To achieve the level of technological development necessary for economic progress, Slovenia would need to develop adequate cooperation between science and the corporate sector. If the state gets richer, it will not have to get indebted to develop further, found the participants of the Tuesday conference on technological development.
Slovenia's competitiveness is dwindling. According to the Swiss research institute IMD, it ranked 45th out of 60 countries last year, thus falling behind all the developed EU member states, including some of the new members such as the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Aggregate R&D spending in Slovenia have in the 1999-2004 period fell from EUR 120.9 to EUR 91.7 per inhabitant, or from 1.7 percent of GDP to 1.2 percent of GDP. This is unacceptable, given that the resources have dropped by over 20 percent which is more than in any EU member state.
Peter Stanovnik and Marko Kos, experts on technological development from the Institute of Economic Research, pointed out that Slovenia in its development strategies seems to invest above all in three areas: human resources, technological development and institutional framework.
According to Stanovnik and Kos, a study of technological perspectives shows that real potential lies above all in information and telecommunication technology, pharmaceuticals, food processing, materials technologies and environmental technology.
Hosted by the National Council, this was the first part of the conference on technology where plans for Slovenian technological development were presented by the representatives of science. The second part, to be held on 17 March, is to feature officials of several ministries.
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