President Petro Poroshenko has held a meeting with leading scientists of the country. The Head of State has emphasized that Ukraine expected a lot from science, and the development of Ukrainian scientific potential was a significant part of the Strategy of Sustainable Development “Ukraine – 2020”.

The President has emphasized that misuse of scientific potential led to scientific-technological gap between Ukraine and developed countries. “In the modern world, crucial factor of economic success is innovations, not raw materials,” the Head of State said. For this end, one must increase the number of national enterprises involved in innovations. The share of such companies in Ukraine in 2014 amounted to 16% approximately, at the same time, in the EU, this figure may reach 70%.

The President has also drawn attention to the intellectual property potential and the efficient mechanisms of its commercialization. In industrial production, only 4.2% of existing inventions is used. “Because of the neglect of intellectual property, value of industrial enterprises of Ukraine is understated by 50-80%,” Petro Poroshenko noted.

The elaboration and adoption of a new innovation Law “On Scientific and Scientific-Technical Activity” is also important. “We must improve the mechanism of forming the state order for high technologies, enhance public supervision over the implementation of scientific and scientific-technical developments carried out at the cost of the state budget, create a system for evaluation of scientific-technical and innovational level of scientific and technological product on the basis of methods and criteria already applied in the EU,” the President said.

The Head of State has also emphasized that scientific awards played an important role in increasing the authority of science in society and attracting young talents to the development of technologies. The President stands for the reformation of the procedure of awarding the laureates, which hasn’t been changed since the Soviet times. Particularly, the reduction of the number of laureates may result in greater attention to these awards. “Let’s compare with the Nobel Prize. There are few nominations there, but every award is an event long-awaited by global community and media,” the President said.

In his turn, President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Borys Paton noted that scientists recently paid significant attention to reliable and secure work of nuclear-energy complex, rocket-space sphere, aircraft manufacturing, energy efficiency and energy saving, innovational development, healthcare sphere and food security. There are also developments for ATO warriors.

Borys Paton emphasized the importance of training highly qualified scientists, integration into the European research area, participation in the program "Horizon 2020". "Further development of science requires drastic measures at national level to raise the prestige of scientific activity, attract talented young people and improve social protection of scientists,” Borys Paton noted.