Ukraine Ranks 86th in the Growth Competitiveness Index

The development of Ukraine’s economy and the transition to a post- industrial society are impossible without innovative activity. This is the gist of last week’s news conference organized by the Ukrainian Federation of Scientists, an association uniting 5,440 members. According to the federation’s experts, the 2005 state budget is inadequate. Despite its social emphasis, it doesn’t provide for the development of science. Volodymyr Semynozhenko, UFS chairman and academician of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences, said that science faces stagnation, given its budgeted funding of 0.31% of the GDP (versus the required minimum of 1.7%, or 3% that is required to ensure vigorous development of innovative activity). He predicts that without immediate improvements in this sector it will take at least two years to return it to its former competitive level. Scientists are especially concerned by the fact that the 2005 budget has in fact eliminated those minimum incentives for technological parks, which at the very least make it possible to maintain the country’s scientific potential. So far Ukrainian scientists can only dream about the clear and diversified system of benefits that are widely used to promote science in the US, Japan, and the EU. Ukraine currently ranks 86th in the Lisbon Growth Competitive Index, after Venezuela, Zambia, and Tanzania. Russia ranks 70th and Poland 60th in the list of 104 countries. According to Semynozhenko, scientists long ago drew up appropriate legislative amendments and a holistic strategy for the development of innovative activity based on international experience. Without these changes, the Ukrainian raw material economy will continue to follow the extensive path of development, and the brain drain will become uncontrollable.