MINSK, 11 February (BelTA) – Prime Minister of Belarus Aleksandr Turchin has been made familiar with key R&D products of the Hi-Tech Park as part of the forum “Technological sovereignty: IT resource for industry”, BelTA has learned.
Today the Belarusian head of government toured an exhibition of products of Hi-Tech Park resident companies specializing in robot technology and manufacturing sector. A total of 14 resident companies are represented at the exhibition. They cooperate with 150 countries across the globe. Products of the companies have also been assimilated by various enterprises in Belarus: OAO MTZ, OAO Svetlogorsk Pulp and Cardboard Mill, OAO Peleng, Gefest Group, OAO Belaruskali, OAO Gomselmash, and other ones.
“The topic of our meeting today is technological sovereignty. It is a matter of utmost importance that we will all have to address together. Before the event began, we looked at results of the work of our companies and they are certainly impressive. It is very important to have communication between machine builders and IT developers so that they can achieve the necessary synergy and make products that are needed both in our country and abroad. The Hi-Tech Park has a very important role to play. The Hi-Tech Park should attract and nurture companies. We need to have a complete catalog of these companies so that any business entity would understand where to find a partner. Representatives of the real sector should find these solutions and implement them at their enterprises,” said Aleksandr Turchin.
In his words, a number of decisions have already been made during a tour of the exhibition of the latest products today. “I do not rule out that we will launch the creation of new products that will be in demand both in our country and abroad. Time goes by very quickly and we need to make quick decisions, assess our capabilities, and move forward. I would like to encourage everyone to work very actively in this direction. We will discuss what needs to be changed and supplemented in the legislation to give a certain impetus to the development of IT technologies. I would like our meeting to result in specific projects so that we can see tangible results of our joint work in the near future,” the prime minister said.
The Hi-Tech Park is now home to over 1,000 resident companies. Their export of services and earnings tend to rise steadily.
Anna Ryabova, Head of the Secretariat of the HTP Supervisory Board, noted that today’s forum is aimed at stimulating collaboration in the industrial sector between HTP residents and the real sector of the economy. “We have developments that are in high demand around the world and it is important that our enterprises are the first to use them and derive maximum benefit and competitive advantages from them. Special attention is paid to the development of robotics. Our exhibition features companies that successfully produce both collaborative robots and purely technological robots, training simulators, and so on. We have a wealth of expertise and a lot to show. And we hope that those enterprises in the real sector that do not yet cooperate closely with us will become interested and will interact with us,” she said.
In her words, they also collaborate with Russian companies in robotics. “We develop our robotics competencies in a fairly synchronized manner. In particular, we cooperate with Rosatom and individual institutes within the framework of projects. But, without a doubt, it would be very productive to take such a program to the interstate level,” added Anna Ryabova.
The industrial sector has a demand for various digital developments. “Among the most common ones are precision welding and precision metalworking. In such areas robots are more profitable and efficient. In addition, there are high-tech developments that work for the optical industry, for remote measurements of the geometry of any objects. We have a project with Belarusian Railways to remotely assess the geometric parameters of a moving train. Other projects include assessing the quality of paper rolls and bulk materials. In other words, the spectrum is very diverse,” emphasized the head of the Secretariat of the HTP Supervisory Board.
Belarusian legislation allows implementing pilot projects as a procedure. “When a Belarusian company develops an IT product and a government agency or organization expresses interest in it, the pilot project is tested on a small scale: one enterprise, one district, one facility. Its economic efficiency is further evaluated and the project may be included in the list of products that state bodies and organizations can purchase from a single source for two years bypassing the procurement procedure. There are quite a few advanced digital and robotic solutions in Belarus, but we are not always aware of them. A situation may arise where solutions are exported but not used within the country. Our task is to bring together the customer and the contractor through a system of pilot projects and similar forums so that every project gets a chance to come to life,” said Communications and Informatization Minister Kirill Zalessky.
Among the areas where digital projects are being implemented are healthcare, big data processing, and AI-based systems. “We periodically announce contests for the implementation of pilot projects. As soon as we have a new development that is of interest to a potential customer, we immediately test it in pilot mode. I think we will soon see results of the first pilot projects and will be able to present them to the public,” the minister noted.
Follow us on:
