Prime minister stresses importance of research and development for Estonia’s economy
Prime Minister Jüri Ratas (Center) gave an overview of the current research and development situation as well as the government’s related policy in the Riigikogu on Tuesday. Ratas emphasized that the government’s goal was to improve cooperation between researchers and businesses.
The influence of science on the economic development of the country needed to increase, Ratas said. “Research conducted in Estonia is competitive at a global level. The number and the quality of publications are very important, however, those are not the sole indicators for measuring the contribution of our scientists. In terms of the development of the state, it is important that scientific achievements also contribute to solving societal problems, and that they would introduce their views to the public,” he added.
In major decisions concerning the state, e.g. the construction of Rail Baltic, solving integration problems, and making public health policy, the viewpoints of scientists should be more prominent, the prime minister said. “This is the only way we can get to wise decisions that are based on real facts and research.”
Ratas said that improving cooperation between universities, other research organizations, and businesses, which all have been a central element in the field of Estonian research and development throughout the years, was a priority for the new government coalition as well.
“The percentage of research and development commissioned by or conducted in cooperation with the private sector should increase. This has been a priority for all governments and the Riigikogu,” Ratas pointed out.
“The current public investments in research and development do not always contribute sufficiently to our economy. Our research organizations have to work more closely with the business sector.”
Ratas also pointed out that Estonia had set itself the goal of investing 3% of GDP in research and development by the year 2020. “We are far from this goal right now, but not too far. Investing into research and development activities is not an excessive luxury, but an obvious and direct necessity—we need to continually increase our competitiveness, as a state, as businesses, and as individuals,” Ratas said.
Editor: Editor: Dario Cavegn