PRESIDENT OF ARMENIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES URGES TO INCREASE BUDGET FINANCING OF SCIENCE IN 2008

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Nov 2 2007

YEREVAN, November 2. /ARKA/. The President of Armenia’s National
Academy of Sciences Radik Martirosian considers it necessary to
increase the budget financing of the sphere of science in Armenia
in 2008.

"The budget expenditures on the development of science are to total
6.8bln Drams in 2008, which is only 1bln Drams more than this year
and is only 0.7-0.8% of the overall budget against 1% in 2007,"
the President of the Academy told journalists.

He reminded that according to the surveys conducted by the European
Union on the strategy of scientific development in underdeveloped
countries, a state allocating less than 1% of its budget for science
cannot count on effective influence of science on the economic
development.

If the provided financing is distributed, the share of each employee
of Armenia’s scientific sphere will be 1mln Drams (about $3,000),
whereas in Germany, for example, it is $120,000-130,000 with salary
being 88% of that amount.

"This means that only 12% of the budget appropriations is the actual
share directed to the development of science, the remaining amount
is directed to the salaries of scientific workers," Martirosian said.

According to the President of the Academy, the science should be
financed not only by the government, but also by economic entities.

He pointed out that today private investors provide only 10% of the
overall financing of science.

Martirosian also pointed out certain difficulties in paying the
expenditures on patenting scientific discoveries abroad. "Such a
patent costs about $20,000-30,000, maintaining it cost additional
$2,000-3,000 every year," he said.