$50m allocated for research
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
A TOTAL of $50 million has been approved for Science and Technology Research and Development Fund in the sultanate for the next five years, but distributing the budget has proven to be a challenge.
"We now have the money... we just need to figure who needs (the funding) most," stated Eddie Dato Paduka Hj Sunny, Head of the Research and Development Unit at the Ministry of Development.
He said that before the new budget had been approved, a lot of people had applied for funding for their research.
At that time, only $2 million had been allocated for the research and development for science and technology, so many had to be turned down.
"It's not cheap... some of the equipment, chemicals they ask for costs millions of dollars," he told The Brunei Times.
Eddie added that distributing the funds to the researchers is a lengthy process because of the regulations and procedures that they would have to go through.
Even after the researchers receive funding, they still have to wait for the requested scientific equipment to be assembled and shipped to Brunei, which also takes quite some time.
The head of the development ministry's research and development unit was speaking yesterday after his public talk at the Chancellor Hall of Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), which carried the title, Science, Technology and Innovation in Brunei Darussalam: Update 2008.
During the briefing, which was part of the Science and Technology Week at UBD, he recalled past issues concerning the STI (Science Technology and Innovation) sector in Brunei.
He pointed out that one of the reasons for the lack of abundance of research conduted in Brunei is because of the "scattered and under-used research facilities".
In addition, there is a lack of students pursuing careers in science and technology, which has led to a lack of scientists in the sultanate, in terms of quality and quantity.
Eddie stated that research and development in science and technology is vital since the nation can not always depend on oil and gas resources, which are not sustainable.
He used Iceland as an example of the benefits of having strong support in science and technology in its economy.
He said that every time Iceland faced a crisis, the amount of effort put into science and technology increased, according to the trend he had observed of Iceland's economy. "We have to push for science and tehnology long before a crisis happens," he said.
He added that there should be a central laboratory where research could be conducted to "spearhead" STI development.
The Brunei Times
"We now have the money... we just need to figure who needs (the funding) most," stated Eddie Dato Paduka Hj Sunny, Head of the Research and Development Unit at the Ministry of Development.
He said that before the new budget had been approved, a lot of people had applied for funding for their research.
At that time, only $2 million had been allocated for the research and development for science and technology, so many had to be turned down.
"It's not cheap... some of the equipment, chemicals they ask for costs millions of dollars," he told The Brunei Times.
Eddie added that distributing the funds to the researchers is a lengthy process because of the regulations and procedures that they would have to go through.
Even after the researchers receive funding, they still have to wait for the requested scientific equipment to be assembled and shipped to Brunei, which also takes quite some time.
The head of the development ministry's research and development unit was speaking yesterday after his public talk at the Chancellor Hall of Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), which carried the title, Science, Technology and Innovation in Brunei Darussalam: Update 2008.
During the briefing, which was part of the Science and Technology Week at UBD, he recalled past issues concerning the STI (Science Technology and Innovation) sector in Brunei.
He pointed out that one of the reasons for the lack of abundance of research conduted in Brunei is because of the "scattered and under-used research facilities".
In addition, there is a lack of students pursuing careers in science and technology, which has led to a lack of scientists in the sultanate, in terms of quality and quantity.
Eddie stated that research and development in science and technology is vital since the nation can not always depend on oil and gas resources, which are not sustainable.
He used Iceland as an example of the benefits of having strong support in science and technology in its economy.
He said that every time Iceland faced a crisis, the amount of effort put into science and technology increased, according to the trend he had observed of Iceland's economy. "We have to push for science and tehnology long before a crisis happens," he said.
He added that there should be a central laboratory where research could be conducted to "spearhead" STI development.
The Brunei Times
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