Illustrative photo, Source: flickr.com/Orin Zebest
On July 8, 2015, Deputy prime Minister and Finance Minister Mr. Peter Kažimír, Minister of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak republic Mr. Juraj Draxler and chairman of the Slovak Academy of Sciences Mr. Pavol Šajgalík signed an agreement that creates conditions for stable funding of the Slovak Academy of Sciences.
The agreement declares that the Slovak Academy of Sciences will be had at least 60 million budget/year for the years 2016, 2017 and 2018 from the state resources. SAS Chairman Mr. Pavol Šajgalík expressed confidence that SAS has a chance to be transformed into a modern, dynamic institution. He said: ”We want and need to open for society. We consider the SAS as a brain trust of our society. We want to be open for industrial and economic sphere also. We are ready to meet the expectations of society, and of course, our ambitions."
Minister Draxler said that by signing of the stabilization agreement "the government declares that it has confidence in the leadership of academy" and also expressed his belief that "this will be filled with confidence and guarantee funds will be used efficiently. This is the minimum amount 60 million per year. At the same time, we try to get more resources into competitive funding of Slovak research and development agency, and this is another step necessary to ensure that funds direct to quality research. I firmly believe that the Slovak Academy of Sciences will be national institutions and the Slovak Republic will be proud of it."
