Around 30,000 people are involved in science and research in Belarus, working for 330 organizations - institutes of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB), colleges and universities, research institutions and design bureaus.
Belarus is among the world leaders in fundamental research in physics, mathematics, new materials, computer software.
There is a network of research and technical centers in Belarus, which form an important part of the national innovation infrastructure. They strengthen the interaction between science and production in agriculture, machinery construction and other areas. In 2010 the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus plans to create around ten centers of the kind. Their purpose will be to provide scientific support to the efforts on upgrading the nation's manufacturing industry, developing a new innovation-based economy, creating new production facilities of the fifth and sixth technological paradigms.
Getting young people to work in academic science is one of the priorities of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB). The share of young research fellows under 29 is 21 percent (in 2002 it was under 15 percent).
The Physics and Technology Institute of NASB has designed the first domestic system for metallization of roll materials. In terms of the technical and economic specifications, the system meets the world's best samples while being much less expensive at the same time.
SKIF-OIPI ranks 27th on the list of the 50 most powerful computers in the CIS. It is a joint product of the United Institute of Informatics of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, NQEVM research institute and T-Platforms Company. SKIF supercomputers of the fourth generation are being developed by Belarusian and Russian researchers within the framework of the SKIF-GRID project.
A bio-technical center at the NASB Institute of Microbiology inaugurated in early 2010 will develop new biotechnologies and manufacture experimental biological products. The center will be working on reducing the import of vital biotechnology products and decreasing the negative impact of environmental problems.
A unique center for DNA biotechnology was opened at the NASB Institute of Genetics and Cytology. The center will assist in applying genetics and genomics innovations into healthcare, agriculture, sport and environmental protection in Belarus. The institute has started creating a cutting-edge testing ground for transgenic varieties of agricultural crops including transgenic potato.
HIGH-TECHNOLOGY PARK
In 2005 President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko signed Decree No. 12 "On the High-Technology Park".
High-Technology Park is the name of a special tax and legal regime which is intended to create favorable conditions for the design of software, information and communications technologies in Belarus in order to make the national economy more competitive.
EPAM Systems and Itransition have been selected as 2010's best outsourcing service providers (The Global Outsourcing 100).
According to the decree, the regime will be valid until 2020.
The High-Technology Park is entitled to award tax benefits. HTP resident companies are exempt of all corporate taxes including VAT, profit tax and customs duties. Individual income tax for High-Technology Park residents' employees has a fixed rate of 9 percent from the salary received.
The Belarusian High-Technology Park applies the extraterritorial law which means that HTP companies do not have to be located on the territory of the Park and their products can be supplied to the domestic market. Wherever an HTP resident company is located, in the oblast centre or a small town, it uses all the benefits of the HTP. This status allows to explore to the maximum the education, research, professional and infrastructure potential of the whole country.
As of 1 April 2010, the HTP had 80 resident companies employing 7,502 people.
Within 2005-2008 the software export of the HTP resident companies doubled every year on average. For the three years of the HTP existence, the export has surged almost ten times.
In Q1 2010 export accounted for 78.5 percent of the total production. The products are delivered to 41 countries. The bulk of the export (48 percent) went to North America, 25 percent to Western Europe, 17 percent to the CIS countries. Among the users of Belarusian software created by the HTP resident companies are the world famous corporations such as Peugeot, Mitsubishi, British Petroleum, Gazprom, Reuters, British Telecom, London Stock Exchange, World Bank, Coca-Cola and others.
For more information, please visit www.park.by
In terms of revenue from IT export per capita, Belarus shares the group with India and is way ahead of Russia, according to Forbes. Belarusian companies are among the largest providers of offshore software in Eastern Europe, which shows that Belarus has strong traditions in software engineering. Belarus is home to two think tanks out of the four largest software companies in Eastern Europe.
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