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Poland
BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT THE GOVERNANCE OF SCIENCE IN POLAND
The government of Poland attaches utmost importance to science, research & development and innovation policy which is overseen by a Minister who decides on the distribution of funds to be allocated to support the development of science and research. The Council for Science acts as an advisory body to the Minister. Other ministries are responsible for research and develop¬ment (R&D) within their sectoral competences. Apart from government administrative bodies, local self-governing authorities and public partners take part in the development and implementation of state scientific policy at national and regional levels.
In practice, R&D activities are implemented in Poland by 1097 organizations including*:
- Higher education institutions (governmental and nongovernmental) - 143
- Research institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS) - 76
- R&D institutes - 194
- Enterprises possessing own laboratories, design bureaus, research centers etc. - 603
Compared with the past, it appears that the number of R&D institutes decreased from 223 in 1999 to 194 in 2005, while the number of R&D enterprises increased from 345 in 1999 to 603 in 2005. However, the number of nongovernmental education institutions involved in of R&D remains low.
The insignificant amount of the budgetary funds spent on R&D in 1991-2004 was substantially increased in 2005-2007, although it is still less than what is spent in the EU-15. That increase was mainly due to the fulfillment by Poland of its commitments with regard to its accession to the EU. These commitments were set out in the Lisbon Strategy which, in particular, stipulates for the share of funding allocated to R&D to account for at least 3% of EU member states' GDP. In 2005, the funding spent on R&D in Poland accounted for 0.57% of country's GDP, i.e. $72.4 per capita.
Most of funding allocated to R&D in Poland is of state origin. In 2005, budgetary expenditures in this sector accounted for 57.7%, while extra-budgetary expenditures of economic agents accounted for 26%, with the rest covered by the funds of the Polish Academy of Sciences' research institutes and other institutes involved in R&D (7%), as well as by foreign sources (6%).
Due to the domination of budgetary funding over extra-budgetary expenditures, -40% of current funding (without account for investments) allocated for R&D was spent on research in the area of development (basic research). In view of the plans to enhance the impact of research on the country's economy, two-thirds of the overall R&D funding would be spent on development -oriented research in the next few years.
The distribution of R&D funding in 2005 was as follows:
43.3% - spending on technical sciences;
24.4% - spending on natural sciences;
15.2% - spending on medical sciences;
3.6% - spending on social sciences and humanities;
13.5% - spending on agricultural sciences.
With regard to state R&D funding, one should note that in Poland decisions on allocation/distribu-tion of financial resources are primarily taken by the Minister responsible for scientific issues, so the decision-making process in the S&T area is completely centralized. At present, there are no state implementing agencies in Poland which would be involved in distributing budgetary funds for research purposes, projects or R&D activities implemented by various institutions.
Moreover, Poland benefits from the European structural funds which strengthen the existing link between R&D and the country's economy. Thus, in 2004-2006, 88.85 million euro was allocated for that purpose from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
In 2005, a total of 76,800 people (full-time equivalents (FTE)) were employed in the R&D sector. Researchers were the largest group (62,200 FTE), accounting for 81% of the overall number employed in that sector. Over 65% of researchers were employed at higher education institutions, 18% at the institutes dealing with R&D issues, 7% at research institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and less than 9% at enterprises. The strictly vertical organization which had been dominating research until recently is gradually eroding. Researchers employed at the institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences often devote a substantial part of their time to work at higher education institutions, while researchers from polytechnic institutes often work for industry. Multifunctional personnel employment phenomenon, which is noticeable in the R&D sector, is due to the increasing commitments of researchers vis-a-vis the higher education area (since 1990 the number of students has increased fivefold), as well as to relatively low wages in the public sector. In the past few years the total number of researchers in Poland increased from 58,000 in 2003 to 62,000 in 2005.
In order to promote and to popularize research in Poland the government provides support to initiatives such as festivals and science days, competitions for children and the young etc. Since 2005 the Ministry of Science and Higher Education has been funding the web-portal of the Polish Press Agency «Science in Poland», a source of free information about research in Poland. The Ministry also contributes to funding the Copernicus Science Center, the Poland's first institution operating as a high-tech museum and popularizing research.
International S&T cooperation
In the context of multilateral cooperation, special focus is put on Poland's collaboration with the European Union. This cooperation was pushed to a new level at the end of 1990s, with Poland having joined, on 04 August 1999, the EU's Framework Programmes for Research, Technological Development & Demonstration Activity (5th, 6th and 7th Framework Programmes). Under the EU Fifth Framework Programme, 1,323 research projects were implemented with the participation of Polish research teams, while under the Sixth Framework Programme, the number of Polish research teams amounted to 1,703, thus making Poland the tenth amongst EU member states in terms of participation.
In addition to the EU Framework Programmes, Polish research teams actively take part in other multilateral initiatives such as:
• ERA-NETs**;
NATO science program;
• EUREKA initiative (since the early 1990s; since 1995 as full member);
COST - European Cooperation in the field of Scientific & Technical Research (since 1991);
The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the German Electronic Synchrotron (DESY) (since 1991);
The European Space Agency (ESA; collective membership since December 2006);
The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF; collective membership since April
2007);
The International Association for the promotion of co-operation with scientists from the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union (NIS) (INTAS; since 2002).
Poland also takes part in the activities of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (since 1999), the European Science Foundation, the International Visegrad Fund, and the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO, since 1964). Finally, Poland has concluded many bilateral S&T cooperation agreements.
SUMMARY REVIEW OF SCIENCE & RESEARCH COOPERATION WITH BELARUS
The Agreement on Cooperation in the sphere of culture, science and education, concluded by Poland and Belarus in 1992, constitutes the legal basis for S&T cooperation between two countries. Article 3 of the Agreement implies the creation of Intergovernmental Commission for programs of S&T cooperation forming and coordination.
Based on this Agreement, the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS) and the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB) in 1998 concluded Agreement on scientific cooperation. As annex to the Agreement the Protocol on currency-free equivalent scientists exchange was signed, that provides mutual scientific visits realization on terms of financing stay expenses by hosting Academy (the annual exchange quota is 150 man-day for each Academy).
A number of Agreements and Protocols on cooperation is signed on the level of scientific institutes and universities of two countries.
Since 2001 through the Calls of Belarusian Republican Fund on Fundamental Research (BRFFR) 64 Belarus-Poland research projects bilaterally financed have been and are being fulfilled.
© National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 2011
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