Transcript Prof. Maija Kūle University of Latvia Latvia Science council

Prof. Maija Kūle
University 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 million
Number of students: 103800
Universities, Academies: State 17, private 15
24 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 figures
Population: 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 longstanding 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)