Under the agreement, signed in the presence of PM Ivo Sanader, the Split-based institute will be given 5.6 million kuna annually, with each company donating 200,000 kuna over a period of five years.
The government expects nothing short of full scientific freedom for MedILS and Professor Radman and his associates, which required funding, Sanader said, adding that the government had set aside 30 million kuna from the budget for the institute.
Radman said that he hoped that the institute was a paradigm of a new, modern Croatia of the 21st century in which everybody would want to invest. He added that in the next three years he and his associates would work to build a recognisable centre of scientific excellence in Europe.