International conference “The Present and Future of Institutions of Non-University Research”

The conference was opened by Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of the CR Pavel Bělobrádek with a presentation of the scientific policy of the CR, who regarding the Czech Academy of Sciences said inter alia: “The Academy of Sciences has always been and continues to be an institution, which is one of the best that Czech sciences has available in a number of fields. Names like Heyrovský, Wichterle, Patočka, Ceplecha or the laureate of the national award of the government Czech Head (Česká hlava) Svoboda, Hobza, Paleček, Holý, and Kurzweil have represented the cream of Czech research.” The Deputy Prime Minister also spoke about the future of the CAS and its financing. In this context, he remarked: “Today, it is necessary for science as a whole to engage far more in the economy as a force that directly speeds economic progress, increases the innovation potential and helps introduce new technologies. I am clearly saying with all seriousness that this new approach will be required of scientists. And I thank President of the Czech Academy of Sciences Jiří Drahoš for fulfilling this plan. On the other hand, I state with the same seriousness that the requirement for greater ‘economization’ or ‘commercialization’ of research may not in any case mean some kind of threat to the position of the Academy as an institution that provides fundamental new discoveries. It may not mean its weakening in terms of institutional, financial or formal aspects. The Academy of Sciences must have assurance of sufficient funding. Its means may not be curtailed, cooperation with industry may not be de facto forced with violence. Even in our planning, we count on institutional financing being strengthened within the prospects for the longer period, so that researchers could count on a reasonable certainty for their research.”
President of the CAS prof. Jiří Drahoš welcomed the conference participants and introduced them to the structure of the Academy of Sciences. He dealt extensively with Strategy AV21, the management and organization of their research programmes. “Research programmes are from the beginning open to partners from higher education institutes, the entrepreneurial sphere not only in the CR. Their orientation on the resolution of the problems of society is positively received also by the decision makers,” stressed the President of the CAS.

The conference brought a number of other crucial facts concerning the mechanism of the functioning of scientific institutions of European and global non-university research, the method of their financing and the role in the financing of science in a given country or region and presented perspectives of their further development in the space of Central-Eastern Europe and possible forms of scientific cooperation.