Opportunities for Cooperation between Estonia and ... - Valitsus

for Estonia and Finland to pool their resources for the purpose of Antarctica
research?
Of special importance is to ensure extensive publicity for the present-day
research and development areas, particularly among young people. Science
days have been organized in Estonia and Finland for the public at large and
institutes of education. Last year, the Estonian Society for Physics (Eesti
Füüsikute Selts) and the Finnish Physical Society organized a joint physics day
in Tallinn. The countries also work together in coaching high-school students
for the International Physics Olympics. Similarly, the Ahhaa Science Centre in
Tartu and the Heureka Science Centre in Vantaa are engaged in cooperation.
This is the type of cooperation that we would like to see more of.
Fierce global competition in the research and development field means that
repeated successes call for extensive resources. Moreover, success does not
always correlate with the time and effort expended. Estonia and Finland should
seek to make as efficient use as possible of their limited human, technical
and material resources – and do so together. In particular, efforts should be
made to explore the new avenues opening up in the course of research and
development activities, provided that the potential for success through joint
efforts is great.
Recommendations:
• A joint Estonian-Finnish Science, Technology and Development Council
(STDC) should be established. The Council should convene at least once a
year, and every second year the council meeting should also be attended
by the prime ministers of the two countries.
• A permanent Estonian and Finnish secretariat should be established to
prepare the STDC meetings and coordinate the research policies of the
two countries between the meetings.
• An independent Estonian-Finnish think-tank should be established to
prepare and evaluate the issues to be presented to the STDC meeting.
Additionally, it could be tasked to prepare reports and evaluations and
conduct surveys concerning the development, consolidation and use of
the resources of the two countries.
• A high-level Estonian-Finnish economic summit should be held every two
years in connection with the joint meeting of the Science, Technology and
Development Council.
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