Kazakhstan to draft bill on science and technology policy

Kazakhstan will draft a bill on science and technology policy. Kazakh Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov instructed the relevant ministry to submit a new document to the Parliament for consideration in June 2023. The draft law should contain specific measures to improve the effectiveness of scientific research, as well as their economic impact, the Prime Minister noted. Over the past two years, the science funding has increased almost twofold, so it is time for real transformations in this area and the transfer of new technologies to the country’s economy. Primarily, it is necessary to establish close cooperation between scientific organizations and enterprises, Smailov added. It is important to create active platforms and mechanisms for interaction, as well as specialized engineering centers and technology parks at leading universities and large enterprises across the country. All this will drive the commercialization of scientific activity results and increase the contribution of science to the national economy, he emphasized.

“It is also necessary to increase the share of development work in the most promising scientific fields, such as nuclear and hydrogen energy, digital technologies, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, biosafety, and neuroscience. We should accelerate the work with Parliament to introduce additional preferences for private investment in order to increase the investment attractiveness of science,” Smailov said.