Ministry of Science presents Initiative for establishment of International Institute for Sustainable Technologies in Balkans
Published date 05.05.2017 12:59
|
Author PR Service
Print


Podgorica, Montenegro (3 May 2017) -- The Government of
Montenegro decided to officially support the initiative for establishment
of the International Institute for Sustainable Technologies in the Balkans with
the mission of “Science for Peace.” Minister of Science Sanja Darmanović said that such a project, which is unique in the
region, would significantly impact on economic development, improvement of
living standards, reducing unemployment and would represent a certain type of 'industrialisation' of our region on the basis of
sustainable technologies.
The project would have two main objectives. The first
objective is to promote cooperation between science, technology and industry.
In addition, it would be a platform to educate talented young people and
engineers on the basis of knowledge and technology transfer from European
centres such as CERN and others. The second important objective is to bring
together people from different countries in the region, not only scientist but
also engineers and administration. A project like this would represent another
successful example of CERN’s model.
SESAME project, implemented in Jordan, shows the success of
this initiative. The project brings together nine Middle East countries with
different political systems and religions, including both Israel and Iran. The founder
of the SESAME project, Professor Herwig
Schopper (the former Director-General of CERN), was the main initiator of establishing
the International Institute on the territory of Southeast Europe, with the
support of the UN, UNESCO and CERN. This Initiative was first presented to the board
of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences (WAAS) in Dubrovnik in 2016.
“The Government of Montenegro is the first in the region to officially
support this initiative and is open for collaboration regardless of where the
location of the Institute will be. It also expresses its readiness for that
Montenegro could be a candidate to host the platform, taking into account our geographical
position, nearness of the five countries in the region, but also multi-ethnic
and multi-religious harmony and tolerance that has always been present among us,”
Minister Damjanović said at today’s press conference.
Establishment of a large, new institute, based on new
technologies that would allow so-called “first class research” is the only way to
achieve the primary mission of “Science for Peace.” Specific preliminary scientific
concept of this new institute already exists, in the form of two very different
options, both based on the construction of synchrotron (a type of circular
accelerator).
The first option is 'Synchrotron Light Source' with a new technique that was
first used in Sweden. This project would enable research in various fields such
as biology, chemistry, pharmacology, ecology, geology and engineering, with
wide application in various industries and over 1.000 researchers to work in this
institute.
The
second option is Hadronic Cancer Treatment and Research in Bio-medicine. This
institute could be built on the model of CNAO-Pavia. If 50 percent of the time
is devoted to the research, about 500 patients per year would be treated at the
institute and about 1.000 researchers would work in it, a large number of which
would be from the countries outside the Balkans.
“Since
it is well known that our region needs economic aid, it seems possible to
obtain financial support for this project from the European Union, through the Berlin process
and other EU funds. With significant support of Herwig
Schopper and provided that the other Balkan countries support this initiative,
we believe and expect that there is a high chance that the idea of a Balkan
project will be carried into effect,” Minister Damjanović highlighted.
Inauguration of the mentioned SESAME Project will take place
on 16 May 2017 in Jordan.