State support for startups in Belarus increase 3.5 times in 2014

State support for startup projects in Belarus went up 3.5 times in 2014, Belarus’ First Vice Premier Vasily Matyushevsky said at the opening of the Minsk round of the Skolkovo Foundation All-Russian Startup Tour on 14 April, BelTA has learned.

“Startup movement in Belarus has been gaining momentum. In 2014 the volume of state support for startup events increased 3.5 times as against 2013,” Vasily Matyushevsky said.

According to the First Vice Premier, the All-Russian Startup Tour in Minsk will add an additional impetus to the development of the startup movement in Belarus. “New knowledge and technology is a priority for our country’s further development. The All-Russian Startup Tour in Minsk is good news,” he said.

“I would like to emphasize another important goal. It is the need to form innovative communities, including collectives of research institutions, students and the academic staff of universities, representatives of big companies of Belarus and Russia. Such communities should become a backbone in the implementation and advancement of joint innovations on the market of the integration structures that include Belarus and Russia,” Vasily Matyushevsky stressed.

On 14-15 Minsk is playing host to the Belarusian round of the Russian start-up tour of Skolkovo Foundation. About 900 applications have been submitted in five thematic areas: information technology, biomedical technology, energy-efficient technologies, industrial technologies and materials, innovations for children. Of them more than 200 were selected for presentation. The largest number of applications was submitted in information technologies, new materials, industrial and biomedical technologies. The goal of the tour is to find innovative solutions and assist developers in devising their own development strategies. The tour also includes a training program (master classes and seminars from leading experts in the field of implementation of innovation projects).