In 2 years, Ukraine was able to implement a significant part of the recommendations of the European independent audit of the Ukrainian science and innovation system, but a large volume of work is also ahead. This was emphasized by representatives of the European Commission during the meeting of the Ukraine-EU Joint Committee on Research and Innovation, held today, January 29, 2019, in the premises of the Ministry of Education and Culture.

In particular, the Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, Maksym Strikha, presented to his European colleagues the results that Ukraine already has for each of the 30 recommendations of the audit. He emphasized that the most important and large-scale currently are:

- the creation and start of active work of the National Council of Ukraine on Science and Technology Development;

– the creation of the National Research Fund, which will start providing grants for research projects of Ukrainian scientists from 2019;

– new rules for state certification of scientific institutions: evaluations will be conducted by independent experts based on uniform, transparent criteria, taking into account the specifics of each institution;

- introduction of state certification of scientific fields in universities: the best ones will be able to receive basic funding for science.

"I want to pay special attention to the recommendation regarding the National Research Fund. European experts advised us to use the funds obtained by cutting part of the expenses for the support of university and academic science for its financing. But we categorically refused this and were able to foresee additional funds in the 2019 state budget without reducing other funding for science. This is more than 260 million hryvnias. On the one hand, these funds are not too large, but on the other hand, they are quite enough for the first year of work to launch all processes and provide the first grants. For comparison, the National Research Fund will be the successor of the State Fund for Fundamental Research, the funding of which was 10 times smaller," Maksym Strikha said. He also introduced the newly elected head of the National Fund, Leonid Yatsenko, to the committee.

The representatives of the European Commission noted that Ukraine did a difficult job and was able to implement quite a few of the 30 recommendations of the audit. They called the launch of the National Council for the Development of Science and Technology and the National Research Fund as the most significant, stressing that this is a significant impetus for further work on reforming the sphere, but there is still a lot of work ahead.

In particular, it was said that most of the unfulfilled recommendations relate to the reform of the National Academy of Sciences and branch academies, and this is exactly what Ukraine should focus on in the coming years. At the same time, the members of the committee agreed that the approach to this reform should be careful and balanced, and not according to the "destroy everything old and build new" scheme. First of all, the interests of all parties must be taken into account and leading scientific schools must be preserved.

"Reforming the National Academy of Sciences is an obvious need of the hour, but it is necessary to understand that it is a self-governing organization that has a separate line in the budget. Therefore, without her readiness for change, real transformations are impossible. The members of the National Academy of Sciences include many brilliant scientists who understand well how science functions in Ukraine and the world. I am convinced that NAS has sufficient potential to change. For its part, the MES is open and ready to provide all the necessary support, remaining an expression of the interests of scientists both publicly and in high offices," explained Maksym Strikha.

The Deputy Minister reported that last year the Roadmap for Ukraine's integration into the European Research Area (ERA-UA) was approved, which combines the steps necessary for both integration and reforming of Ukrainian science. Therefore, most of the necessary measures on the Roadmap were included in the plan for reforming the scientific sphere, approved by the Government in October last year. The development of numerous normative documents for its implementation has already begun.

The parties also discussed cooperation within the EU Framework Program "Horizon 2020". In particular, it was about the results of Ukrainian scientists, the participation of our representatives and experts in the program's program committees, the creation of a wide network of national contact points and other tools for Ukraine's support of its participants. Following the results of the meeting, the necessary steps for joining the next "Horizon-Europe" program were determined.