The Present and Future of Institutions of Non-University Research

The future of non-university research and its connection with higher education, such as institutes, industrial research and business, were the main themes of an international conference May 27. The elite of European science engaged in roundtable discussions. Included were Martin Stratmann, president of the Max Planck Society (Germany’s foremost scientific institution); Peter Haslinger, director, Herder-Institute, Leibniz Association; Soren Wiesenfeldt, director of research at the Helmholtz Association and Ed Noort, vice-president of the All European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA) and others from Italy, Great Britain and the USA. The conference focused attention on a number of other crucial concerns, such as the functioning mechanism of scientific institutions of European and global non-university research, the method and roll of their financing science in a given country or region. Participants presented perspectives for further development in Central-Eastern Europe and possible forms of scientific cooperation. The conference was organized by the Czech Academy of Sciences at its headquarters.