Fragmentation of the public scientific research system, lack of investments from the business sector into research and development as well as modest investments into research-intensive and innovative areas are some of the reasons why Croatia seriously lags behind when it comes to applied and developmental research. For this reason, targeted financial instruments should be implemented to secure that significant amounts of budgetary and extra-budgetary funds are invested into making connections between the academic and business sectors, evaluation and monitoring of joint projects, with special emphasis placed on the mobility of young researchers into the economic, public and private sector.

By launching a programme for collaboration between science and the economy, between the public and private sectors, investments from the economic sector into science and research can be systematically directed toward best projects and researchers, while the mobility of researchers into the economic sector can be enhanced.