19.07.2010 []

Innovation Performance Review of the Republic of Belarus to be developed

This project has been prepared by UNECE upon the request of Belarusian Government and supported by the Eurasian Development Bank. The result of the project should be a policy oriented document seeking to provide advice to policy-makers and other stakeholders on possible policy actions aimed at stimulating innovation activity in the country, enhancing its innovation capacity and improving the overall efficiency of the national innovation system. The Review also addresses the role of innovation in promoting regional and sub-regional economic integration.

The work on the Innovation Performance Review is a participatory policy advisory service by the team of international on innovation policy mobilized by the UNECE, as well as of the national experts. 

The project will be implemented in three main phases. At the first stage, UNECE experts have set up contacts with the appropriate state bodies, public organizations and national institutions, and also with the representations of international organizations in Belarus. Within the preparatory visit in June 2010 they defined, in general, the key national players and experts interested in the project. Besides, they’ve collected legal and analytical documents on the topic of the Review.

In the second phase, in September 2010 the team of international experts will visit Belarus in order to discuss with the local experts in detail and assess the innovation performance in our country. In the next implementation phase, the team summarizes its findings and formulates draft policy advice on possible policy measures seeking to stimulate innovation activities in Belarus. The Review will cover such areas, as:

• Recent economic and innovation performance,
• National innovation system and innovation governance,
• Framework conditions, innovation policies and instruments,
• Knowledge generation, technology transfer and support institutions,
• Industry-science linkages and collaboration in the innovation process,
• Financing innovative entrepreneurs,
• The role of innovation in international economic integration.

Besides, upon the request of the Eurasian Development Bank the Review will include the examples of prospective innovation-driven investment projects.

At the final stage, the UNECE is going to organize a joint meeting in Geneva with participation of the representatives of the Belarus Government, international experts and other interested parties for discussing the draft of the Review and its recommendations. The results of discussion will be presented at the annual session of the UNECE Committee on International Cooperation and Integration.
 
The Innovation Performance Review of the Republic of Belarus, which contains the findings on innovation performance and the policy advice agreed upon with the national authorities, will be published as an official UNECE publication in English and Russian in the first half of 2011. It will be provided to Belarus national innovation stakeholders for reference and use in their further practice, and will also to be widely disseminated internationally.

Source: Olga Meerovskaya, FP7 National Coordinator, Mobility & INCO NCP, NIP Belarus