Slovak scientists unsuccessful in obtaining finances

The Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV) and Slovakia as a country is not too successful in obtaining grants from the European Research Centre (ERC), wrote SITA on Sunday. The press agency points to the annual report of the SAV which indicates that some new members of the EU such as Hungary and the Czech Republic are getting close to the level of the so-called 'European Twelve' in this factor. On the contrary, some other countries, including Slovakia are lagging behind and the gap is even getting wider. The report by the Academy of Sciences indicates that one of the problems is the low number of projects with an application for financing. Therefore, the SAV plans to create a stimulating environment for grant-applying and open an ERC scholarship program. "The absence of a program of this kind might carry the risk that a large portion of finances for the research infrastructure in Slovakia will not bring expected assets for Slovakia."