Belarusian innovators should learn how to sell their R&D products

Innovations play an increasingly important role in the economic development of Belarus, Sergei Musiyenko, Head of EcooM Analytical Center, said as he commented on the New Year's address by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.

Innovations take priority in the development of the Belarusian economy. The number of promising developments and innovations increases annually in such areas as machine building, material science, biotechnology, chemistry, and petrochemistry. Belarusian scientists have achieved great successes in space technologies and genetic engineering. “There are opportunities to make an active use of new technologies, to embrace the developments made in the most successful areas of the Belarusian science,” the expert believes.

Development of information technologies is one of the key priorities, Sergei Musiyenko believes. “Belarus is called an Eastern European Silicon Valley due to its advancements in IT. But there is still great untapped potential in this field which can bring new jobs and new investments to our economy,” the expert said. “Our IT sector is export-oriented. At the same time, more attention should be given to the needs of the national economy and to the promotion of the existing developments at home.”

Sergei Musiyenko believes that the development model of the Belarusian Hi-Tech Park has proved effective and can be applied in other sectors of the economy. “We have to take stock and see what else we can offer to the world. The main thing here is to learn how to commercialize innovative and sci-tech projects, how to sell R&D products,” the expert is convinced.

More attention should be paid to further improvement of the personnel training system. “A lot has been done in this field, in particular, in the IT sector. However, we should not stop at this point. The development of the training system of world-class specialists will also help us build up our export capacities,” Sergei Musiyenko said.