Every year on the third Saturday of May, Ukraine celebrates Science Day. The scientific community is an environment that I know very well as a doctor of laws, as a person who has worked in higher education all my life, and as a member of the parliamentary Committee on Education, Science and Innovation. Therefore, today I want to talk frankly about what inspires and what still remains a challenge.
The following is the text in the original language: Pulyuy, Sikorsky, Korolov, Mechnikov, Paton, Vernadsky, Gavrylyshyn. The proportion of well-known Ukrainians is very small, without research and contributions it is impossible to reveal to modern science. The list can be continued for longer.
What's good between them Different eras, different shares, different furnishings - perhaps, the Ukrainians themselves have acquired the ability to think unconventionally, even if there are no standard resources.
Our current butt - Marina V’yazovska. Kiyanka, a graduate of KNU named after Taras Shevchenko, the first citizen of Ukraine and a friend in history, a woman who won the Fields Medal - I will find a sign in mathematics. For the solution of tasks that previously could not cost more than 400 rubles. Another confirmation of what our intellectual school is dedicated to, and what women in science are dedicated to.
This potential is alive. Our commitment as a state, university and society is that the Ukrainian intellectual school is unlikely to develop itself here in Ukraine. Not in Berlin or London, but here. Without the people who generate knowledge, there is a cumbersome and difficult development - neither economical, nor defense, nor social.
It is clear that according to the 17 UN Development Goals adopted until 2030, scientific research and technological innovations are identified as key tools for solving global problems - from poverty to. Funding science is an investment in the success of the state in the future. Straight and seamless.
Anti-aircraft drones - a unique technology created in Ukraine. Naval drones, electronic warfare systems, integration of artificial intelligence into combat solutions - in Ukraine these technologies have achieved the greatest development.
Okremo varto say about the spoilers. The enemy massively vibrates cheap “shaheeds” and launches them in hundreds, or even thousands. Beating the skins out of them with an expensive PPO missile is neither rational nor economical, nor strategic. This is what anti-aircraft drones have become: more compact, significantly cheaper from manufacturing, commercially available drones without spending money on costly missiles. A classic example of how the sharing of resources creates non-trivial solutions.
Svit tse pomіtiv. How many eleven powers - the USA, the countries of the Middle East and others - rushed to Ukraine with plans to help the Iranian drones against Iran?. For information and technology, countries have come to us whose budgets for science are incomparable with ours.. For evidence and knowledge of Ukrainian and military specialists.
For decades, Ukrainian science has been underfunded. Varto means that after the large-scale invasion of Russia, if defense funds became the most important priority, the situation with the financing of science became worse than the frontiers. In 2022–2023, according to the State Statistics Service, in Ukraine the share of expenditures on scientific research and development amounted to 0.33% of GDP, and in 2024 this figure was close to 0.37%.
Under this Law of Ukraine "
To understand the scale - a small amount. According to the OECD data for 2023: Israel invests in science over 6% of GDP, South Korea - around 5%, USA - over 3%, Germany - over 3%, France - around 2.2%, EU average - 2.2%. Mi - less than half a hundred.
Of course, we understand the realities of wartime. Each hryvnia to the budget today is a choice between priorities in minds that were not chosen. If science is deprived of an essential investment - not because of the war, but through it.
The situation is starting to change. For the first time in ten years we will talk about a systemic turnaround.
The Verkhovna Rada allocated UAH 20.1 billion for science in the state budget for 2026 - 41% more, lower figure. Record show. Of these, over 3 billion UAH are distributed between scientific installations and deposits of greater awareness of the results of state certification for the principle of real results.
Financing is distributed in three ways:.
At the same time, the creation of university centers of advanced research was launched - for applied research, rapid dissemination of their results in the economy and training of a new generation of scientists. Laboratories, state-of-the-art technical security, and proactive research on the participation of young scientists—these very institutions in developing countries are becoming points of growth for all kinds of problems..
If the lights are turned on, if the sirens are turned on, if there is a proposal from the leading universities to the world, over 80% of Ukrainian scientists will be deprived of Ukraine. The stinks didn't go away. The stinks are here - and they are destroying Ukrainian science today.
On Thursday, May 14, I broke this topic from the Supreme Court for the sake of the saint in advance and called on the parliament to continue the trend to increase the funding of science in the upcoming budget. For example, I asked my colleagues to applaud Ukrainian scientists. Parliament.
As a member of the Committee on Nutrition, Science and Innovation, I systematically work to protect the rights of scientists and students from the legislative field and industry. Applause in the audience is a signal of respect.
If this signal is confirmed, there may be real solutions and even greater prospects for the development of science in the upcoming budget, as well as the provision of real practical results of scientific activity, which will contribute to the benefit of Ukraine.
To everyone who works today in laboratories, universities and research facilities throughout Ukraine - generously for your work and dedication. Let's develop Ukrainian science at once!
On Science Day!