Meeting of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan on February 14, 2023
At the beginning of the meeting, the report of the First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs (MIA) Marat Kozhaev was heard. He noted that on the morning of February 13, the Police Department of Petropavlovsk city received a message about causing bodily harm to students of secondary school No. 4. An investigative team of the Regional Police Department immediately left for the scene of the incident.
It was established that the suspect (a student of grade 9) put on a homemade white mask in the toilet on the second floor and ran into the corridor with an ax in his hands, where he attacked three students of the school. Seeing what was happening, other high school students and teachers who came to the rescue detained the attacker.
Currently, two injured schoolchildren are in the hospital of the city hospital, their condition is stable. The third victim received medical assistance without hospitalization.
On this fact, a criminal case was initiated under part 3 of article 24 and part 2 of article 99 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the suspect was placed in a temporary detention center.
After listening to the report, Alikhan Smailov emphasized that an extraordinary incident occurred in Petropavlovsk, which caused great concern in society.
“The issue of safety worries everyone who has children. As we can see, even within the school there are risks. Safety standards need to be revisited and all schools need to be inspected. In addition, it is necessary to increase the number of video cameras and consider the issue of strengthening control at the entrance to schools,” said the Prime Minister.
In this regard, the Head of Government instructed the Ministry of Internal Affairs to make coordinated proposals to improve the safety of students, the Ministry of Health to take special control over the treatment of affected children, the Ministry of Information and Social Development, together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Emergency Situations, to develop thematic safety lessons.
After that, the main issues of the government meeting were discussed.
On the agenda of the meeting:
– the results of socio-economic development and the execution of the republican budget for January 2023;
– commercialization of the results of scientific and scientific and technical activities.
The Minister of Science and Higher Education Sayasat Nurbek spoke on the second issue. He reported that according to the pre-election program of the head of state, domestic science will be focused on new production technologies that will allow the republic to become more competitive. This implies the application of Kazakhstani developments in the real sector of the economy and the gradual transformation of the national scientific system.
According to him, with the adoption of the law on commercialization in 2016, 2017, and 2018, the Science Foundation held three grant competitions, which received 1,270 applications. As a result of selection and examination, more than 150 projects received state support. Their implementation led to the creation of 140 science-intensive industries, while 15 projects were exported, and another five achieved sales of more than 1 billion KZT.
Last year, a new competition was held, which received 152 applications. To date, 72 projects have been approved for funding, and 68 agreements have been concluded with grant recipients. In terms of industries, the portfolio of projects mainly consists of initiatives in the fields of agriculture, healthcare, and the chemical industry.
The Minister added that the amount of funding for the commercialization of the results of scientific and technical activities in 2023-2025 has doubled. In addition, it is planned to allocate funds on a competitive basis for the development of science and technology parks at universities.
A report on this topic was also made by the Director General of the Research and Production Center for Microbiology and Virology Amankeldi Sadanov.
After listening to the speakers, the Prime Minister noted that in order to increase the potential and competitiveness of domestic science, its funding from the republican budget has almost doubled over the past two years.
“The basic funding includes the salaries of leading scientists. Funds are allocated for fundamental scientific research. The duration of funding for research projects and programs under development has been extended to five years. Grants and scholarships are being allocated to support young scientists, and the activity of their publications is growing,” said Alikhan Smailov.
According to him, in recent years, significant changes have been made to the legislation on science, and in cooperation with the entire scientific community, an appropriate development concept is being implemented.
“Society is waiting for real transformations in the scientific and technological sphere, the transfer of scientific developments to the real economy. In this regard, a lot of work is needed to increase the effectiveness of scientific research, and increase their contribution to the development of the country’s economy,” emphasized the Prime Minister.
He added that in order to achieve the set goals, it is necessary to organize the coordinated work of scientific organizations and enterprises and create active platforms and mechanisms for interaction. In addition, it is required to increase the share of development work in promising scientific areas: nuclear and hydrogen energy, digital technologies, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, biosafety, and neuroscience.
“In order to increase the investment attractiveness of science, it is necessary to speed up the work with the Parliament on the introduction of additional preferences for private investment. The legislative base of this sphere requires further revision,” said Alikhan Smailov.
In conclusion, the Head of Government noted the need to develop and submit to the Parliament in June a new draft law “On Science and Technology Policy”, update the current Concept for the Development of Science, taking into account new mechanisms for the commercialization of scientific research results, and, together with the Atameken Chamber, organize work on the formation of specialized engineering centers and technology parks at leading universities and large enterprises of the country.“It is the effective interaction of scientific institutions, universities, and industry that will give a positive impetus to the development of science and the introduction of new scientific developments,” emphasized Alikhan Smailov.
