Belarus

Nowadays, Belarus focuses closely on ICT development, regarded as the foundation for further intensive development of the country. About 500 companies work in the ICT field across Belarus. Among these, about 200 small and medium- size enterprises (SMEs) specialize mainly in export-oriented software development.

The High-Tech Park in the field of ICT has been operational in Belarus since 2005. The Park was established to create the favorable environment for the development of the ICT sphere in Belarus and attract investments to the Belarusian economy.

R&D in the ICT area in Belarus is carried out by:

- the National Academy of Sciences (NAoS) (at 14 to 15 institutes);

- the Ministry of Education (MoE) (at 4 universities in Minsk and 6 regional universities);

- the private sector (about 10 large companies).

In Belarus, the main priorities in the ICT area are business process automation, development of systems providing access to the information, microelectronics, means and facilities for TV and other types of communication, etc. Belarus and Russia work closely together on the development of a supercomputer.

The additional investment required for the R&D and ICT fields in Belarus is estimated to be as high as 10 million euros per year. Growing interest for ICT recently emerged in such areas as medicine, agriculture, municipal services, etc.

According to the Programme of Socioeconomic Development of Belarus for 2006 – 2010, ICT development of is one of the top priorities for the S&T and innovatory activity.

The coordination of R&D activity has been entrusted to the State Committee for Science and Technology of the Republic of Belarus, NAoS, and MoE. The R&D is basically carried out in the framework of the state scientific and technical programmes (SSTP), branch-wise scientific and technical programmes, regional scientific and technical programmes, and also under particular projects financed by the Belarus Republican Foundation of Fundamental Research and the Belarusian Innovation Foundation. At present, the SSTP “Electronic Belarus” has been implemented.