10.04.2008
Vystúpenie pri príležitosti návštevy Inovačného centrala v Uppsala. / ang. verzia /
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Slovak economy went through extensive changes over the past eighteen years which entirely altered its character. The three principal changes were the transformation from centrally planned into market economy, full integration into the European Union, and implementation of deep structural reforms. Resulting from these transformations, Slovak economy is now in a new phase of its development. Contemporary societies and economies undergo a principal transition into knowledge-based phase of their developments
We are fully aware that the sustainable economic growth, employment and higher competitive edge of Slovakia are only possible through development and better links among education, research and development, innovations and information society.
1) Education is the first of key areas. Public policy has to create good conditions for continuous education of citizens based on their individual needs. Education systems must be flexible enough to respond to the market needs. Slovak republic and its government respond to the quality demand of education by adopting School Act – Act on education and training, Act on life-long learning, Act on vocational education, and Act on the position of teachers and pedagogical employees. In a synergy, they will enhance the quality of educational processes and respond to the labour market needs.
2) Research and development is another key area. In its Lisbon strategy, the EU plans to increase its R & D spending by 3% of GDP by 2010. Yet, isn’t this a rather irrelevant and even misleading indicator? The real challenge is this: What will Europe do with this money? The role of the government should be to promote high-quality R & D – however, not only by pouring higher financial means into R & D. The already available resources must be used more efficiently, and not wasted on overlapping or fragmented activities. So far, the Slovak republic spends only 0.49% GDP on science and research – ranking among the last countries of EU 27 together with Cyprus, Romania and Malta. Slovak government is determined to increase this figure up to 0.8% GDP by 2010. It is truly a demanding task. For us, it is interesting to learn from Swedish experience of building, financing and managing science and technology parks, and from sharing information on state and private support to research and development.
3) In this context, boosting economic growth and competitiveness requires innovations, together with promotion of innovative ideas, small and middle-size innovative enterprises and sound entrepreneurial environment. Based on evaluation of the so called innovative index, Slovakia belongs among “trailing” countries – in 2006, we ranked 21 out of EU 27. We have responded to the need of higher innovative capacity – mainly by promoting synergies of sources in the National reform programme, and through Modernization programme Slovakia 21 which has been drafted recently. Slovak government adopted the Innovation Strategy of the Slovak Republic for 2007-2013 resulting – among other actions – into building and promotion of regional innovation centres in 8 Slovak regions. These will specialize in consulting services and applied research in respective regions. In this perspective, Slovakia would like to follow Swedish experience in building technical and technological infrastructure of individual research and innovation centres (RIC).
4) Information society is one of the cross-cutting and key sectors. The gap between Slovakia and advanced countries is even bigger in this field. Compared to the EU 15 average, Slovakia lags behind in the whole spectre of indicators. Compared to the EU 15, Slovakia has five times less broadband Internet connections per 100 citizens. Another problem rests in low utilization of IT in public administration, insufficient eGovernment and eLearning. Less than 4% of Slovak employees use eLearning services; it is approximately three times less than the EU 15 average. Hence, promotion of information society in Slovakia in the period 2007-2013 will focus on three priority axes: informatization of public administration (eGovernment), development of memory and fund institutions, and higher accessibility of broad band Internet in compliance with the priorities described in the National Strategic Referential Framework which allocates approximately EUR 1.2 bln on informatization.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The agenda of energy security ranks among key priorities both for the EU and for the national and international policies of the Slovak Republic. We are convinced that energy security of Central European region is a matter of creating better interconnection of transport networks of energy sources and electricity networks. Such ambitious objective, however, requires intensified and deeper dialogue of all stakeholders and a dialogue among regions. Also for the coming decades, Russia will remain a seminal energy partner for Slovakia, as well as for the large part of Europe. Swedish model combining energy production from nucleus with renewable energy sources (hydro energy, growing utilization of biomass and wind energy) is highly compelling for Slovakia. We do not forget about the development of modern nuclear energy industry and will invest more funds into renewable energy sources. In this context, Swedish experience will be very useful for Slovakia.
Slovakia has minimal domestic sources of primary energy. Our energy industry is 97 per cent dependent from the gas import, 98 per cent from the crude oil and 100 per cent from the nuclear fuel import. Closure of V-1 nuclear power plant in Jaslovské Bohunice caused that in 2008, unfortunately, Slovakia will become an importer of electric energy, before it builds new sources.
5) The share of renewable energy sources in the total energy consumption in Slovakia amounts to 4.3 % only. Slovak energy security strategy targets 12-14 % share of renewable energy sources by 2020. The fastest growth is expected from biomass. In Slovak conditions, utilization of hydropower plants is rather significant. Unfortunately, their potential is used up to 55% only.
In a way of conclusion, let me inform you that Slovakia perceives The Kingdom of Sweden as a reliable economic partner, as well as – and I would like to highlight this in the context of my visit – a country with a high level of education, science and applied research. It is our great wish for this visit and our discussions to trigger new impetus and ideas for cooperation in all aforementioned fields.
Thank you!
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