UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT

UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT
schemes include state programmes for R&D, international
projects and projects for the transfer of new technologies
and processes, grants for young researchers, including
PhD fellowships, as well as grants for the procurement of
equipment, the editing of monographs or for organizing
scientific conferences.
The rest is allocated through other funding modes, such as
block grants to the administration, research facilities or to
subordinated agencies of the Academy of Sciences and to
pay for infrastructure. In recent years, there has been a trend
towards increasing the share of institutional funding at the
expense of the other funding instruments.
n Updating research equipment and the country’s technical
base;
n Designing targeted incentive schemes to encourage
the young to embark on a research career, including
stipends, grants and awards for young scientists,
programmes for training abroad and so on;
n Greater participation in the European Research Area
and other international networks;
n Accelerating technology transfer and encouraging
partnerships between research institutions and the
business enterprise sector.
Only the state programmes for R&D have a thematic focus
(Figure 12.7). The procedure for funding policy instruments,
evaluation, monitoring and reporting is identical for
each thematic priority. The topics tend to be broad and
government funding modest. Moreover, programme-based
R&D financing has dropped by two-thirds in the past five
years to an insignificant € 0.35 million in 2012.
Next steps for Moldova
Since the 2004 Law on Science and Innovation, the
combination of reforms and closer ties with the EU in research
and innovation have helped to prop up the national science
system but have not been enough to stop its decline. A recent
paper by a consultant to the Academy of Sciences recommends
prioritizing the following reforms (Dumitrashko, 2014):
TURKEY
Ambitious development targets to 2023
In the past decade, Turkey has experienced
an economic boom that was only briefly curtailed by
the global financial crisis. This has carried GDP per capita
from one-third (32%) that of high-income economies
in 2003 to almost half (47%) in 2013, according to the
World Bank’s World Development Indicators, and reduced
economic inequalities (OECD, 2014, Box 12.1.) Growth has
been driven by the emergence of new, first-generation
enterprises in previously non-industrial, low-income
parts of the country and accompanied by an expanding
employment rate (OECD, 2012, Figure 2.2).
Figure 12.7: Budget breakdown of Moldova’s state programmes for R&D, by thematic priority, 2012 (%)
Biomedicine, pharmaceuticals
and human health
16.7
Efficient utilization of human,
natural and information resources
for sustainable development
28.1
Agricultural biotechnology,
soil fertility and food
security
26.9
2012
Consolidation of the rule of
law and utilization of cultural
heritage in the perspective of
European integration
Nanotechnology, industrial
engineering, new materials and products
13.0
2.5
12.8
Efficient growth of the energy
sector, energy security, including
renewable resources
Source: Cuciureanu (2014)
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