OREANDA-NEWS. June 23, 2014. The implementation plan worth 658 million euros defines the actions, those in charge of and the resources for reaching the goals of the Research and Development Innovation Strategy in 2014-2017. The main resources of the strategy are the state budget and the structural instruments.

The Estonian Research and Development Council found that in order for the proportion of total expenditure of research and development to reach 3 % of the GDP by 2020, it is necessary to significantly extend the socio-economic impact of research and development. One option is to strengthen the substantial and financial role of the ministries as the sectoral contracting authorities of research and development.

Next, The Ministry of Education and Research will prepare the draft implementation plan to be approved.

The Estonian Research and Development Council was also given an overview of the preparations of participating in the first call for proposals of Horizon 2020 "Teaming for excellence" in Estonia.  The goal of the Horizon 2020 “teaming” measure is to create new Centres of Excellence in Research or significantly strengthening the existing ones with the help of a strategic external partner.

The Estonian Research and Development Council decided to support the Estonian project application in the first call for proposals. The Ministry of Education and Research was asked to carry out an additional cost-benefit analysis of the proposed projects to assess the financial sustainability of the proposed projects in the context of financing the Estonian research system.