Nanoforum - Nanotech Regulatory Document Archive

11. Poland
11.1. General information
Poland is a Central European country with 39 million inhabitants. GERD is 0.47% of
GDP. The Polish share in world publication output has for many years amounted to 1
percent, occupying 21th place in the world as regards scientific publications output.
Figure 22: Map of Poland
(Source: http://forum.europa.eu.int/irc/dsis/candidate/info/data /candidate countries/)
Since 1991 the State Committee for Scientific Research KBN has been responsible for
research policy and distribution of research funding. KBN is divided in 12
disciplinary units. ( website www.kbn.gov.pl ) According to Professor Michal Kleiber,
Minister of Science and Chairman of KBN, the policy of the Polish Government is to
develop a more efficient Polish research system by 2006, and to substantially
increase funding for R&D to 3% of GDP. Funding is available for statutory research
tasks of scientific institutions; infrastructure; competitive peer reviewed projects; cofunded
applied research projects together with users; international collaborations and
supporting research activities. (KBN, 2001)
In view of the poor financial means at the Polish research institution's disposal,
discussing any priorities in scientific research is difficult. Nevertheless the
government's new Economic Strategy defines clearly the preferred fields of scientific
research and development. In accordance with the Strategy's plan the following are to
be treated as priority fields:
• biotechnology including genetic engineering
• informatics and telecommunication
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