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Innovative way of Belarus' development
In Belarus during the last 15 years the strategy of national policy of science and innovations as key factors of socio-economic development was defined rather clearly. In terms of state autonomy, limited raw materials and energy resources the increase of the national economy effectiveness is estimated on the basis of the development of manufacturing industries and service sector, for the maintenance of which in a competitive position the adequate level of scientific and technological potential development is necessary. And its task is to produce new knowledge and to use the achievements of domestic and world science and technology. Thus, the policy of the Belarusian state is focused on the development of intellectual resources.
Currently available in the country scientific and technical resources - the accumulated knowledge, scientific personnel, material and technical base and system of financial support of science – are estimated as rather starting position for further development, which essentially depends on the innovation activity of the production sector – the main consumer of results of research and development. Belarusian science remains an important factor of the country's economy formation during transition period. The development of science intensive sectors, the increased export opportunities for individual sectors and industries, increased product quality, scientific support of agriculture, health and ecology are achieved through the direct participation of the science.
Emphasizing the special role of science in the state development, the President of the Republic of Belarus, A. Lukashenko, in his report at the Third All-Belarusian People’s Congress (on 2 March 2006) noted: “Science should be the supplying environment of innovations, and innovations – the basis of economic development. Just this very series: smart, intelligent, hardworking and educated person – innovations and prosperity – is designed to ensure the planned socio-economic development of our country”.
In new economic conditions, scientific and technical sphere didn’t get stuck in its old position; it has changed significantly both in the focus of scientists and experts on market mechanisms and in the scientific and technical activities organization. Participation of research teams and individual scientists in various competitions of the scientific and technical programs and projects has given new opportunities for initiative, qualitative renewal of themes, search for potential consumers of scientific products inside of the country and abroad, initiation of new programs and projects; all that indicates the new quality of research organization.
Conversion to a new type of programs – state complex target scientific and technological programs – became a confirmation of this. One in eleven programs is a complex of state scientific and technological programs and state programs of fundamental and applied research, complementing each other within the respective priority areas of scientific and technological activities, aimed at ensuring the full innovation cycle, from fundamental scientific research to application of scientific and technical products to production, and implementation of priority socio-economic development of Belarus.
The Republic of Belarus has chosen innovative way of development, based on wide scale application of research and development to production. Increased innovative activity is one of the state’s priorities. As it was mentioned by the President of the Republic of Belarus, A. Lukashenko, in his annual message to the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus and the Belarusian people in April 2004, the strategic goal is to create a unique, favorable environment for the development of high technology – a sort of analogue of the Silicon Valley, where a combination of economic, social and legal conditions of activities will exceed the level, achieved in the world today.
The creation of the Republican High-Tech Park in 2005 became the practical realization of these approaches and ambitious goals. In March 2007, the President of the Republic of Belarus approved the State Program of Innovative Development of Belarus for the years 2007 – 2010. In October 2009, the Government approved the State Program “Innovative Biotechnologies” for the years 2010 – 2012 and for the period of up to 2015. As part of this program, it is planed to create a biotechnological sector, which will include a number of new and modernized enterprises. The expected total sales amount of products and services as a result of the program will amount to 500 billion rubles in 2015, import substitution – to 150 million dollars, export – 60 million dollars. The Decree of the Government of the Republic of Belarus № 1566, passed on 2 December 2009, approved the State Program on development of the import substitution production of pharmaceutical substances, drug products and diagnostic tools in the Republic of Belarus for the years 2010 – 2014 and for the period of up to 2020. Its implementation will concentrate efforts on the creation of expensive pharmaceutical substances and unique drugs according to Belarusian technologies (about 1000 dollars per unit of output), the production of which in the Republic of Belarus, the CIS countries and abroad is not carried out today. Besides that, the National Academy of Sciences together with the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Emergency Situations developed and approved by the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus № 1116 on 28 August 2009 the State Program “Scientific support of development of nuclear power engineering in the Republic of Belarus for the years 2009 – 2010 and the period of up to 2020”.
Task-oriented state policy to support innovative activity ensured predominance of high-tech export-oriented industries in the economy of Belarus. In 2008, various sectors of Belarusian economy used about 21.4 thousand of advanced industrial processes; since the introduction of 49% of them no more than 5 years have passed. In 2008, through the application of research and development results to 103 organizations and companies, 375 advanced industrial processes, 318 of them – new in the country, 52 – new abroad, 5 – fundamentally new, were created.
The costs of technological innovations in the industry of Belarus amounted to 2.95 trillion rubles in 2008, 61.3% of them were from own funds of organizations and enterprises. Innovative activity of industrial enterprises increases. While in 2002, innovative activity was carried out by 325 Belarusian enterprises, then in 2008 – 371 of them. The volume of innovative products produced by industrial enterprises totaled 13.4 trillion rubles in 2008. Innovatively-active industrial enterprises combined their efforts to carry out research and development mainly with economic players within the Republic of Belarus (84.9% of the total number of joint projects), from EU member countries and other European countries (7.9%), and from the Russian Federation (7.2%).
One of the major socio-economic tasks for the scientific-industrial sphere of the country today is to ensure the further growth of the efficiency of scientific research in order to increase the volume of the produced products and created production processes, which meet international standards. The State Program of adoption of new and high technologies in the production processes for the years 2006 – 2010, approved by the Government of the Republic of Belarus, the state customer of which is the NAS of Belarus and the leading executive organization, a member of the Academy of Sciences, – the State Research-and-Production Association “Centre”, aims to increase the competitiveness of Belarusian produce, to solve problems of import substitution and increased export capacity to the maximum satisfaction of the internal market needs. The results of a similar program for the years 2003 – 2005 indicate the high efficiency of its influence on the development of high-tech industries in the country: 1 ruble of investment of the program gave more than 8 rubles of profit at the expense of the production of the adopted products and processes.
Further sustainable development can be guaranteed only in case of strengthening of scientific and technical potential, and combining efforts of science and industry. At present and in future, the criteria for evaluation of the effectiveness of scientific and technological products should be the possibility to lead to commercial results, to creation of new markets, and growth of competitiveness of respective economic sectors. Therefore, the development of scientific, technological and educational potential is considered to be the main direction of state innovation policy.
The Program of Socio-Economic Development of Belarus for the years 2006 – 2010 recognized the innovative way of development as one of the priority tasks of the country, which determines the strategic goal of the state scientific and technical policy – the creation of favorable legal, economic and social conditions for the development of science and continuous improvement of technological level of production and products’ competitiveness, the level and quality of life, and strengthening national security.
For that, in the current five-year plan, the main idea of which is the improvement of competitiveness by means of economy modernization, and the motto: “Man – Innovation – Well-being”, the priority directions of scientific and technological activities in the Republic Belarus for the years 2006 – 2010, approved by Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus № 315 on 6 July 2005, and priority directions of fundamental and applied research of the Republic of Belarus for the years 2006 – 2010, approved by the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus № 512 on 17 May 2005, will form the basis for scientific, technological and innovative activities in Belarus.
Realization of these priorities through the state research programs will provide further broadening of knowledge about nature, man and society, the quality of which should correspond the world level of science and needs of development of economy and social sphere in Belarus; and, based on that, will make it possible to create new technologies of production of machine-building and agricultural products, electronic, computer and fiber optic techniques, building materials, as well as medical, biological, fine chemical and information technologies. The priority directions of economic sectors will be realized through state scientific and technological programs, aimed at development of advanced industrial processes and new types of high-tech export oriented and import-substituting products, based on country’s own raw materials and material and technical sources, and organization of its serial production.
The development of new forms of innovative infrastructure, such as scientific-innovation and scientific-technical centers, industrial parks and technology towns, and other forms of development of the scientific potential of large companies and associations in order to make them self-developing and competitive, will activate innovative activity. Great attention will be paid to the development of High-Tech Park, the main line of activity of which will be the development of technologies providing the increase of competitiveness of national economy.
According to the Program of Socio-Economic Development of Belarus for the years 2006 – 2010, the basic principles of innovation policy of Belarus should be: state regulation of innovation processes mainly with economic methods, stimulating business activity in the field of scientific, technological and innovative activities through the improvement of wage policy, systems of tax, credit and other economic benefits; focus of innovation activity on socio-economic, scientific and technical priorities for the saturation of the domestic market with competitive goods and entrance of high-tech products to the world market, etc.
In the forecast period, the major tasks of the policy of safeguarding and development of personnel potential of the country’s scientific and technical complex will be: the increase of the salary level of scientists, economic and social protection of scientists and of the prestige of scientific work; the creation of conditions to attract talented young people into the sphere of science and technology.
The program stipulates the expansion of international scientific and technological cooperation, in the first place, of Belarus and Russia, within the interstate scientific and technological programs, as well as in the framework of bilateral Belarusian-Russian scientific and technological projects. Much attention will be paid to the creation of market mechanisms and infrastructure of international cooperation, the conditions to attract foreign investments into science taking into account the subsequent use of results, strengthening the information-communication potential of the country as a condition to improve economic performance, governance and to ensure the rights of free search, transfer, and dissemination of information about the state of economic and social development of the society.
One of the priority tasks of state regulation of science and innovation in the Republic of Belarus is the development of national innovation system as a mechanism of interaction between science and industry, organized and directed by the State in the interest of innovations’ dissemination, as the main factor for ensuring the competitiveness of the national economy.
In 2006, the Committee for State Scientific and Technical Policy, subordinated to the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus, approved the Concept of national innovation system; according to the Concept, the goal of state policy in the sphere of creation and development of the national innovation system determined the formation of economic conditions for delivery of competitive innovative product to the market in order to implement strategic national priorities of the Republic of Belarus, to improve the quality of life, to reach economic growth, to develop fundamental science, education, culture, defense and security of the country by combining the efforts of the state and the business sector on the basis of mutually beneficial partnership.
Stipulated by the Concept, the main directions of the state policy in the sphere of creation and development of the national innovation system include: the creation of favorable institutional and legal environment for innovative activity, the restructuring of existing structural and functional units of the national innovation system (the scientific, educational sectors, and industrial complexes), and the improvement of their integration and effectiveness in market conditions; the development of innovative infrastructure, innovative entrepreneurship, and financial infrastructure, the creation of the motivational mechanism of innovative activity; the development of institutions of use and protection of intellectual property rights, the system of state support of commercialization of intellectual activity; training the personnel for innovative activity; modernization of economy through technological innovations; public administration and guaranteeing the interaction of elements of the national innovation system.
Realization of the directions of state policy, aimed at adoption of the regime of intensive innovative development by the national economy, is provided by the State Program of Innovative Development of the Republic of Belarus for the years 2007 – 2010.
The program provides the maximum use of available in the country preconditions and development of a favorable economic and legal environment for building the national innovation system as an effective institutional model of the generation, dissemination and use of knowledge, their implementation into new technologies, products and services in all the spheres of life. The instructions for ministries and concerns of the implementation of a number of large-scale innovation and investment projects in key sectors of economy, including the creation of new enterprises and new production processes at the existing enterprises with the application of new technologies, modernization of productive and technological potential, technological renovation of the capital stock of existing enterprises, were determined.
In 2009, in accordance with the plan of realization of the State Program of Innovative Development, implementation of 715 projects, including 213 ones placed in operation, was undertaken. During this period, 31 new production processes and the most important enterprises, 83 new production processes at existing enterprises, and 99 modernized enterprises were established on the basis of modern technologies. The development and output of new products according to 87 tasks of state scientific and technical programs was guaranteed. As a result, in 2009, the volume of production of innovative products amounted to more than 5 trillion rubles, while 2.407 workplaces were created and modernized (altogether, about 10000 workplaces during SPID realization). The results of the program confirm that the development of innovative component of the national economy on the basis of program-target approach is guaranteed in the Republic of Belarus. One of the key tasks of this year will be the development and adoption of the State Program of Innovative Development of the Republic of Belarus for the years 2011-2015.
See also: Legislative base
BRIEF REPORT of Science State and Development Prospects in the Republic of Belarus based on outcomes of 2008
Science, innovations and technologies in the Republic of Belarus, 2008
State Committee for Science and Technology
© National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 2011
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