THE TRANSFORMATION OF RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL IN UKRAINE

THE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (R&D) sector plays specific roles at diff erent stages of development of society. For convenience, we may consid er five main external aspects (or functions) of science and technology (S&T) activity: economic, organisational, educational, cultural and p olitical. In the changing societies in Central and Eastern Europe (GEE ) the content of these aspects of R&D, and the interconnections betwee n the functions, are changing dramatically. In every CEE country the p rocess of transformation has its own features, and is generally speaki ng unique. But at the same time there are similarities in structure, a nd in the role of S&T in these countries, which open the way to fruitf ul comparisons, and permit,generalisation and theoretical explanation of the pattern of events. Ukraine is one of the biggest countries in E urope, and gained its independence as recently as 1991. Independence b rought changes in institutional and economic environment and distribut ion of power in the country. We will consider the impact of these chan ges on S&T and the role of S&T in the transformation.