The aim of the conference, which occurred in Bratislava April 3, 2009, was to discuss the best direction for future development of Slovakia in connection with the modernization programme Slovakia 21, recently approved by the Slovak Government. The basic objectives of the conference was to show a new approach to the role of R&D in society by accelerating the development of Slovak regions, to explain the main purpose of EU Structural Funds for R&D funding and to show the influence of various financial instruments on regional development.