The Unity through Knowledge Fund for skilled Croatians from abroad

19 June 2007

The Unity through Knowledge Fund has started its Young Researchers and Professionals Program and opened two calls for grants that will attract young highly skilled Croatians from abroad. The grants will subsidy autonomous R&D projects of the future science and technology leaders. The projects should contribute to brain gain, knowledge transfer and investments into Croatia. Proposals have to be submitted until 15 September 2007 through the web site www.ukf.hr.

The My First Research Topic Grant is aimed for young scientists and experts (not more then 36 years old) both from diaspora and from homeland. Successful candidates, who will receive the grants up to 50 000 EUR, could start their autonomous projects and accelerate their careers in order to become internationally competitive experts and researchers. They should be capable to becoming future leaders in science and technology in Croatia.

The Reintegration Grant helps young homecoming researchers and experts who have achieved doctorate degree abroad to come back and start their careers in Croatia. Successful candidates, which will receive the grants up to 100 000 EUR, should prove their potential for their future leadership, ability to attract investments from European and international sources and to create added value for Croatian industry, environment and society.

The Croatian Ministry of Science, Technology and Sports has created the Unity through Knowledge Fund with the resources from the World Bank loan (5 million EUR during next 3 years). The aim of the Fund is to use potential of the Croatian scientific and professional Diaspora for cooperation with the homeland. The Fund is going to finance joint research and development projects of expatriates and Croatian researchers, institutions and companies.

First two calls within the Research Cooperability Program (Homeward Grant and Crossing Borders Grant) have been recently closed and the evaluation of the received proposals is under way. The great number of proposals (four times more than the funds available) shows extraordinary interest for the Program.

The Fund will soon open new calls and re-open those already closed. They will be aimed for connecting researchers and experts from diaspora and homeland, for commercialization of research, for intellectual property protection and for travel grants . All supported projects will contribute to the Fund’s mission of unifying scientific and professional potential of Croatia and Diaspora in the development of the knowledge based society.

All information about calls, proposals, evaluation and general about the Fund are available at the internet address www.ukf.hr.

Sincerely,

Hrvoje Meštrić, Ph. D.
Program Manager

19. lipnja 2007.

Fond “Jedinstvo uz pomoć znanja” pokrenuo je Program za mlade znanstvenike i stručnjake, otvorivši dva natječaja za privlačenje mladih visokoobrazovanih ljudi hrvatskog porijekla iz inozemstva. Podupiru se samostalni istraživački i razvojni projekti budućih lidera u znanosti i tehnologiji, i to onih koji doprinose priljevu “mozgova”, znanja i investicija u Hrvatsku. Rok za prijavu na ovaj krug natječaja traje do 15. rujna 2007. i podnosi se preko stranice www.ukf.hr.

Potpora “Moje prvo istraživanje” namijenjena je, osim mladim znanstvenicima i stručnjacima iz dijaspore (do 36 godina starosti), također i mladim ljudima iz Hrvatske. Kandidati koji dobiju ovu potporu (do 50.000 EUR) moći će pokrenuti svoj samostalni projekt i ubrzati karijeru kako bi se razvili u međunarodno konkurentne stručnjake i znanstvenike i bili osposobljeni za preuzimanje vodećih uloga u hrvatskoj znanosti i tehnologiji.

Potpora “Reintegracija” omogućava mladim stručnjacima i znanstvenicima koji su doktorirali u inozemstvu da se vrate, pokrenu svoj samostalni projekt i nastave karijeru u Hrvatskoj. Dobitnici ove potpore (do 100.000 EUR) morat će dokazati svoj potencijal za buduće lidere, sposobnost za privlačenje investicija iz europskih i međunarodnih izvora i za stvaranje novih vrijednosti za hrvatsko gospodarstvo, okoliš i društvo.

Fond “Jedinstvo uz pomoć znanja” ove je godine pokrenulo Ministarstvo znanosti, obrazovanja i športa sredstvima iz kredita Svjetske banke (5 milijuna eura tijekom 3 godine). Cilj Fonda jest poticanje suradnje s hrvatskom znanstvenom i stručnom dijasporom, a financira zajedničke znanstvene i tehnološke projekte i hrvatskih znanstvenika i stručnjaka u inozemstvu sa znanstvenicima, institucijama i tvrtkama u domovini.

Prva dva natječaja Programa znanstvene suradnje (Potpora “Na putu kući” i potpora “Preko granice”) nedavno su zatvorena i u tijeku je evaluacija pristiglih prijava. Veliki broj prijava, kojih ima četverostruko više od predviđenih sredstava, dokazuje izuzetan interes za ovaj program.

Fond će uskoro raspisati nove natječaje te ponoviti zatvorene, namijenjene povezivanju i spajanju znanstvenika i stručnjaka u dijaspori s domovinom, zatim komercijalizaciji istraživanja, zaštiti intelektualnog vlasništva. Cilj svih poduprtih projekata je iskorištavanje mogućnosti hrvatske znanstvene i stručne dijaspore za razvoj društva utemeljenog na znanju.

Informacije o natječajima, prijavama, postupku evaluacije i radu Fonda mogu se pronaći na internetskoj adresi www.ukf.hr.

S poštovanjem,
dr. sc. Hrvoje Meštrić,
voditelj programa

 

Minister’s introducton
Distinguished Friends,
I am very glad that I can invite you to explore the new possibilities that we have created by starting the Unity Through Knowledge Fund. The Fund has recently opened its first calls for proposals for collaborative research projects between expatriate researchers in the Diaspora and Croatian researchers, organizations and companies.
The Fund’s specific mission – to unite homeland and Diaspora knowledge potentials – has already found its place within other processes we are currently running in order to face the challenge of building a knowledge-based society.
The First Congress of Croatian Scientists from the Homeland and Abroad, at which we gathered to discuss the future of Croatian science, was an important event for the Republic of Croatia. The Congress concluded with the signing of a Declaration, which clearly states that the goal of the Congress is for its participants to show  with their presence how much Croatia has given the world, by educating its scientists who have subsequently, by a combination of circumstances, gone into the world in search of acceptable work conditions, and that this brain drain, which is simultaneously one of the greatest threats to countries as is Croatia and one of the greatest gifts that any country can give to the world, can be transformed from a disease into a cure for the homeland.
The First Congress has given rise to the idea of the return of Croatian scientists, and since then this idea has patiently been turned into action through brain gain projects, the networking of Croatian scientists, by stimulating excellence, and by launching the Croatian Science Portal as the comprehensive service network of the scientific community. In striving for new opportunities, we remain true to the idea of the return of Croatian scientists, as the Second Congress of Croatian Scientists from the Homeland and Abroad, to be held from May 7-10, 2007 in Split, proves.
The fact that 43 Croatian scientists have returned to the Republic of Croatia since 2004, and that preparations are underway for the return of another 15 scientists, shows that our idea is realistic and achievable and that we are on the right path.The idea of “networking knowledge” that has come alive at the First Congress has been turned into action and elaborated through the Unity Through Knowledge Fund, through which we strive to give birth to a trend of exchange of ideas and creation of knowledge, with a focus on our young scientists, in particular. In this way we will develop Croatian science and, hence, the Croatian economy and society as a whole.
As revealed in the Science and Technology Policy of Republic of Croatia, 2006-2010, we plan to increase investments into the R&D sector, to restructure Croatia’s science system in order to make the investments more efficient, to strengthen cooperation between science, government and industry in creation of new knowledge and goods, and to increase participation of our researchers and organizations in European Framework Programs.
Our commitment to achieve these goals is evident in opening new channels for support of competitive research and to facilitate investments into quality projects, one of them being the Unity Through Knowledge Fund. Therefore, projects that the Fund supports have to demonstrate a potential to access other financial sources, including the private sector and European Funds. Those projects will instigate international cooperation of our S&T organizations and the creation of knowledge networks. Here, the role of the Diaspora researchers will be substantial.
Therefore, I ask you, both researches from Croatia and those living abroad, to forge ties and participate with innovative research projects in the Fund’s programs. Your projects can strongly contribute to the transformation of Croatian society, so that it may become more competitive in the modern global economy, by using the knowledge and know-how of its own people.
Prof. Dragan Primorac, M. D., Ph. D.
Minister of Science, Education and Sports