Ukraine boosts year’s science budget by 30%, to $219 mln

"In 2017, we managed to get over the dramatic decline in science funding, which reached its lowest in 2016, amounting to 0.16% of GDP from the state budget. Now we were able to level the situation somewhat. However, I want to emphasize one thing. Today, the main funding for science goes to the National Academy of Sciences, which is completely independent of the MES and manages its budget independently. In 2017 at our disposal there was UAH 2.179 billion. For comparison, the science budget managed by the MES, which is the funding for university science, amounted to only UAH 621.5 million. At the same time, some of these funds is allocated for competitive financing of scientific projects, which can also benefit the NAS institutes. Thus, university science, for which the MES is responsible, receives only 10% of the total amount of the science budget," said Minister of Education and Science Liliya Hrynevych.

However, according to the minister, even within the available funds, the MES in 2017 was able to implement a number of important projects. Thus, a competition was held for young scientists, within the framework of which 123 projects were funded.

Read alsoCabinet to create Innovation CouncilFor the first time, 100 scientific institutions and universities received free access to the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The leading scientific databases can now be used by all Ukrainian scientists.

Some 1,300 fundamental and applied research projects were financed in Ukrainian universities.

According to the Ministry of Education and Science, an important innovation in the budget of 2018 is that a new program was launched for the NAS, titled "Supporting the development of priority research areas."

"To finance this program, UAH 500 million was laid down in the budget. The funds will be provided to scientific institutions, which will be certified at a high level. We proposed a certification system for scientific institutions, and those who reach a high level will receive additional scientific funding. We want to introduce a similar program for university science. Throughout 2018, we will conduct appropriate preparatory work, "said Hrynevych.