Good progress has been made in research policy. Amendments to the Act on the National Foundation for Science, Higher Education and Technological Development have been adopted, setting in place a transparent and independent system for evaluating and monitoring national research grants. An Act on Quality Assurance in Science and Higher Education has also been adopted assigning the Agency for Science and Higher Education an independent quality assurance role through the accreditation, evaluation and audit of public and private scientific and higher education institutions.
Good progress has been made on participation in the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7). An Action Plan to further strengthen Croatia’s absorption capacity for the period 2009–2010 has been adopted. Efforts are ongoing to strengthen administrative capacity, including further training of the appointed national contact points. Additional financial support has been made available for preparing EU projects and reward the successful Croatian applicants. The procedure to associate Croatia to the Seventh Euratom Framework Programme is ongoing with the aim of making the association effective in the course of
2010.
Progress has also been made with respect to Croatia’s association to the European Research Area: implementation of the ‘National 3% Action Plan’ is regularly assessed and updated by the Council for the National Innovation System. Measures have been taken to stimulate private sector investment in research, including tax reliefs for private investment in research and development.
Implementation of the Plan needs, however, to be ensured. As regards mobility of researchers, the Croatian Researchers’ Mobility Network Euraxess has been established as well as local contact points. An Action Plan for the mobility of researchers has been adopted. However, the number of young people attracted to science remains low.

Conclusion
Good progress has been made on this chapter, and preparations are well advanced. Further efforts remain necessary, however, to ensure association and full participation of Croatia in the European Research Area.