The international experience of development of the innovative infrastructure and innovative entrepreneurship as well as search for and introduction of new ways to stimulate innovative business are important for Belarus. Chairman of the State Science and Technology Committee of Belarus Aleksandr Shumilin made the relevant statement during the seminar held on 11 December to discuss the ability of public-private venture capital funds to support innovative projects, BelTA has learned.

Among important problems Aleksandr Shumilin mentioned the need for legislation on research and innovative activities to include the right of R&D contractors to risk and failures to achieve intended results due to objective reasons and the need to split these risks between the state and the private sector at early stages of development. “This matter affects many things. Our ability to greatly increase the share of innovative and sophisticated technology startups, the ability to improve their survivability depend on it among other things. The matter is also crucial to whether these companies will stay in Belarus or leave the country and whether we will be able to at last increase the overall funding available to scientific and innovative endeavors by increasing the share of the private sector in the process. The successful practices of handling these problems in other countries can help give us hints while unsuccessful steps can discourage us from adopting ineffective measures,” Aleksandr Shumilin said.

The seminar to discuss the ability of public private venture capital funds to support innovative projects has been arranged in order to develop a roadmap for Belarus on the basis of international practice. The event is part of the joint program launched by the UN Economic Commission for Europe and the State Science and Technology Committee of Belarus in order to improve the potential of Belarusian government agencies with regard to the problem of the state R&D and innovative policy and risks. The UNECE and the State Science and Technology Committee organized the seminar with assistance of the Swedish embassy. Representatives of government agencies, investors, financial organizations, potential entrepreneurs, representatives of private and state-run innovative companies, and organizations that foster business development such as business incubators, technology parks, and universities took part in the seminar.