Estonian research 2019

As a small country with scarce natural resources, Estonia’s development relies mainly on knowledgeable and entrepreneurial people. After regaining independence, we have reached a position where simple development factors have been exhausted and it is becoming increasingly clearer that for further socio-economic advancement, the potential of research and development must be used more effectively. What is this potential, how does Estonian research compare internationally, what are the major persisting and current problems in research and development? In this overview, these questions are discussed based on facts and figures. The last similar overview Estonian Research 2016 was well received. The data and analyses on Estonian research and development presented there were widely used in many subsequent analyses and contributed arguments to discussions regarding research policies. The main structure of the overview is similar to the previous one, consisting of two interrelated parts. The first part includes four comprehensive articles, the first two explore the resources needed for conducting scientific research: monetary resources on the one hand and human resources on the other hand. The next two articles describe the performance of Estonian research. The first focuses on publishing activity and the quality of scientific publications and the second on the socio-economic impact of research and the interrelations of research and society. The articles in the first part are compiled so that the principal data would be comparable to the information presented in the previous overview. This way, it is possible to build time-series in similar overviews in the future. The second part of the overview consists of short articles on the current topical research policy issues. Estonian Research 2019 and the figures together with data tables are available on the webpage of the Estonian Research Council. An editorial board of professors Ülo Niinemets, Erkki Karo, Rainer Kattel and Richard Villems from the Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tallinn University of Technology, and University of Tartu oversaw the compilation of this publication. Special thanks to Professor Jüri Allik and Kalmer Lauk from the University of Tartu for their willingness to contribute a paper in a very limited time. The staff of the Department of R&D Analysis, Estonian Research Council helped gathering material for the articles, much substantial assistance was provided by Tiina Pärson, Leading Analyst at Statistics Estonia. Many thanks to them and also to the authors of the articles and photographs used in this publication. I would also like to thank the Research Council’s Executive Director Karin Jaanson for her numerous recommendations. Kadri Raudvere, the editor of this publication, deserves a special mention for assisting the authors in collecting new data and motivating them in a delicate way when the writing deadlines started to close in. The overview includes the most recent data that was available at the time of compiling the publication (end of 2018). Since collecting and submitting statistical data at the state level often takes up to a year or sometimes even longer, some statistical data dates back to 2017 or an even earlier time. The data mostly derives from OECD databases, Eurostat, Statistics Estonia, Ministry of Education and Research, Universities Estonia, and Estonian Research Council. We hope that the content of this overview offers food for thought for researchers, policy makers, and all others interested in research, and that it will provide support for substantiated discussions on research and fact-based policy making. Andres Koppel, Director General of Estonian Research Council