Issue 5: Exploring New Markets and Developing Nations
Border Crossing
Arend Küster European Business Development ManagerThere is a very rich heritage of academic excellence in Europe, home to some of the oldest and most traditional universities in the world. The European Union is proud of this heritage and the fact that residents of member countries produce almost one third of the world’s scientific knowledge. 2004 saw the biggest political and structural change in Europe since the Iron Curtain came down in 1989. Countries that formerly belonged to the Warsaw Pact joined the European Union, which now stretches east across the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Furthermore, Bulgaria and Romania plan to join the Union in 2007. All these countries share enthusiasm for the European idea, and within Europe the attention has shifted to the East. Formerly, a country like Germany was on the Eastern Border of the European Union, while today it is in the heart of Europe. Countries like Poland and the Czech Republic no longer refer to themselves as Eastern Europe; instead they consider themselves Central European nations.
Each of these countries has a very distinct history, unique sources of pride and varying funding situations. In recent years, member countries of the European Union have committed to increasing their research and development funding to 3% of their annual GDP; this compares to current funding levels of 2.58% in the US and 3.03% in Japan. In reality, most countries are not on track to meet this deadline – with a shortfall mostly in private sector funding. Current spending in EU countries ranges between 3.41% (Finland) and 0.51% (Greece) of GDP with an average funding level of 1.86%. Current funding in Germany is 2.51% of GDP while France contributes 2.2% and the UK contributes 1.89%.
Since it is likely that the level of funding throughout Europe will increase during the next ten years, this provides a great opportunity for research and publishers. In addition, researchers in Eastern and Central Europe are working now to improve international cooperation with the US, Japan and within Europe. They would like to be able to contribute on a more equal basis and don’t want to continue relying on their colleagues in the West for access to important journal information. Their desire for desktop access to these journals is also an advantage for publishers.
Although many librarians criticize the big deal, in concept it meets the needs of Central European libraries in a number of ways; researchers’ prefer to access scholarly information online and interest for print remains strong. In some countries, print journals are being passed from institution to institution, so researchers can look up articles they would like to read in more detail. As it was once very difficult to obtain printed journal information from the West at all, today, these institutions are still very proud of their full runs of journals and are hesitant to stop subscribing to them. Another advantage to the big deal is that in tying print and online together it can lessen the impact of VAT on the institutions. VAT was introduced throughout the EU beginning on May 1, 2004 forcing the new member nations to consider its financial implications. Since VAT for printed material remains lower than for electronic material, libraries have to think hard before they make the decision to go online-only.
Some of the smaller new EU member nations present an interesting challenge for publishers. On one hand, they have limited research capabilities. As Marika Meltsas highlights in her interview, Estonia, with a total population of 1.4 million people –comparable with the total population of the city of Hamburg in Germany, is dealing with the problem of limited resources, which is typical in many small countries. However, many of these countries have also witnessed a dramatic surge of student numbers, which creates a lot of pressure to subscribe to leading information. Competition for these students is building up between different universities, which will increase the pressure on libraries to supply their users with accurate, timely, and relevant information.
Change in all of these countries is rapid. Researchers, faculty and librarians are making great efforts to keep up to speed. As the new EU countries catch up, it will be important to start engaging with their universities in order to find out about their individual and collective needs, recognizing the differences and addressing the nuances present in each. Engaging them early will help to support them during this period of rapid growth and change and to develop a partnership relationship with these emerging markets.