Science education and research for technological progress

Education implies systematic instruction, schooling or training of people so that they are able to meet challenges of the environment they live in, and be able to contribute positively in solving problems to build a better society. Science education is usually equated with education in the area of natural and physical sciences, but in modern day society it includes important aspects of social sciences. Education at academic institutions of higher learning must go hand in hand with research—an activity aimed at discovering new things. While the academic institutions engage in pioneering studies in basic or applied research, industrial research labs are required to shape this pioneering work into products to be used by the society. Technological progress implies a process of breaking through obstacles, and producing new things and eliminating the old.