Distinguished Friends,

I am very glad that I can invite you to explore the new possibilities that we have created by starting the Unity Through Knowledge Fund. The Fund has recently opened its first calls for proposals for collaborative research projects between expatriate researchers in the Diaspora and Croatian researchers, organizations and companies.

The Fund’s specific mission – to unite homeland and Diaspora knowledge potentials – has already found its place within other processes we are currently running in order to face the challenge of building a knowledge-based society.

The First Congress of Croatian Scientists from the Homeland and Abroad, at which we gathered to discuss the future of Croatian science, was an important event for the Republic of Croatia. The Congress concluded with the signing of a Declaration, which clearly states that the goal of the Congress is for its participants to show “with their presence how much Croatia has given the world, by educating its scientists who have subsequently, by a combination of circumstances, gone into the world in search of acceptable work conditions, and that this ‘brain drain’, which is simultaneously one of the greatest threats to countries as is Croatia and one of the greatest gifts that any country can give to the world, can be transformed from a disease into a cure for the homeland.”

The First Congress has given rise to the idea of the return of Croatian scientists, and since then this idea has patiently been turned into action through ‘brain gain’ projects, the networking of Croatian scientists, by stimulating excellence, and by launching the Croatian Science Portal as the comprehensive service network of the scientific community. In striving for new opportunities, we remain true to the idea of the return of Croatian scientists, as the Second Congress of Croatian Scientists from the Homeland and Abroad, to be held from May 7-10, 2007 in Split, proves.

The fact that 43 Croatian scientists have returned to the Republic of Croatia since 2004, and that preparations are underway for the return of another 15 scientists, shows that our idea is realistic and achievable and that we are on the right path.The idea of “networking knowledge” that has come alive at the First Congress has been turned into action and elaborated through the Unity Through Knowledge Fund, through which we strive to give birth to a trend of “exchange of ideas” and “creation of knowledge”, with a focus on our young scientists, in particular. In this way we will develop Croatian science and, hence, the Croatian economy and society as a whole.

As revealed in the Science and Technology Policy of Republic of Croatia, 2006-2010, we plan to increase investments into the R&D sector, to restructure Croatia’s science system
in order to make the investments more efficient, to strengthen cooperation between science, government and industry in creation of new knowledge and goods, and to increase participation of our researchers and organizations in European Framework Programs.

Our commitment to achieve these goals is evident in opening new channels for support of competitive research and to facilitate investments into quality projects, one of them being the Unity Through Knowledge Fund. Therefore, projects that the Fund supports have to demonstrate a potential to access other financial sources, including the private sector and European Funds. Those projects will instigate international cooperation of our S&T organizations and the creation of knowledge networks. Here, the role of the Diaspora researchers will be substantial.

Therefore, I ask you, both researches from Croatia and those living abroad, to forge ties and participate with innovative research projects in the Fund’s programs. Your projects can strongly contribute to the transformation of Croatian society, so that it may become more competitive in the modern global economy, by using the knowledge and know-how of its own people.

Prof. Dragan Primorac, M. D., Ph. D.

Minister of Science, Education and Sports