Research and development organizations in Croatia, 1990-2000

1. Research and development organizations in Croatia, 1990-2000

The quality of university teachers consists in their ability to participate in a specialized educational process. The choice of research topics is determined by the maximum benefit for the university’s basic product – an educated and professionally well-trained graduate. Postgraduate studies are viewed as an opportunity to deepen the knowledge and understanding of a given discipline, or disciplines (if they are related or complementary), for which he/she has been trained in the course of his/her undergraduate studies. This was the paradigm that was well-represented in the structure of Croatian science. However, in the 1950s and 1960s, many parts of the university began to lag behind the developments in the developed parts of the world. The slow adjustment to new requirements, especially in fundamental sciences, was to be rectified with the creation of public institutes.

The creation of independent (public) institutes⁸¹ was necessitated by the development of science in new areas, requiring a more complex approach – multidisciplinary in nature – for which new profiles of researchers were needed. In terms of their structure and position, these institutes were organizationally part of the university in some cases, or part of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences, or outside of any other organization, but they were all funded largely from the same source – the government budget. Directly or indirectly (especially through funding) they were run by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

According to the official definition by the Ministry of Science and Technology, “public institutes are established for the implementation of the programme of public service in research and development. As stipulated by the Research and Development Act, their activity consists of continuous current research and occasional contracts for particular research projects.”

According to the Ministry’s data, as of September 2001 Croatia had 29 public institutes with a total of 790 researchers and research assistants, which accounted for about one tenth of all the registered researchers. The breakdown of public institutes according to scientific fields was as follows: 6 institutes in natural sciences, 10 in social sciences, 7 in humanities, one in veterinary medicine, two agricultural and forestry institutes, and 3 technical (engineering) institutes. In the case of some of the institutes, it is possible to guess the reasons why they were classified as public institutes in the sense of the Ministry’s definition quoted above. During the last decade, the number of public institutes actually increased rather than decreased as demanded. In fact, in some cases, there was duplication of their activities rather than the proclaimed rationalization. Some of the institutes benefited from political paternalism, which brought into question their scientific autonomy. Their existence cannot be defended with a simple analysis of their professionalism or their orientation, nor is it possible to grasp the reasons why the same research could not equally well be carried out at the university or in existing institutes, even at the price of personnel changes.

Information technology in research organizations

Public institutes, such as the Ruđer Bošković Institute, Institute of Physics, and Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Medicine, began to use information science and technology at an early stage, in the early and mid-1980s. At that time already personal computers began to be used, linked with institutional servers and with the central unit by means of optic cables. In some cases, such as the Ruđer Bošković Institute, preparations were made from the very beginning for great speeds and large capacities of data transmission. The informatization drive was helped along by the Ministry of Science and Technology with the distribution of software such as OVID, which facilitated access to databases, especially open literature, to every scientist and researcher. This helped to partly compensate for the deficiencies of scientific libraries in Croatia and the erratic purchase of specialized periodicals.

The development of the scientific infrastructure received a boost from the process of informatization and modern communication technologies. The budget allocated to the Ministry of Science and Technology, as well as the budgets of specialized research organizations, provided funds for the purchase of equipment and overall informatization.

Special mention ought to be made of two important projects carried out in Croatia in the last decade of the twentieth century, both of which were of great significance for the scientific development of the country. The first was the completion of the new building for the National and University Library, which opened its doors to the public in 1995. The second project was the installation of the Croatian Academic and Research Network (CARNET). Though the two projects were not part of a well-defined science policy, their impact on scientists and science generally was great and very positive.

The installation of CARNET as a project by the Ministry of Science and Technology in 1991 was crucial for the development of the research infrastructure in Croatia⁸².

CARNET’s mission was to secure the infrastructure, knowledge and necessary resources for individuals and organizations willing to help build Croatia as information society. The academic community was an active partner in that process. The activities of CARNET, specified in the government’s Decision on the Establishment of the Croatian Academic and Research Network and CARNET’s Charter, are the following: the development, building and maintenance of the communication and computer infrastructure, linking all educational and research institutions to form a single information system; linkages of CARNET with international networks; development and construction of information nodes and networks; propagation and experimental application of information technologies in the Republic of Croatia; and other activities in the domain of information science.

CARNET’s network is a private WAN (wide area network) of the Croatian academic and research community. The network infrastructure is owned by CARNET as an institution, while the copper and optic cables are rented from the Croatian Telecom.

The users of CARNET’s network include institutions of higher learning, research institutions, public institutes and other legal entities. CARNET has 14 institutional members throughout Croatia, covering practically all research centres in the country.