Belarus opens new page in hi-tech sphere

19 марта 2017

By Dmitry Titov: This week the President has visited (exp)capital and Banuba Development, which are among the largest and most successful companies in the IT-industry. The companies were founded by Belarusian businessman Viktor Prokopenya and Russian billionaire Mikhail Gutseriev, who invest in artificial intelligence development. Last year, (exp)capital and Banuba Development took the first two places among the Hi-Tech Park's residents in terms of productivity.

The meeting discussed general measures to be taken to turn Belarus into a source of producing new technologies, i.e. not only providing outsourcing services, but also creating its own high-tech products. This will result in investment flows and new jobs.

Viktor Prokopenya pointed out the importance of creating favorable conditions for the domestic IT sector to enter a new technological level. Alexander Lukashenko urged the IT-industry to continue developing, working for the benefit of the country and using its potential to the maximum. The state is ready to create all necessary conditions, including by adopting relevant normative acts.

Belarus may even become the first country in the world to officially allow driving unmanned vehicles on its roads.

The President supported the creation of council for IT-technologies development. Belarus has all the prerequisites to become an IT-country and the hi-tech development leader in Eastern Europe. All these tasks have been assigned to Vsevolod Yanchevsky, appointed Hi-Tech Park Director this week by the President’s decree. Prior to that, he served as Assistant to the President. Besides, Yanchevsky headed the Hi-Tech Park Supervisory Board and curated the informatization and hi-tech sphere.

According to the National Bank’s preliminary data, the balance of computer services in Belarus amounted to 845 million dollars in 2016, while their share in the total volume of services increased by almost 2 percentage points to 14.1.

The Hi-Tech Park currently exports 91.5% of the software it produces. For example, Belarusian mobile applications are being used by more than 9 million people in 193 countries. 66 countries are immediate customers ordering software. 

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