CAIRO - The Government has spent little on scientific research in the past, but spending more on such research has become a matter of urgency since the recent revolution. The Chairman of the Scientific Research Academy, Maged el-Sherbini, says that the budget for scientific research is about LE2 billion ($336m), most of which goes on wages for the researchers and employees. “Egypt spends the least of any country in the world on scientific research - only 0.2 per cent of national income. Other developing countries spend 1 per cent of their national income on scientific research and Israel 3 per cent,” according to el-Sherbini. According to a report issued by a scientific network in Britain, the contributions of Egyptian scientists to global publications and periodicals have decreased from 0.4 per cent in 1991 to 0.3 per cent today, while the number of Egyptian patents has also fallen. The Supreme Council of Sciences was created in 1946, so Egypt's scientific research could keep pace with that of other countries. Then, in 1961, the Ministry of the Scientific Research was created to co-ordinate scientific research at universities. Thirteen years later, in 1974, the National Council for Education and Scientific Research and Technology was established to plan scientific research and help integrate universities and research institutes. Professor Atef el-Iraqi of the Scientific Research Academy, says that priority in Egypt should be given to practical, not theoretical scientific research, adding that the budget needs to be increased. “We've made some great scientific innovations, but we haven't been able to put them into practice because of lack of money. “At the same time, an official scientific journal should be established for publishing the research papers of Egyptian scientists,” he stresses. According to Professor Abdel-Hakim Radi of the Scientific Research Academy, the previous governments were far more interested in importing than manufacturing, so scientific research was the least of their priorities. “Industry has also suffered because of this lack of interest in scientific research. But the money isn't the only problem, as the curricula at our schools and universities are riddled with mistakes and nobody can be bothered to correct them,” he adds. Radi also says that scientific research should be geared towards the requirements of the local market. Hamed Taher, a scientific research academic, told Al-Wafd opposition newspaper that much of this research was impractical, adding that there was no fixed strategy for such research at our universities, where everything was left up to individual contributions. Meanwhile, foreign financial institutions usually request Egyptian researchers to select certain topics, while others might be far more suitable for solving the country's problems. Researcher Makram Iskander stresses that well-qualified and well-trained administrators are needed to run scientific research projects in Egypt. “Companies and different authorities should help finance the research, as they are the first to benefit from it,” he says, adding that the Egyptian Electricity Authority and the Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University are working together to solve society's problems by means of scientific research.
