About 30 new projects are being considered for implementation at the level of the Commonwealth of Independent States

About 30 new projects are being considered for implementation at the level of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Chairman of the State Committee for Science and Technology (SCST) of Belarus Alexander Shumilin said during the 19th expanded meeting of the Interstate Council for Cooperation in Science, Technology and Innovation in Minsk, Belta reports. … Alexander Shumilin noted that active work is now underway to form the next list of projects of the Interstate Program for Innovative Cooperation of the CIS Member States. At the same time, the emphasis is on the high readiness of commercialization and the use of off-budget sources of funding. The program operator, the Russian Skolkovo Foundation, has prepared a preliminary list of such projects. Among them, 11 – in the field of medicine, 6 – in the field of agriculture and energy, 4 – housing and communal services, 2 – information and communication technologies. In a conversation with reporters, the chairman of the SCST noted that in 2011, in accordance with the specified program, 11 pilot projects were approved. “Unfortunately, not all projects were started for one reason or another. Nevertheless, we are implementing 8 out of 11 projects, resources are being allocated, there are first results, “said Alexander Shumilin. He added that as the projects are being implemented, some questions arise, and they are planned to be discussed during the meeting. This also applies to issues of intellectual property, legal framework, financing, commercialization of developments. The meeting, which takes place on October 12-13 at the CIS Executive Committee, is timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the formation of the Commonwealth. The heads of state bodies of the CIS member states, in charge of scientific, technical and innovative cooperation, are invited to the event. It is planned to consider the state and prospects of scientific, technical and innovative cooperation between the states of the Commonwealth, Central and Eastern Europe, as well as topical issues of the implementation of the Interstate Program of Innovative Cooperation of the CIS States until 2020.

Source: GKNT