Slovene PM promises annual increase in R&D investment
Slovenia's Prime Minister Janez Jansa emphasised the importance of encouraging creativity and rewarding it as he presented an award for lifetime achievement to Joze Toporisic, Professor of Slovene Literary Language and Theory of Style, on 28 November. Slovenia is committed to increasing funds for research and development (R&D), regarding this as the only way to improve research facilities at universities, increase the number of early stage researchers and co-finance new high-tech companies, said Mr Jansa. In 2003, Slovenia invested 1.54% of its GDP in R&D, according to the European Commission's 'Key Figures 2005'. Mr Jansa promised on 28 November to increase this figure by 0.1% annually. Mr Jansa also emphasised the importance of a public debate on the ethical issues encountered by researchers, and what is permissible in science. The Prime Minister presented the Zois Award for lifetime achievements to Professor Toporisic, now 80, who published numerous papers and books on the Slovene language while a professor at Ljubljana University.
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