:: Shhh... Bureaucracy ::

I've been waiting for a while 'till the dust settled on the state comptroller's (Mevaker Hamedina) last report.

Lucky for the government, the Ben-Basat program came out a few days after the report came out.

So - Now that everyone forgot about it, I had some time to read the little letters. Naturally, I was interested with the part concerning the state's handling of R∓D.

We turn to page 435 of yearly report number 50c, and read the section about the ministry of Science, Culture and Sports. What do we find? We find some really nice figures - In 1998 the state has invested 2.6 billion NIS in R∓D, which is one of the highest rates in the world (percentage wise). But this is where the good news ends. Back at the beginning of the 60's the government formed a national council for sciences, which was supposed to manage all the state's efforts in R∓D. However, In 1996, it was decided that a law was required to determine how the council should work. Since then, the council hasn't been working, since the law still has to be passed.

Now, In 1992, a new committee was formed, with an annual budget of 25M$. The committee was in charge of defining the R∓D areas in which the money should be spent. During 1996, there were disagreements between the new committee and the ministry and since then - no new mapping of R∓D areas has been performed.

Still not amazed? Get this. Since 1993, the German government has given the total of 154M Marks for Israeli R∓D. This is really kind of them. However, we at the Wadi have not been using all the money we got. What did we do with the money left? Well, We just let it to sleep in the Bank of Israel. Where, due to policy it doesn't collect any interest. What can we say - Aaaaargh?!

There is much more, and you should read it for yourself. It's worth devoting the 10 minutes. No punch line here. Just reality.

Wadi Writer #3 (Maroon )

WadiList@mail.com

Links:

State Comptroller's Site - http://www.mevaker.gov.il/index2.htm