Prof. Maija Kūle University of Latvia Latvia Science council

Prof. Maija KūleUniversity of Latvia

Latvia Science council

Zinātne, izglītība un modernizācijas procesi Latvijas

sabiedrībā; kur meklēsim zinātnieka identitāti?

Referātā izmantoti LZP, IZM, ārzemju augstskolu materiāli

Science expenditure in total (2009) (% of GDP)

Latvia 0.47% (85 milj euro) Estonia 1,42% (197 milj euro)

Lithuania 0,57% (222 milj euro)

R&D funding in the Finnland’s state budget in 2011 (%), (government budget appropriations: 2.065

billion EUR) (1.09% of GDP) 22.2.2011 Statistics Finland

In Latvia state budget : 0.13% of GDP (23.57million EUR in 2010)

(relatively 8,38 times less then in Finnland)

Key facts about Latvian education and science system 2010

Population : 1,9 millionNumber of students: 103800

Universities, Academies: State 17, private 1524 Colleges

state research institutes: 13, scientific institutes included at the science

institution’s register – 158!!!

Researchers – 3882 (in science at all – 5481)new doctors of science every year – 174 (2009), 132

(2010)

R&D staff (number)Finland 2009

% of the total population – 1,48 in Universities, Academies: 28890 (36%)

Scientific institutions: 9323 (12%) Industrial sector: 41262 (52%)

Summary: 79475 (100%) -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Latvia 2010 % of the total population – 0,16%

in Universities, Academies 2596 (71,7%) Scientific institutions 708 (19,6%)

Industrial sector 317 (8,7%) Summary: 3621 (100%)

ESTONIAN R&D in figuresPopulation: 1,3 million

GDP per capita (2010): in $19,100 Gross domestic expenditure on R&D as a

percentage of GDP (2009): 1,42% 18 R&D institutions in Estonia (6 of them public universities)

EPO patent filings 58, granted patents 7 (2010)

Statistics Estonia, Index Mundi, Eurostat, Esonian Ministry of Education and Research, EPO statistics

Internationally registred patents (USA) : 1997-2010.g.FINNLAND: 16638

POLAND: 745 BULGARIA : 517 MONACO: 279 ROMANIA: 204

CAYMAN ISLANDS : 87 BERMUDA: 75 LITHUANIA: 69 ESTONIA: 61

ZIMBABWE: 34 NIGERIA: 31 LATVIA: 29

akad. Ivara Kalviņa dati no U.S. PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE Patent Technology Monitoring Team (PTMT)

Problem: how to increase the role of humanities in building a knowledge-based society in Latvia?

Knowledge is power (F.Bacon). But natural sciences are not competent to deal with values, namely,

why and how discoveries should be used.Thesis: a modern knowledge-based society is

inconceivable without humanistic dimension which is rooted in culture,

because only culture, not mere technological constructivism, shapes modern economy. (See: Culture policy

in Latvia for 2006-2013)

The humanities are known for their long-standing tradition of “telling the truth to the

powers that be”.

That makes the humanities into an important sphere of study because they challenge the

existent dominant discourses.

Richard Florida about creative class. Why not in Riga, Jelgava, Ventspils?

“In the context of a modern knowledge-based society, attention is based on an individual’s intellectual capital and its use. Human

capital is characterized by the totality of skills and knowledge that can be used in production, services, etc. From a

philosophical point of view one should respect intangible characteristics of human capital, namely: honesty, responsibility,

virtue, self-reflection, intercultural and social skills, and civic activity.

Giddens writes that a culture of innovation is a culture in which risks increase, and thus responsibility [and

study of humanities] should also be increased.

It should be taken into account that knowledge-based society can be politically fragile

because it is founded on self-transformation and individual’s critical ability.

The technocratic perspective does not provide breadth and flexibility of perception;

it does not grasp the world as a whole, it does not show the way to acknowledging values

and it traps an individual in the frame of professional knowledge”.

Actualities of humanities and social sciences in Latvia today:- national identity: history, language, culture and security;

- Latvia in the EU, europeization; European values in contemporary Latvia;

- society integration, minorities,the experience of forming democratic, tolerant relationships with Otherness;

- research into the Latvian language within the framework of the diversity of languages of the European Union;

- culture and power relationships;- history of non-violent resistance

(1987-1991)as a world unique event;- Latvia before and into the Second World war;

the crimes of the communist regime (in order to overcome the political

narrow-mindedness that consists in regarding only the Nazi regime criminal)