MINSK, 14 November (BelTA) - Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB) Vladimir Karanik discussed priority areas for scientific work in an interview with Belarus 1 TV channel, BelTA has learned.
“We have defined priority areas for scientific activity. Within these areas, we are now actively working to identify so-called anchor projects, those that are the most promising and, from our point of view, should receive an additional development impetus,” he said.
These areas include biotechnology, particularly for agriculture. Active work is underway in this field with the Belarusian National Biotechnology Corporation (BNBC) and other players in this economic sector. “This includes biopharmaceuticals, medicine, oncology, and the development of new anti-tumor agents. This includes genetics. These developments will facilitate the work of both our breeders and our field biologists,” Vladimir Karanik said. “In mechanical engineering, the focus is on developing robotic platforms. This is one of the priorities, and again, unmanned transport.”
Here, one of the tasks involves working with technological transport in confined areas, such as transport and logistics centers. “Why not try, as part of import substitution, to offer our own line of equipment and our own technologies for these closed spaces, with pre-determined routes, to perform routine work that currently requires an operator?” the chairman of the NASB Presidium said. “And, of course, robotics. Since the draft social and economic development program implies a substantial increase in the number of robotic platforms to be used in industry by the end of the next five-year plan, our task is to provide scientific and technical support for this process and, ideally, to offer our own domestic robotic platform that will replace imported solutions in a number of areas.”
Scientific cooperation within the Union State is another important aspect of developing domestic science. “We are holding negotiations with both Rosatom and Roscosmos. Very good relations have been established with the Kurchatov Institute. There are, in fact, many directions here: this includes the creation of joint Russian-Belarusian apparatus for Earth remote sensing. This process is moving along quite actively,” he said.
Another joint project is the launch of two nanosatellites to analyze the ionosphere in December, Vladimir Karanik said. This will be a joint launch involving Russian Earth remote sensing satellites and our satellites for ionosphere research. Joint work is also underway on researching the Earth's polar regions. At the level of the Kurchatov Institute, there are joint projects on nuclear physics. “There are many developments, and this cooperation, from my point of view, is reaching a qualitatively new level,” he emphasized.
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