Uzbekistan, Tashkent, March 2 / Trend D.Azizov /
United Nations Development Program (UNDP), in partnership with the Economic Ministry and the Institute of Forecasting and Macroeconomic Research, has launched a new project aimed at supporting innovation and technology transfer in Uzbekistan.
In recent years, the government of Uzbekistan has acknowledged the need for invigorating innovative activity. Some of the most notable government measures include the reorganization of the State Committee for Science and Technology, institutional strengthening of the technology transfer centers and organization of innovation fairs, which are held annually since 2008.
Also, large-scale modernization is envisaged by the latest government medium-term investment program totaling more than $20 billion.
Moreover, the global financial and economic crisis, which began in mid 2008, created new challenges. In 2009 the government of Uzbekistan passed a series of resolutions aimed at cutting costs and search of alternative and more efficient methods of production in order to increase the competitiveness of nationally-produced products and services on international markets.
For Uzbekistan, achieving innovative and technological development is of critical significance, because this is the only way to create a modern technological base and to produce competitive goods.
The new project envisages elaborating the long-term National Innovation Development Program, which will be developed with close involvement from the community, specialists from the scientific community, ministry and agencies, private sector stakeholders, and international donor organizations. The program will be reinforced by studying, adapting, and calculating indicators of innovation development widely used in international practice, which will ensure better monitoring and evaluation of the program's implementation.
In addition, the project plans will strengthen the capacities of technology transfer offices, namely the Agency for Technology Transfer and the Regional Center for Innovation and Technology Transfer.
Finally, the project will carry out activities aimed at increasing the commercialization of national innovation projects and technologies, as well as bridging the gap between applied sciences and real-life issues in the economic, social and environmental spheres. These activities will include support in conducting annual innovation fairs, preparation of policy briefs on various schemes aimed at financially supporting innovation projects and the development of national standards and methodological guidelines on the evaluation of industrial intellectual property objects.