ALGIERS – Prime Minister Aïmene Benabderrahmane called on Saturday in Algiers for “the promotion of the quality of scientific production to improve its position in the world ranking, according to the most serious international evaluation indicators”.
In his address on the occasion of the installation of the National Council for Scientific Research and Technology (CNRST), the Prime Minister stressed the imperative of “working to improve the ranking of our universities and research institutions, within the framework of a studied action and a clear vision and in serious international rankings, based on the evaluation of the actual results of scientific and technological production as well as on the impact on the economy and society, far from the cyclical and fictitious rankings that refer only to the electronic visibility of universities and research centers”.
“Despite the results achieved by scientific research and despite the large investments made by the State in this area, the results remain below our expectations, namely a real transfer of knowledge and consolidation of research results in the economic sector and society, in general,” he said.
“The ranking of scientific production at the level of serious evaluation indicators on an international scale, has not yet reached the expected level,” the Prime Minister continued, citing among other important indicators that reflect the development of scientific and technological research, “the level of scientific production, publications having reached the number of 86,500 scientific publications of which only 219 entered in the H-index (Hirsch Index), dedicated to assessing the productivity and influence of a researcher in the scientific community”.
Faced with this “minimal” figure, Mr. Benabderrahmane invited universities, laboratories and research centers to make the inclusion of their publications in this index “an objective, in view of its major impact in improving the ranking of national scientific production, but also in promoting the competitiveness of our researchers on a global scale, which contributes to the consolidation of trust between the scientific research community and the economic institution”.
Mr Benabderrahmane also stressed “the importance of speeding up the registration of invention patents”, specifying that the government is “working to meet all the conditions to double their number in the coming years” because “it is, he said, one of the most important vectors of improving the quality of the scientific product, with an impact on creativity and innovation in general”.
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Regarding the installation of the council, the Prime Minister affirmed that this event “constitutes a new milestone in the process of institutional building and installation of the constitutional bodies provided for in the Basic Law of 2020, in accordance with the commitments of the President of the Republic ( …)”, believing that “this facility is just as important as scientific research which plays a central role as a lever for the development of countries and the progress of societies”.
Scientific research is one of the “pillars that help the state to move from an economic model based on oil rent to a model based on knowledge and innovation and taking advantage of high-level scientific skills graduates of the Algerian University and who have proven themselves in the most prestigious universities at the international level,” he said.
In this regard, the Prime Minister stressed “the commitment of President Tebboune, in his program that the Government is implementing as part of its action plan, to develop the poles of excellence in the specialties concerned by the partnership with economic companies, in line with the global development of technology (…) and in response to the requirements of the new economic model, improve the climate of scientific and technological research, encourage its openness to its national and international environment and support cooperation between universities, research centers and economic enterprises”.
Recalling the investments made in this field, through the creation of several research structures, Mr. Benabderrahmane referred to “the great evolution” that some research centers are experiencing, citing as an example “those under the Algerian Space Agency (ASA) who have taken great strides through the various space programs developed and implemented, which are intended to be an example to follow in terms of practical research and the implementation of strategic mechanisms and tools for the development of vital sectors such as agriculture (…) and others”.
On the other hand, the Prime Minister noted the “remarkable evolution” in terms of human resources management in the field of scientific research, especially since the number of research teachers affiliated to research laboratories rose from nearly 8,000 research teachers in 2000 to about 40,500 research teachers at the end of 2021, an increase of more than 400%.
Translated by Hope from APS.
