the business sector37, academic institutions, independent development centres, consulting houses, civil sector, and will co-finance research projects supported by EU and other international foundations and institutions. By establishing the ICT Research and Development Programme under the Fund for the Development of the information society, the Republic of Macedonia will prove that the determination to develop the information society is not only declarative and that concrete steps for its fulfilment are being undertaken. Without such a Fund, the Republic of Macedonia will hardly be able to achieve the goals laid down in the National Strategy for the development of Information Society and the National Strategy for the development of Electronic Communications with Information Technologies. Measure 2.13. The Government will propose a Law on the Establishment of an Information Society Development Fund of the Republic of Macedonia. The ICT Research and Development Programme will be one of the pillars of this Fund. 37 A number of the projects supported by the Program will finance innovative solutions proposed by the small and the medium enterprises Page 38 of 40