ERAWATCH Country Profile for Bosnia and Herzegovina

In August 2010, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s country profile was published at the European Commission’s information platform ERAWATCH on European, national and regional research systems and policies. The country profile presents an overview of the research system in Bosnia and Herzegovina describing the main elements of the country’s national and the regional research system, the main stakeholders, current research policy issues and anticipated policy developments.

Support for FP7 Activities

The Bosnian Ministry of Civil Affairs has supported activities aimed at increasing the numbers of and stimulating researchers and research institutions to participate in FP7. In 2010, the Ministry of Civil Affairs has launched two calls to support research projects and individual researchers in Bosnia and Herzegovina by means of grants totalling € 255,000.

The Ministry supports the preparation of projects already approved by the European Commission, projects in the application stage related to all FP7 specific programmes and themes, and present or future scientific and research projects in the framework of COST and EUREKA. The first call, which was open from March to April 2010, supported 17 projects with an overall grant of € 153,000. The second call was open in September 2010 and is in the process of realisation.

International R&D Financing Conference

In late spring, an International R&D Financing Conference was organised in Sarajevo. The conference welcomed participants from the academic sector, the government and international experts with the aim to facilitate dialogue on R&D financing between politicians, universities and the private sector and the main international donors and organisations in the country.

The conference was an opportunity for Bosnian policy makers to present national strategic goals in research and development for the next five years. With the premise of low and uncertain public funding of R&D, both the country’s policy makers in the field of science and foreign experts highlighted that in the area of science and technology, a country needs to act today in order to create a real impact after five to ten years. Science and technology should be a key factor for social development and economic competitiveness.

E-CRIS.RS

The Ministry of Science and Technology of Republika Srpska (MSTRS) in cooperation with the Institute of Information Science in Maribor, Slovenia, started activities to set up a data base comprising information on research institutions, researchers, and research projects in Republika Srpska called E-CRIS.RS.

MSTRS and the Serbian Ministry of Science and Technological Development signed a Memorandum of scientific and technological cooperation, which should foster the development of joint research projects, joint research centres, as well as the coordination of activities in the field of scientific national and international programmes.

Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology Info Day

The Ministry of Civil Affairs together with the University of Eastern Sarajevo organised an FP7 Info Day on Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, and Biotechnology on September 24, 2010. The Info Day was an opportunity to inform and share knowledge about the main characteristics of FP7 with researchers in these thematic fields, in particular about the second thematic priority KBBE, as well as about the financial and administrative rules and procedures of FP7.

21st Annual Scientific Expert Conference in Agriculture and Food Industry

Following a long and successful tradition, the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences of the University of Sarajevo organised the 21st Annual Scientific Expert Conference in Agriculture and Food Industry in Neum, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which took place from September 29, 2010 to October 2, 2010.

The conference was an excellent forum for stakeholders from the local and regional sector to sit together, exchange information, expertise and experience in order to develop a productive discussion as the first, but crucial step towards a faster development of the sector.

The conference is nationally and regionally recognised as a very important forum. Therefore, it is no surprise that 170 works were registered to be presented at the Conference, i.e. 108 works from Bosnia and Herzegovina, 19 from Serbia, 15 from Albania, 12 from Croatia, five from the FYR of Macedonia, three from Slovenia, two each from Kosovo (under UNSCR 1244) and Montenegro, and one each from Turkey, Slovakia, Norway and Hungary. More than 260 involved knowledgeable participants, exciting papers and discussions are excellent fundaments ensuring the achievement of the main conference objective: the improvement of the sector’s performance.