I see the solution for the development of small countries in investing in education at all levels, with a special emphasis on investing in science and developing technological entrepreneurship, said Nobel laureate Dan Šehtman.
"Strataps are the ones who create new jobs," added Šehtman, as stated in the announcement of the University of Montenegro (UCG).
As they explained, he gave a presentation on the topic "Demography, technological entrepreneurship and the future of Montenegro" among fellow scientists, all during the two-day scientific symposium Science and a small country: Synergy of the diaspora, homeland and friends of Montenegro at the UCG Rectorate.
Daniel Dan Shechtman is an Israeli scientist, and he received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2011 - for the discovery of quasicrystals.
UCG states that at the Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology, during the eighties, Šehtman founded and led a course on the topic of technological entrepreneurship that still exists today, as a successful model of educating young people on how to realize all startup ideas.
Rector of the University Vladimir Božović said that although the title determines the framework of this conference, it does not have only a scientific character.
"It is a message worth its weight in gold in terms of its content, and I am completely sure of the echoes it will have - that we can," said Božović.
He expressed his belief that Montenegro has a potential that far surpasses the statistical parameters with which it is dryly encyclopedically described.
"Our strength and importance can also be measured by who we can attract and gather. It is enough to look at the list of those who will speak here and it is clear - this is a scientific event of the elite world level. We are thus witnessing Njegošev's message, the thought of a hunting genius from something different corner. As easy as it is to come from a big country to the world stage, it is so difficult from a small country with a modest scientific tradition. It is really difficult, but it is possible, confirms the lions of science and knowledge, gathered in this hall, at this conference," he said .
He reminded that he was in that spirit and told the young colleagues who entered the University of Montenegro this year to be responsible to themselves, not to allow themselves to be the workforce for the realization of other people's dreams.
"The fact that we are a small community does not mean that we should not fight to be the best in what we do. Maybe that's why it's harder for us, but that's why the fruits of success are sweeter and last longer," said Božović.
The value of science, he added, must not lie in knowledge that is coldly lowered in the floors of time, without warmth for the life of society, but in responsibility for man and his needs.
"We do not want a high-tech, apathetic and cold-blooded civilization in which man is a mere statistical unit, and even a surplus. I deeply believe that science today needs a return to meaning in the humanistic framework, which is also its birthplace. I also believe that this the conference is a step in that direction," says Božović.
"If every year we gather the scientific elite as we have done thanks to the enormous enthusiasm and effort of respected professor and friend Veljko Milutinović, then Montenegro will not only be a wonderful tourist country, so we will add some eminent scientific peaks to these mighty mountains," he concluded. Bozovic.
UCG added that the scientific symposium was organized in cooperation with the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences, whose foreign member is professor Milutinović, to whom CANU president Academician Dragan K. Vukčević expressed his gratitude.
"As a society and state, we stepped late on the road that leads from the village to the city, from the field to the factory and from the church to the school. We pay the price of late modernity even today. In my opinion, ignorance is the biggest problem of modern Montenegro. We hardly understand that institutions the roofs under which the culture of a society and its state is shaped, and we hardly accept that the planning of the elites is the shaping of their own future. Due to the lack of these institutions, our former elites were shaped and created outside of Montenegro," says Vukčević.
He added that many of the scientists present at the gathering are descendants of people who left the country and pointed out that by coming they honored CANA and UCG and Montenegro. It is reported that he concluded by saying that in Montenegro the awareness is maturing that culture is the last defense of the state, professionalism is the best form of patriotism, and investment in knowledge is of crucial importance.
The press release states that the gathering was also greeted by the Minister of Science and Technological Development, Biljana Šćepanović.
"We are a small country - in terms of territory, population... But that small country has its parts, its representatives around the world, who speak a universal language - the language of science. And it is happy that they have not forgotten it, that they not only maintain and strengthen their ties with it , but also help to establish a scientific connection with other countries, for Montenegrin scientific research institutions and researchers to connect and cooperate with their colleagues around the world," pointed out Šćepanović.
UCG adds that the Symposium will continue tomorrow (Thursday), with presentations by eminent names from the world of science.
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