According to indicators for measuring European Union member-states' innovation ability, Croatia has been lagging behind Slovenia and some other European countries for a number of years.
Radman said that Croatia ranked 66th according to nations' innovation capacity index. For instance, Slovenia is on the 22nd spot, and Finland finishes as the fifth.
When it comes to the quality of scientific and research institutions, Croatia fares better, ranking 31st. However, potentials of those institutions are insufficiently used. They are insufficiently interconnected and poorly cooperate with similar international institutions which is why Croatia is on the 75th spot regarding this cooperation.
Croatia drops further down the ranking, being on the 121st spot, when it comes to government procurement of advanced technologies to stimulate innovation.
Earmarking a mere 0.81 percent of its GDP for financing research and development, Croatia is behind Slovenia which allocates 1.45 percent of its GDP for this purpose and Finland is the top European performer with 3.48 percent of its GDP being spent on research and development. In Croatia, these figures have been on the decline for a few recent years, although the European Union's recommendation is that the funding of research and development should reach 3 percent of GDP or exceed it, if possible.
Radman urged the government to create a favourable climate for education and innovation.
Microsoft Croatia Director Ivan Vidakovic called for the transformation of the education system in order to be tailored to suit the time we live in.