MINSK, 18 April (BelTA) – The development of information and communication technology (ICT) is a powerful driver of economic growth, Chairman of Belarus' State Science and Technology Committee (SSTC) Alexander Shumilin told reporters on 18 April ahead of the opening ceremony of the international expo of telecommunications, information and banking technologies TIBO 2016, BelTA has learned.
“The development of the IT sector is our scientific and technical development priority for the next five years. It is impossible to build a digital economy without ICT. Already today, ICT has a powerful effect and is a major driver of economic growth. Around Br13 trillion worth of software was produced in Belarus in 2015, up by almost 19% from 2014. This shows that the things that are in demand bring stable growth,” Alexander Shumilin noted.
He pointed out that the SSTC is one of the organizers of the forum. “This year, a number of sections will be organized with the participation of the SSTC for the first time. One of them will be devoted to the industrial application of IT solutions and acceleration of industrial development processes. Another one will be themed around the single ICT space for scientific and technological development. New scientific solutions are in a constant demand today. They need to be tracked to avoid investing in something that has already been created,” Alexander Shumilin explained.
The TIBO 2016 expo is scheduled to take place in Minsk on 19-22 April. More than 100 companies from 18 countries, including Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Czechia, Germany, Finland, Sweden, the UK, Turkey, China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the USA have plans to take part in the event.
