LOW FINANCING AND OUTDATED INFRASTRUCTURE HINDER DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE IN ARMENIA

arminfo
Wednesday, June 15, 15:49

Over the last 20-25 years the authority of science in Armenia has
slumped. Radik Martirosyan, President of the National Academy of
Science, told media, Wednesday.

He said that there are a series of problems in the sphere. The prior
task is to make science attractive for young specialists and not
without incentives for researchers, he said.

Another obstacle to development of science is the outdated
infrastructure, Martirosyan said. Modernization of infrastructure
requires big funds and the government cannot provide such funds. “The
scientific budget in Armenia is $23 million, whereas by data of
UNESCO yet in 2008 this indicator in Azerbaijan was $114 million,
in Kazakhstan – $384 million, Israel – $5 billion,” Radik Martirosyan
said. He also stressed that research results are too slowly put into
practice in Armenia. “The market is too small and risk factors are
too high, in fact. Therefore, we should enter the international market
and attract private investments,” he said.

Despite the existing problems, Radik Martirosyan said that
Armenia actively cooperates with European countries. Thanks to that
cooperation joint labs have been established in a number of research
institutions. “Quite recently three our institutions: Physical Research
Institute, Information Institute and Eco-Noosphere Research Institute,
became participants of a big European program FP7 funded by the
EU. These institutes won three grants in the amount of 500,000 EUR
annually each,” said the President of the National Academy of Science.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress