Croatia ICT Research Environment & Priorities Dr. Diana Šimić

ICT Research Environment Policy Framework 2002 Strategy “ICT – Croatia in 21st Century” 2004 E-Croatia Programme 2004 One Stop Shop (HITRO.hr) Strategy 2005 National Programme on Information Security 2006 Science and Technology Policy 2006 Open Source Policy 2006 Broadband Development Strategy 2006 National Programme for the Digitalisation of Archival, Library and Museum Holdings 2007 Strategy for the Development of eBusiness 2008 Strategy for Digital TV Switchover 2008 eGovernment Strategy … currently drafted

ICT Research Environment Institutional Framework Ministry of Science, Education and Sports National Foundation for Science, Higher Education and Technological Development Agency for Science and Higher Education National Council for Science Croatian Institute of Technology – HIT (Foresight) Business Innovation Centre of Croatia – BICRO National Council for Information Society (UNESCO IFAP)

ICT Research Environment Research Activities Ministry funds more than 100 projects in ICTs FP6 IST – Croatia participated in 23 projects FP7 – 5 projects from calls in % of projects carried on in top 8 institutions from Zagreb, Varaždin, Split, Osijek and Rijeka Wide coverage of research fields Little cooperation with commercial enterprises

ICT Research Environment Research Infrastructure Well developed communication network Services: AAI, Eduroam, access to research literature CRO-GRID No testing labs, infrastructure for testing new technologies

ICT Research Environment Key Drivers ICT sector is experiencing steady growth Opening of telecom market Steady growth of both private and business users 30.6% of households have broadband access 98% of businesses are connected to Internet 18% of businesses plan to increase ICT budget in next 12 months National Competitiveness Council 6 recommendations for ICT competitiveness

ICT Research Capacity Strengths ICTs among national priorities Developed institutional support for RTD Initiated Technology Foresight Policy of growth in R&D funding Number of public and private institutions participating in ICT research Presence in EU programmes

ICT Research Capacity Weaknesses Lack of specific ICT priorities Implementation mechanisms Communication on institutional support Communication on funding opportunities Lack of joint research between universities and private sector Communication on EU policies Project management skills

ICT Research Capacity Opportunities New job openings approved by the Ministry Strategy for Development of eBusiness Affiliation with FP7 Public administration reform and eGovernment Strategy Digitalisation of cultural heritage EU accession process Health system reform Growing number of broadband users (both business and citizens) Global financial crisis

ICT Research Capacity Threats ICT research infrastructure Brain drain Global financial crisis

ICT Research Priorities Readiness ICT for Enterprises and eBusiness ICTs for Government and eGovernment Software Engineering ICTs for Learning and eLearning Speech & Language Processing

ICT Research Priorities Future Potential ICTs for Health and eHealth Security Technologies Internet & Broadband Technologies Digital Content & Digital Libraries Grid Technologies