Scientific research and innovation, the new strategy requires 274 million euros of funding

2023-09-28 07:39:00, Ekonomi CNA

Scientific research and innovation, the new strategy requires 274 million euros

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The new national strategy for Scientific Research, Technology, and Innovation 2023-2030 requires a funding of at least 274 million total for the realization of all the objectives set in it.

The document already published in the Official Gazette underlines that the financial gap of the strategy is 28.8 percent or 79 million euros. The strategy itself has several objectives that aim to achieve three goals.

"Policy objective 1: Increasing the efficiency and sustainability of the system for supporting scientific research, integrated at the international level, in the entire spectrum of the fields of natural sciences, engineering and technology, medicine, agriculture, social and humanities; Policy goal 2: Creating an environment that facilitates and encourages interaction and technology transfer mechanisms for cooperation between the research community, the economy, innovation and public institutions; Policy goal 3: Promoting the culture of science and innovation in education to ensure a didactic approach with an emphasis on research practices and projects," the strategy states.

Program in schools, plan for 1200 smartlabs

As a function of scientific research, technology and innovation, several steps have been taken with pilot projects which aim to become standard throughout the country. The strategy draws attention to the plan to open 1,200 dedicated laboratories in schools throughout the country, referred to as "smartlabs".

"The aim is to reform the curricula and convey more information, at the earliest possible stages, to young men and women. For the school year 2022-2023, the piloting of the ICT subject has started from the first grade in 100 pilot schools, in which smart laboratories have been built.

In this framework, the curriculum of the ICT subject for the first grade has been approved and the basic education curriculum has been revised to include the new subject "ICT" as an optional subject for grades I-III.

In the long term, the program aims to transform the ICT teaching system in pre-university curricula from grades I-XII, through updated curricula, teacher training and equipping school premises with the necessary infrastructure to carry out quality teaching of this subject . Also, it is intended to spread as soon as possible to about 1,200 schools throughout the country, equipping them with smartlabs and implementing the use of new or updated curricula," the strategy states.

Project, young people are learning from the microchip leader curriculum

A project related to artificial intelligence that has particularly engaged young people in the country is based on a curriculum designed by Intel Corporation. According to the strategy, this is another important project that has behind it the knowledge of one of the leaders in the semiconductor (microchip) market.

"Since the school year 2022-2023, in cooperation with the AADF, the piloting of the project "Artificial Intelligence for Youth" (Intel® Al for Youth) has started in Albania. As of 2023, this program is implemented in more than 27 countries worldwide. Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) are changing and reshaping the world, having a tremendous impact on the employment and economic sectors, so this project aims to increase the skills related to technology and artificial intelligence among students. Albanians, aged between 13 and 19 years.

Young people will be able to learn through a curriculum built by Intel® Corporation, a leader in the semiconductor manufacturing industry, which is one of the largest technology companies in the world. 9 public institutions of higher secondary education have become part of the project, in which the IA curriculum is developed as extracurricular hours and 2 free private courses for young people have been created. 160 students became part of the project and 25 teachers were trained"/ Monitor magazine