November 24, 2023, Minister of Education Andrei Ivanets is visiting the Vitebsk region as part of a working trip.

The program includes participation in a republican seminar-meeting on the organization and implementation of scientific, scientific-technical and innovative activities in the system of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus; a visit to the educational institution “Vitebsk State Academy of Veterinary Medicine”; participation in a visiting session of the Council of Young Scientists under the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus.

Yesterday, the participants of the seminar-meeting including vice-rectors for scientific work of universities, heads of the scientific research department and scientific research sector - visited the educational and laboratory building of the Vitebsk State Technological University, where they got acquainted with innovative developments.

The Scientific and Technological Park of VSTU with its educational and research laboratories, including a shoe production laboratory, the Center for Additive Technologies, and a research laboratory for testing textile fibers and threads, drew lots of attention.

In the foyer of the winter garden of the educational and production building, a demonstration of clothing collections developed by students of the Faculty of Design of VSTU was organized.

When visiting Vitebsk State University named after P.M. Masherov, the seminar participants saw in detail the educational and scientific laboratories, including: scientific and innovative IT laboratory; virtual and augmented reality laboratory; artificial intelligence laboratory.

In his speech at the republican seminar-meeting, Minister of Education Andrei Ivanets outlined the tasks of developing research and innovation activities in the country’s higher education system, and also directed the speakers to dwell on problematic issues and opportunities for solving them, and all participants of the meeting to engage in constructive and substantive discussion joint actions and measures that will contribute to more effective research and innovation work of scientific organizations of the Ministry of Education, strengthening the integration of university science and the national economy.

It was noted that at present the issues of developing scientific and technological potential and its effective use to promote the national economy have become extremely acute. The seriousness of the issue is evidenced by the attention of the Head of State and Government to the issue of integrating the scientific and real sectors of the economy.

“The President clearly said that science should work for the country. The issue is given additional significance by the fact of the creation of the Council for Strategic Projects, one of the main tasks of which is to coordinate work on the implementation of developments of academic, university and industrial science into production,” the Minister outlined.

In his opinion, there is good potential for solving this problem: in the system of the Ministry of Education there are 35 scientific organizations, 21 universities, 7 science and technology parks, 3 registered technology transfer centers, 35 industrial scientific and technical laboratories. Scientific organizations carry out more than 1,100 projects within the framework of 12 state scientific research programs, several dozen tasks of state and industry scientific and technical programs, and much more.

According to the head of the department, behind all these figures there must be a result. Among the most significant and resonant results of the work of university scientists obtained this year and which one can be proud of are the successful launch of the BSUSat-2 nanosatellite into low-Earth orbit from the Vostochny cosmodrome; At the Unitechprom BGU enterprise, a production site was put into operation for the production of original bioresorbable multifunctional drugs in accordance with GMP requirements.

At the same time, Andrei Ivanets focused on priority tasks. These include the development of large and significant innovative projects according to the list of strategically important facilities planned for construction or modernization until 2030.

The goal is also to intensively involve technical universities in solving the problems of import substitution. The minister emphasized that in the current situation, import substitution is an element of ensuring national security. In this regard, it is necessary to return once again to the analysis of the possibilities of joint participation of universities with industrial enterprises in the implementation of import substitution tasks.

The task of increasing the efficiency of meeting indicators for the export of scientific and technical products (goods, services) is also under the strict supervision of the Ministry of Education.

“If there is an export of educational services, there is life at the university,” the head of the department is convinced.

Andrei Ivanets also focused on the strategies for scientific and innovative activities of higher education institutions until 2025, developed by universities last year at the initiative of the Ministry of Education. The Strategies set out specific goals, objectives, as well as annual values of 23 forecast indicators of scientific and innovative activities in IHL’s. And the department’s implementation of the Strategies will be seriously monitored.

The next important area that the Minister drew attention to is that this year the Ministry of Education initiated the creation of a new tool for supporting the scientific and technical activities of higher education institutions - competence centers at universities, which should be focused on solving educational and scientific-practical problems, supporting the implementation of innovative activities , implementation of research results into the production process. Funding for their development will be allocated annually on a competitive basis. By the way, two universities have already been identified for next year - Brest State Technical University and Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics.

In order to promote the scientific products of universities, a catalog of innovative developments of universities and scientific organizations of the Ministry of Education was developed and published, which was sent to all government bodies for distribution to subordinate organizations and enterprises. And in this regard, it is very important that the catalog is in operation and has an effective result.

In general, summing up the speech, Andrei Ivanets assured that the Ministry of Education is always ready to support the intensification of scientific and technical activities in universities, scientific organizations in interaction with government bodies, including sending petitions to sectoral government bodies for support in the implementation of innovative and scientific -technical projects.