1. Competitiveness of the regional market, importance of statistics and innovations
THE ROLE OF RESEARCH CENTERS IN PROMOTING OF RESEARCH Sarajevo, 8th October 2018
Eldin Mehić 1

2. Objective
The research sector consists of university research organizations and private institutes. The quality of their implementation has a major impact on economic development as these institutions represent an important source of ideas and knowledge for national economies. The research sector in the Western Balkans is characterized by low performance in scientific and research work as a result of a lack of human resources and research funding, on the one hand, and a regulatory framework that does not encourage efficiency, on the other.
The presentation aims to highlight the importance of research centers in the promotion of research. In addition, the presentation aims to present institutional forms, business capacities, funding opportunities, products and users of research centers. The presentation will also give an overview of the possibility of establishing a research center within the Federation for support of economic and social Development "Horizon 2024".

3. Introduction
Policy Centers, or think tanks organization as they are most often called, are a modern type of organization that deals with policy research for all aspects of society.
The importance of research and policy recommendations is also given by the fact that decision-makers and solutions are «crowded» with information that they can not use. The information they need to make decisions is often unsystematic, unreliable and unbiased.
The most common definition of a think tank organization term referred to as: «... an institute, corporation, or group organized for interdisciplinary research (as technological and social problems)... called also think factory.»

4. Introduction Criteria to be met by a think tank organization :
Organizational independence and perseverance - which means that non-profit organizations are independent of government and company interests. At the same time, they have to perform their activity on a permanent basis.
Focusing on a particular field of research - although claiming to be independent organizations, it happens that the funding criteria affect the change of the research area and the results of the research.
Policy research orientation - which refers to the need to bring knowledge into the process of making political decisions, wherever possible, by informing and influencing the process itself.
The public purpose - think tank organizations emphasize that their goal is to conduct research with the purpose of informing the public and the government, and to improve public policy.
The professionalism and professionalism of researchers is the intellectual resource of a think tank organization, but also a way of legitimizing research results.
Organizational product of think tank organizations are research, analysis and suggestions that are presented to the public in the form of various publications or activities such as conferences, seminars, workshops, etc.

5. Classification
In the context of types can be distinguished organizations of different ideological perspectives, sources of funding, focus groups and target groups. Sources of financing certainly influence the independence of the functioning of organizations, the sphere of influence and social position. It is precisely this diversity that sometimes makes it difficult to identify organization/institution as a think tank organization, which leads to constant controversy about what is the specific difference between civil society organizations, educational institutions, consulting firms, party-based organizations, and think tank organizations.
In regard to this, there is a continually active controversy about the annual ranking of think tank organizations through different categories and results presented by the Global GO-To Think Tanks report organized by the Think Tanks and Civil Society Program (TTCSP) at the University of Pennsylvania

6. Characteristics

7. Characteristics

8. Characteristics

9. Characteristics

10. Research Center – Fedration for support of economic and social development „Horizon 2024“
Federation for support of economic and social development „Horizon 2024“ in cooperation with partners within the TIS Regional Forum promotes the idea of ​​developing the platform or the idea of ​​forming an Informal Regional Center for Research, Development and Projects. This Center should primarily combine specific individual / specific activities with the community, business sector, government institutions and non-governmental organizations, which can relate to market research, investment, IT technology, industry, tourism and all other areas of relevance to participants . Also, one of the main objectives would be to follow international calls for projects, such as Horizon 2020, COST, EUREKA and other international programs that provide opportunities for financing projects that contribute to building a society and economy based on knowledge and innovation, as well as market-oriented projects from different areas. The activities of the Center would relate to informing, sharing experiences and linking partners to specific projects.
The Center would create certain databases:
A database of regional experts, which aims to provide information on experts from different fields together with their skills and experience.
A database of regional projects, which aims to provide information on projects from different areas that can serve partners in the creation of future activities.
The data base of certain indicators, that primarily should analyze the publicly available data, their significance and impact, in terms of impact in the process of making business / political decisions at different levels of action.