Research Competitiveness Strategies of Small Countries

Presented as part of the 2007 AAAS Annual Meeting

Maria Vassileva, AAAS Research Competitiveness Service - symposium organizer

Bob Crangle, Rose and Crangle, Ltd. – co-organizer

Mark Milutinovich, Research Competitiveness Service, AAAS - co-organizer

The science and technology capability of a given country has become an important measure of its overall economic competitiveness. The lessons learned and the strategies adopted by Ireland, Finland, Korea, Vietnam, Croatia and other small countries around the world, as they transformed their nations into knowledge-based societies while attempting to make their respective countries leaders in research and innovation, were discussed during this symposium by:

1. Anita Maguire, Ph.D., Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at University College Cork. She is also a member of 1) the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology; 2) the Advisory Council for Science, Technology, and Innovation and 3) the Royal Irish Academy Chemical and Physical Sciences Committee.

2. Heikki Kotilainen, Ph.D., from S&T Balance in Finland. For over 18 years, Dr. Kotilainen worked for Tekes, the Technology Agency of Finland as the Deputy Director General for financing of R&D in Industry and Universities. There he participated in formulating government technology and innovation policy, and coordinated national technology programs and international cooperation projects. He also sits on numerous EU technology and innovation committees, as well as boards.

3. Dragan Primorac, M.D., Ph.D., Minister of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia. Dr. Primorac is also a Professor at the University of Split and the University of Osijek Medical Schools and a member of Dr, H.C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science at New Haven University. Two of his Ministry associates joined him at the AAAS Annual Meeting as well.

4. Ross Meador, J.D. Mr. Meador is a leading authority on international business and law. He is currently the Managing Partner of Rogers and Meador in Berkeley and Senior Legal Advisor to the Vietnam International Law Firm in Hanoi. In the past Mr. Meador served as the Vice Chair of the US Vietnam Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of the Legal Services Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea, and the President of the Korean American Chamber of Commerce in San Francisco.

5. Barbara Harley, M.B.A. During the 1980s Ms. Harley was the Director of Personnel and Administration for the DNAX Research Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology near Stanford – an interdisciplinary and multinational institute founded by several Nobel laureates and industrialists in the Silicon Valley. After that she began exclusively consulting business incubators and their client companies, as well as governments worldwide.

The moderator of the discussion was Robert Crangle, J.D. Mr. Crangle is an independent consultant from Rose and Crangle, Ltd, who sits on the Research Competitiveness Program Board of Advisors and has provided invaluable assistance to us over the years. Rose and Crangle, Ltd., provides advice on managing issues in science and technology, and also has an active law practice with an emphasis on business and nonprofit management.

Today, experts in the United States worry as the country’s ranking has slipped from first, to second, to sixth place in the most recent World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index. This comes at a time when individual states in the US have begun to play an increasingly important role in funding research and development. It is safe to assume that these state investments will help determine the future global competitiveness of the United States.

What can we learn from the research competitiveness strategies of small countries such as Ireland, Finland, Korea, Croatia, the Netherlands and Vietnam, and could their approaches be applicable to the US situation? Because the small countries represented at the symposium are nations with low population, almost comparable to the population of the Silicon Valley, and a tiny geographic area, similar to the territory of Virginia, they have more flexibility to respond to global changes by adapting faster. At the same time the researchers in these countries work closely with policy makers in government, ensuring the creation of strategic novel policies supporting research, education, and innovation. Finland, for example, has a very structured system that deals with R&D investments and innovation. Ireland recently put in place multiple Advisory Boards and Councils to provide guidance to the government on issues in S&T development. Croatia is undergoing a systemic reform of their entire educational system (from primary to secondary to higher education). While each of the above small country represents a unique set of challenges and possibilities, the sum lessons learned are applicable to multiple situations.

All speakers at the symposium explained their country’s strategies in the context of building on existing national strengths in science and technology, improving the infrastructure, and nurturing the local talent in given areas of interest (e.g. biomedical, pharmaceutical and information technology). The presenters shared stories of how important it is for science to be a core value of a given nation to ensure the success of its research enterprise; to stimulate interdisciplinary and multi-institutional collaborations; to create a climate conducive to innovation and fostering economic growth. In fact, the importance of cooperation between academia, industry and government was emphasized multiple times during the talks. Additionally, the benefit of educating a young generation with a strong entrepreneurial spirit was mentioned as well. The establishment of seamless connections between the primary, secondary and higher education systems, as well as the workforce and economic development efforts, of a given country was pointed to as a recipe for success. The role of science and technology in the tension between international cooperation and competition, plus its impact on the sustainability of the world, was also discussed.

Since the concept of strengthening research competitiveness in countries that are currently undergoing a cultural transition and adapting to the demands of doing global science in a flat world was the focus of some of the presentations, we hope to build on this symposium that took place in February of 2007 and organize a follow-up one at the next AAAS Annual Meeting in order to examine the stories of a few countries in transition (such as some nations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia).

A synopsis of the talks during the symposium, with links to presentations and related materials where available, is available here.