The Great Dome of MIT at night. (source: Unsplash)
Slovakia has launched cooperation with one of the best universities in the world, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States.
Investment Advisory Guide - Your key to understanding the Slovak business environment (source: Investment Guide)
The cooperation was kicked off during an online meeting of the representatives of the Slovak Investments Ministry, the Slovak Foreign Affairs Ministry and the US Embassy in Slovakia. At the same time, a fund was created to support the joint scientific projects.
“It is a great opportunity for Slovak scientists to gain practical experience in the environment of a top research institution,” said Investments Minister Veronika Remišová (Za Ľudí).
The department will support two to four projects a year, with up to $30,000 for one.
Call opens in mid-September
The cooperation is based on the Memorandum of Understanding and Mutual Cooperation, which was ceremoniously launched by Professor Markus Buehler (MIT), Veronika Remišová and Chargé d'Affaires of the US Embassy in Slovakia, Natasha Franceschi. A joint memorandum worth $225,000 is valid for three years, i.e. until 2024.
The aim of the programme is to start long-term cooperation between researchers, as well as to establish working relationships between foreign universities and MIT, so that they can open the door to an exchange program for students.
The announcement of the call itself and the selection of projects will be the responsibility of MIT, while the Slovak Investments Ministry will have an advisory voice.
The call for applications will open in mid-September and will last until mid-December. The winning projects are set to be announced on April 1, 2022.
Among the best universities
MIT is one of the best universities in the world, especially in the field of natural, technical, and social sciences. The fund will enable the cooperation and support of top Slovak scientists with partners from MIT.
“Among the MIT graduates or scientists are nearly 100 Nobel Prize winners, about 30 Turing Prize winners for technical contributions to the computer community and 41 astronauts, and 16 U.S. Air Force scientific leaders,” said Franceschi. “This agreement between Slovakia and MIT will connect the best Slovak scientists with one of the best universities in the world, strengthen cooperation between the best and brightest from both our countries.”
Remišová is convinced that science, research and innovation have a great potential in Slovakia, which has not been fully used.
“Therefore, we will support research and innovative Slovak companies to a much greater extent, whose solutions are expected to succeed on the domestic as well as the global market,” she added. “We also want to bring innovation to the regions so that people can get a job perspective worthy of the 21st century, higher wages and a better quality of life right there.”
