Kazakh PM: Scientific developments implementation as main condition for economic innovation development

At the Government session of Kazakhstan discussed measures to commercialize the results of scientific and scientific-technical activities, El.kz cites primeminister.kz.

Minister of Science and Higher Education Sayasat Nurbek reported that the total budget of science for 2023-2025 years in comparison with the previous three-year period increased by 3.3 times to 643 billion tenge. At the same time for 2024-2026, the budget is already about 730 billion tenge with an increase of another 13%.

As part of the ongoing work, additional funding has been allocated to scientific institutions engaged in fundamental research. In addition, support for young scientists has been significantly strengthened - today they are implementing 727 scientific projects.

One of the measures to stimulate commercialization of scientific and scientific-technical activity is grant financing. Over the past few years, the total contribution of such projects to the scientific and technological development of the country amounted to 68.6 billion. This includes sales, tax payments, etc. For 2023-2025, 62.1 billion has been allocated in this direction, which is almost double the amount of funding for previous years.

The Minister noted that in the framework of program-targeted financing for 2023-2025 years allocated 16 billion tenge for the formation of scientific and technological infrastructure. In general, up to 2029 it is planned to open 7 specialized engineering centers and science and technology parks.

Kamil Akatov, Chairman of the Board of JSC "Science Fund" also made a report on holding competitions for grant financing of commercialization projects.

As Prime Minister noted, the introduction of scientific developments is a key condition for modernization of production facilities and innovative development of the economy as a whole.

"Close integration of science and industry is necessary for the qualitative growth of industry. We are taking systemic measures to expand the potential and increase the competitiveness of domestic science. The relevant set of measures is envisaged by the Concept of Development of Higher Education and Science until 2029," Alikhan Smailov said.

According to him, the focus is on the development of applied science, stimulation of business for active co-financing of scientific projects, creation of science and technology parks and engineering centers.

"It is expected that the implementation of the concept will increase to 50% the share of commercialization and co-financing of scientific projects," Head of Government stressed. 

A whole range of norms to ensure the performance of scientific projects taking into account the demand in the economy also provides for the bill "On Science and Technology Policy".

"According to this document, mechanisms for assessing the technological readiness of scientific research from idea to realization are introduced. This will bring theoretical developments closer to practice," Prime Minister pointed out.

He added that along with this, it is planned to introduce technology brokerage and venture financing in the republic. This will increase the involvement of business in the sphere of science and joint responsibility for specific results of scientific projects.

"Tax benefits and preferences will be provided to stimulate private investment in science. For the first time there will be an opportunity to finance science from the local budget. In general, the expenditures of the republican budget for scientific purposes for the last 3 years have increased 3.3 times to 643 billion tenge. About 730 billion tenge is already provided for 2024-2026,"Alikhan Smailov emphasized.

At the same time, he pointed out that given the constant increase in financing of this sphere, it is important to increase the effectiveness of scientific projects and strengthen their applied nature.

In this regard, Prime Minister instructed to update the target indicators of the Concept of development of higher education and science to specify the expected results in the commercialization of projects by March 1.

In addition, Head of the Government demanded to re-engineer the processes of administration, reduce barriers and automate all stages of selection of scientific projects, as well as centralize the procurement of goods and services by the end of the year.

"Together with akimats and regional universities it is necessary to work out effective mechanisms for selection and support of commercialization projects for the specific needs of the economy of the regions," he concluded.

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