Institutional transformation of S&T systems in the European economies in transition: Comparative analysis

In all Central and East European Countries (CEEC) the first phase of transformation comprised the dissolution and fragmentation of the socialist S&T system through top-down and bottom-up processes, and was linked to S&T personnel being cutback to approximately 20 to 50% of the former peak level. Subsequent to this the restructuring of S&T performing institutions and their 'environments' in politics and economy commenced. In this second phase the progress made by the CEEC in their institutional transformation has varied: A group of advanced countries (I) consists of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Estonia and Slovenia. With the restructuring of S&T organisations and activities they have substantially completed the second phase of transformation. They are now faced with the task of creating a modern S&T system by interlinking the newly formed actors in science, the economy and politics (Phase 3). Countries of the Group II have introduced institutional changes through new bodies, laws, competitive R&D funding, etc. but have not yet fully implemented them in practice due to instability in the economy. A third group of countries has established a stable framework for S&T neither in the economy (continuing decline in GDP) nor in politics. Typical problems faced by all countries undergoing transformation are the disproportions between 'academic' science and weak industrial R&D, the increase in the percentage of older scientists, in particular in the natural sciences and technical disciplines, and the underdeveloped infrastructure in S&T. This situation leads to differences in the future of S&T systems as well as in the main focus of S&T policy in the individual CEEC, which ranges from continual restructuring to international integration.