Monday, 24 October 2011
ARIAL High-Frequency Linear Accelerator Construction Underway
Head of the State Committee on Science by the Ministry of Education and Science Samvel Harutyunyan met with media at the government’s press center to give a highlight of scientific achievements of 2011.
He noted that ARIAL high-frequency linear accelerator project is launched in Armenia to be completed in lat 2013. Mr. Harutyunyan further said that construction is ensured in cooperation with a German company using euro 3mn worth equipment imported from Germany.
An agreement on cooperation under CANDLE project is up with the Swiss Institute after Paul Scherer.
Owing to these two cooperation arrangements, young specialists from Armenia will be trained at the above-stated European research centers.
“Supported with cooperation agreements signed with French, Ukrainian, Italian, Russian and other foreign centers, fundamental research will experience a drastic boost in Armenia once the accelerator is complete,” Samvel Haroutunyan said.
Co-financed by the Belarusian National Fund for Fundamental Research, the French National Scientific Research Center and the Russian Humanities Fund, scientific contests have been this year as part of international cooperation.
17 joint research projects have been approved as a result of the contest held earlier this year with the Belarusian side.
Similar contests are due to be held with our German, Italian and Swiss partners, including for implementation of innovational projects.
According to the speaker, government-funded scientific spending will be up 7% in 2012, totaling some 10.3bn drams. The bulk of surplus spending will be used to foster wage increases and international cooperation.
“Every single dollar spent on research provides a 3-fold return. Innovational programs, too, will be financed,” Samvel Haroutunyan told the journalists.
As he said, currently the State ensures 70-75% of scientific spending in Armenia instead of last year’s 85%, with the balance coming from private sources.
“The more States invest in science the less they are developed. For example, government provides 7% of research spending in Finland,” the speaker said, stressing the need for closer private-public sector cooperation in this field.
Several grant programs were said in process of implementation in our country, with 35% of research programs managed by young scientists under the age of 35.
