Although Croatia is already in an advanced phase of negotiations regarding its incorporation into the EU, it is going through the difficulties that all other transition countries have experienced (such as institutional development, research careers, funding instruments and underfunding of science and higher education), with the added complication of having lived through the recent war. All of these difficulties have impinged upon the allocation of funds for Croatian science, which are substantially lower than the objective set by the EU for its member states.

Funds for science from the private sector in Croatia are negligible. Thus, the whole burden falls upon the national budget. Fortunately, government investment in scientific infrastructure at universities and scientific institutes has increased considerably during the past few years. Coupled with increased employment opportunities for scientists and with the success of the Return of the Croatian Scientists from the Diaspora Program of the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports (MSES), there are reasons to be optimistic.

Even though Croatia has a negative population growth rate, it has neither a relevant and active reproductive health advancement policy nor a program for research in the field of human reproduction. The financial support from the MSES is the only aid for research in the field of human reproduction. Currently, there are 22 projects in human reproduction that are fully or partially subsidized with modest amounts of money (∼€250,000), which represent 1.24% of the total resources that the MSES allocates for projects in all scientific fields. In the framework of this program, of which I am one of several coordinators, the Ministry also provides salaries for 31 PhD students and some funds for equipment. In 2007, this support was ∼ €800,000, distributed among 22 research projects that focused on male and female infertility, reproductive pathology and animal reproduction.

Because the national funds for reproductive research are not sufficient, researchers in the field have developed collaborations with numerous research groups in Europe, the US and Japan. We also apply for international funds that increase the resources for research materials and ensure specialization scholarships for scientists in training. For example, together with colleagues from other EU countries I have applied for money from the FP6 in the framework of the European Network of Excellence for research on the mechanisms of embryo implantation control.

In my experience, the combination of national and international sources of funding and networking with Centers of Excellence within the European region are of the greatest importance for the fast development of science in countries in transition and for bridging the gap with more developed nations.