section
two discussing the performance of the research sector, which
has been improving, but still lags international benchmarks.
This reflects a number of challenges facing the sector,
including the effects of a substantial brain drain,
insufficient funding and a mismatch between research
facilities, and economic needs. Section three discusses the
technology transfer system and its important role in the
performance of the research and innovation sector as a
whole. The contribution of technology transfer in the region
is limited, as reflected for example, in the limited
interaction between the research and enterprise sectors. The
enterprise sector is discussed in section four. Section five
describes the policy and institutional framework, pointing
out a number of areas where this can be strengthened. This
includes improving the career path for researchers,
providing more funding through competitive processes as
opposed to block grants, and continuing to strengthen policy
co-ordination. The final section concludes. |
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