This report is the result of desk research carried out by Blaž GOLOB during his stay in the IPTS as a detached national expert and to be published in the Enlargement Futures Report Series of the JRC-IPTS Enlargement project. The aim of the project was to identify and analyse the techno-economic and social challenges which the present and future Member States of the European Union would be likely to face in the process of integration during the next decade.
It has started from a broad brush outlook on the main drivers of change, specific to this process, and has analysed ways to achieve and balance the EU's targets of competitiveness and sustainability. A first attempt is made in this report to take stock of the research capacities in the accession countries. The country profiles in this report provide a breakdown of the number of researchers bysector: business, government and higher education. Finally, each country’s institutional framework for S&T policy-making is briefly
described and information is provided on the main political initiatives in the S&T field.