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When will the Strategy for Science, Innovation, and Technology be ready, and what does it offer? Why does the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) not have, while Republika Srpska (RS) does have, a Law on Innovation Activity? How much do we invest in science at all?
An interview for BiH media was given by the acting director of the Institute for Development Programming of the FBiH, Rijad Kovac, expert in innovation ecosystems and intellectual property protection Edin Skaljic, and the assistant to the minister for science and technologies at the Ministry of Education and Science of the FBiH, Marko-Antonio Brkic.
Skaljic: A law on innovation activity is needed. I don’t know why everyone avoids it
The lack of coordination between different levels of government and the absence of a systemic approach to innovation are among the key reasons why young people and innovators in BiH find it difficult to develop, believes Edin Skaljic, an expert in innovation ecosystems and intellectual property protection.
“I come from a microsystem that was built from the bottom up. We ourselves created most of the microsystem, which looks nice, but generally we need a law on innovation activity. It is a very simple law, I don’t know why everyone avoids it,” Skaljic said.
As examples, he cites countries in the region.
“In Montenegro, it is 12 pages long; in Serbia, it is 14 pages. It defines the subjects who use innovation. Innovation is open to everyone. Innovation is available to individuals, organizations, companies, and scientific institutions. This is not the exclusive right of scientific institutions,” he emphasized.
When it comes to the long-term effects of the law on economic growth, Skaljic says that changes would be visible very quickly.
“A change in society is happening immediately. After six months, when people realize that the law has created something new and that there is a fund that should have a permanent public call.”
Asked whether the law on innovation activity is the first step toward that change, Skaljic is clear.
“This law should have come out immediately, as soon as possible, and we should have started with this. And somehow the strategy can come later,” he said, adding that it is necessary to map the existing infrastructure.
Kovac: Strategies are a roadmap for development, but the real challenge is their implementation
The acting director of the Institute for Development Programming of the FBiH, Rijad Kovac, spoke about the importance of strategic planning, the challenges of their implementation in practice, and the role of education, science, and innovation in the long-term development of the FBiH. Kovac points out that strategies represent the basic framework of development and that without a clear plan, it is not possible to achieve long-term goals of society.
“A strategy, any strategy, whether it is a company strategy or the strategy of an administrative unit, a canton, a municipality, or an entity, represents a kind of roadmap. Through a strategy, we try to define the goals that a society wants to achieve and the ways in which we can achieve those goals.”
Brkic: Our society should not play on strength but on intelligence
The deputy minister of education and science of the FBiH for science and technology, Marko-Antonio Brkic, says that the Law on Innovation Activity in the FBiH has not yet even reached the Government and that it is currently in the phase of an unharmonized draft.
As he states, the process is led by the Federal Ministry of Energy, Mining and Industry, and representatives of other line ministries, members of the working group, and interested parties are also involved. However, Brkic warns that the law by itself will not bring changes if it is not accompanied by a clear strategy.
According to him, BiH cannot afford parallel policies in which one ministry leads innovation, another science and research, and a third entrepreneurship and small and medium-sized enterprises.
Brkic points out that modern STI (science, technology, innovation) strategies therefore connect science, technology, and innovation into one coherent whole with the aim of creating concrete results for society.
As an illustration of BiH’s lagging behind, he cites data on investment in science and innovation: Slovenia invests about 1.3 billion euros annually, Croatia about 1.1 billion, Serbia between 750 and 760 million euros, while BiH allocates only about 52 million euros in total for both entities.
“In no area does BiH lag behind its surroundings and the European Union (EU) as much as in science, innovation, and technology,” Brkic emphasizes, adding that systemic shortcomings stifle both good initiatives and individual successes.
He recalled that top researchers from BiH achieve notable results abroad, but that the domestic system does not know how to retain and develop that potential. The key problem, he says, is not a lack of personnel, but a lack of a system.
Speaking about concrete examples, Brkic states that through a pilot program, with the support of UNDP, one million BAM were allocated to connect the academic community and the economy, through which more than 20 projects were financed. The goal was to test a model that does not support only start-ups, but also the development of existing companies with the participation of the academic sector.
However, he warns that funds for scientific research projects in BiH are extremely low, between 15.000 and 30.000 BAM per project, which is several times less than in countries of the region and the EU.
