UNESCO Office in Venice commissioned an expert mission in Bosnia & Herzegovina (BiH) with two main objectives: to assess the scientific potential of the country and to make recommendations for its future development and integration into the international and European research communities. A decade after the war BiH is still facing a very difficult situation: large sectors of economy have collapsed and a substantial part of the infrastructure has not been reconstructed; the current funding of R&D activities in the country is very low; most of the research infrastructure is obsolete; the younger generation attending universities has no means to be trained in research activities; the majority of industrial research has been dismantled. This means that BiH is not able to prepare its own future which, in modern societies, relies on capacity of countries to mobilize scientific and technical expertise.Rebuilding the scientific and technological potential of the country will require the adoption of a “road-map” for 2006-2015 aimed at training of a new generation of scientists in BiH Universities and abroad, development of research infrastructures of international standard, reinvestment in industrial research in a limited number of sectors. Although basic research should be primary developed in several disciplines to figure out the ground future, a limited number of priorities will have to be defined, such as: health, environment, metallurgy, energy, agriculture, forestry and food industry. The State science and technology policy also requires a legal framework to be put into place. This concerns the higher education Law and the science Law.The Report offers the assessment of the research potential of BiH and recommend a series of measures to be urgently taken to re-launch competitive science, technology and innovation activities of the country.
Citation
Papon, Pierre, Pejovnik Stane (2006): Guidelines for a Science and Research Policy in Bosnia & Herzegovina, UNESCO Office in Venice, Italy.