No. 9

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Ten steps for furthering Estonian R&D

14 June 2004

Politics

RiTo No. 9, 2004

  • Juhan Parts

    Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications, Pro Patria and Res Publica Union

This article introduces ten steps that the Estonian government has planned to raise the competitiveness of the country’s economy by furthering research and development activities.

The basis of our success to date has been the implementation of a liberal economic policy and the country’s efforts in the IT field. At the same time, the expenditures of Estonian enterprises on R&D make up only 0.25% of GDP, which is almost six times less than the EU average. A total of 6% of industrial manufacturing sales is tied to innovative new products. Estonia’s government is now working on raising the share of R&D in the GDP to 1.5% by 2006 and 3% by 2014. The government is also working on making the private sector’s research and development expenses larger than the state’s. To incite the private sector to increase R&D spending, it is considered an important financial priority to support studies of an applied nature and technological development programs. In addition, the government this year will introduce a renewed R&D strategy, which will draw on all interested parties from universities to entrepreneurs.

Full article in Estonian

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