Interagency council ready to coordinate nanoindustry development in Belarus

An interagency coordinating council for developing the nanotech industry in Belarus has been created. The relevant decision is laid down by Council of Ministers resolution No. 640 of 18 July 2013, the press service of the Belarus government told BelTA.

The council’s efforts will be aimed at working out strategic decisions on matters relevant for the development of the nanotech industry in Belarus, mechanisms to implement these decisions, including priorities for state budget spending in this area. The council is expected to come up with a roadmap for the Belarusian nanotech industry and will make decisions on implementing the document.

First Vice Premier of Belarus Vladimir Semashko is the head of the council. Sitting on the council are also representatives of government agencies, the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, key enterprises and business associations, leading researchers in the field of nanotechnologies. The wide representation will allow creating favorable prerequisites for productive interaction between the state, science, the manufacturing sector and the private sector, including for the sake of advancing public private partnership, which is the foundation for implementing a cluster approach to shaping the nanotech industry as an independent branch of the economy, said the press service.

Thus, Belarus has made another step on the way of the structural rebuilding of the national economy and the establishment of a high-tech sector with a considerable innovative potential.

Belarus is the second country after Russia in the post-Soviet space and in Central and Eastern Europe to have made strategic decisions at the government level to create and foster the nanotech industry. The government pays close attention to these matters. Nanotechnologies and nanomaterials are becoming part and parcel of virtually all the branches of the economy ranging from production sector to healthcare. Nanotechnologies and nanomaterials are the core of the cutting-edge technological paradigms. This is why Council of Ministers resolution No. 113 of 18 February 2013 approved a concept to guide the development of the nanotech industry and a plan of measures to implement the concept. The documents outline several concrete tasks, including the formation of the legal base to commercialize nanotech development products, the establishment of new nanotech enterprises, and matters of state support. The National Academy of Sciences of Belarus has been tasked with coordinating the efforts to develop the nanotech industry.