UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT

Countries in the Black Sea basin
research body supported by the Framework Programme,
known as European Cooperation in Science and Technology
(COST). Like Ukraine, Turkey also participates in Eureka, an
intergovernmental organization providing pan-European
funding and co-ordination for market-driven industrial R&D.
The recent geopolitical developments in the Black Sea region
or, for that matter, in the Middle East, do not necessarily imply
that there will be major shifts in the orientation of Turkey’s
co-operation in S&T. However, anecdotal evidence suggests
that Turkey’s ambitions for advanced defence-related R&D are
growing.
The EU’s association agreements signed with Georgia, Moldova
and Ukraine in mid-2014 envisage enhancing these countries’
participation in Horizon 2020. Whereas it is too early to detect
the impact on S&T of the past two years’ geopolitical tensions
in the region, it is probable that they will accelerate Ukraine’s
co-operation 2 with the EU. In March 2015, Ukraine signed
an agreement with the EU for associate membership of the
Horizon 2020 Programme (2014–2020) with significantly
more advantageous conditions on the table than previously,
notably the possibility for Ukraine to participate in scientific
co-operation at a fraction of the original cost. This should pave
the way to more active involvement by Ukrainian scientists in
Horizon 2020 but may also increase the emigration of Ukrainian
scientists to the EU in the short term. A similar but milder effect
can be expected from Moldova’s own association agreement
with the EU. Moldova has been officially associated with the
Framework Programme since 2012 (Sonnenburg et al., 2012).
Those Black Sea countries which do not have association
agreements with the EU are also eligible for Framework
Programme funding; moreover, projects such as ERA’s
Networking on Science and Technology in the Black Sea
(BS–ERA–Net) have sought to enhance their involvement in
the Framework Programme. In co-operation with the BSEC, the
EU’s Networking on Science and Technology in the Black Sea
Region project (2009–2012) has been instrumental in funding
a number of cross-border co-operative projects, notably in
clean and environmentally sound technologies (Box 12.1). The
absence of a formal co-operation framework may, however, be
constraining Belarus’ ability to participate in the Framework
Programme, despite the country’s relatively high level of
international collaboration in R&D.
Other multilateral projects are presently striving to expand
their reach. One example is the Science and Technology
Centre in Ukraine, funded by Canada, the EU, Sweden and
the USA. This intergovernmental organization has the
status of a diplomatic mission. It was established in 1993 to
promote nuclear non-proliferation but its scope has since
been extended to fostering co-operation in a wide range of
technological fields with Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and
Uzbekistan 3 .
The impetus to create a Eurasian Economic Union – the other
major consequence of the recent geopolitical tensions – has
also gained strength, with the signing of the Union’s founding
treaty in May 2014 by Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Russian
Federation, followed by Armenia’s accession to it in October
2014 (see Chapter 14). As co-operation in S&T within the latter
group of countries is already considerable and well-codified in
legal texts, the Eurasian Economic Union is expected to have
a limited additional impact on co-operation among public
laboratories or academia but it may encourage R&D links
among businesses.
TRENDS IN HUMAN RESOURCES AND R&D
High tertiary enrolment rates
Education is one of the region’s strengths. Belarus and
Ukraine both compare well with developed countries for
the gross tertiary enrolment rate: more than nine-tenths of
19–25 year-olds in Belarus and eight-tenths in Ukraine. As for
Turkey, which started from low levels, it has recently made
great strides (Table 12.2). Of note is that Moldova and Ukraine
invest heavily in higher education: 1.5% and 2.2% of GDP
respectively (Figure 12.1). Two countries are experiencing
difficulty, however, in converging with advanced economies,
or even in maintaining their current levels of tertiary
attainment: Azerbaijan and Georgia.
Gender equality a reality in most Black Sea countries
In Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, the majority of PhD
graduates are women. The figures are almost as high in
Belarus and Turkey, which have achieved gender parity in
this respect. In Armenia and Azerbaijan, women make up
one-third of the total. In natural sciences, they make up half
of PhD graduates in Belarus, Georgia, Turkey and Ukraine.
Ukraine is regressing 4 from its historically high density
of researchers, in a context of a declining or stagnating
population, whereas Belarus has managed to preserve its
advantage. The most striking trend concerns Turkey, where
the researcher density has gone from being the lowest in the
region in 2001 to the highest (Figure 12.2). Women tend to
represent between one-third and two-thirds of researchers,
Chapter 12
2. Ukraine and the EU signed an agreement in 2010 which determined key
thematic areas for co-operation: environmental and climate research, including
observation of the Earth’s surface; biomedical research; agriculture, forestry and
fisheries; industrial technologies; materials science and metrology; non-nuclear
power engineering; transport; information society technologies; social research;
S&T policy studies and training and the exchange of specialists.
3. See: www.stcu.int
4. Only Moldova, Turkey and Ukraine claim to publish data on researchers in
full-time equivalents (FTE), in line with international best practice. However, the
prevalence of multiple part-time jobs among R&D personnel makes head count
data a more precise measure for Ukraine.
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