Medicinski Glasnik (Feb 2008)
Is there a potential impact of research and development (R&D) policy on health care system development in Croatia?
Abstract
Aim Major demographic changes over the last decades, increasingnumber of chronic diseases in population and appearance ofnew infectious diseases together with increasing costs of healthcare are imposing a great burden on health care systems in westernsocieties, including Croatia. The aim of this study is to determinethe amount and directions of investments in research and development(R&D) activities in biomedicine and biotechnology thatcould significantly impact the quality and costs of the health carein Croatia in long term.Methods We analyzed relevant publicly available informationmaintained at the web sites of Ministry of Science, Education andSport, Croatian National Institute of Public Health, Croatian Instituteof Technology, The National Foundation for Science, HigherEducation and Technological Development, Unity ThroughKnowledge Fund and Central Bureau of Statistics of the Republicof Croatia. Additionally, the comprehensive literature search wasdone on Medline and SCOPUS, Current Contents and other databases.Results There is a substantial increase in investment of R&D activities(scientific and technological project) in the field of biomedicineand biotechnology in Croatia, from various national aswell as international resources. There is an emphasis on appliedresearch funding and encouragement of international collaborationand collaboration with Croatian Diaspora.Conclusion In the future, the results of funded projects couldpossibly lead to various products (e.g. new drug discoveries, newmethodology and technology applications), and thus potentiallysignificantly influence the quality and the costs of health care inCroatia in long term.
