The report prepared by the specialists of the Interuniversity Center Dubrovnik offers the hypothesis of the future, which the South-East European (SEE) countries face in terms of their research and development (R&D) situation, by comparative analysis of Croatia with other SEE countries.Throughout history SEE has been the boarder among civilizations and periphery of Europe. Presently some countries in SEE are member states of the EU, some are candidates and some are in transition. This area constantly contributed to science, the humanities and education, but nowadays it suffers brain drain, it doesn’t have a single major international center of excellence and the research and development (R&D) is definitely not a top political priority.The report briefly summarizes main accomplishments in R&D and education in Croatia and presents the indicators assessing education and R&D in SEE (providing more data on Croatia) and their social impact.