Plans to set up digital technology R&D center in Belarusian academy of sciences

MINSK, 28 June (BelTA) – A digital technology R&D center Academic IT City will be created on the basis of the Informatics Institute and the Mathematics Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, BelTA has learned.

The digital technology R&D center is supposed to combine efforts and competences of the organizations working in the field of information technologies in order to accomplish tasks relating to Belarus' social and economic development and scientific and technological advance. Unlike the Hi-Tech Park the Academic IT City will focus on providing science-intensive digital technologies for the real sector of the economy.

Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus Vladimir Gusakov said: “We need academic cooperation for the sake of accomplishing major tasks that the country's economy faces. It is necessary to combine the scientific potential of science, efforts of our organizations for the sake of making integration decisions for major practical problems concerning the national economy.”

Among other things the Academic IT City will have to develop import-substituting digital technologies for various enterprises, export the digital technologies and services that have been tried and tested in Belarus, develop the R&D and manufacturing potential of the participating organizations in the area of information technologies, provide consulting and educational services, provide scientific evaluation and support for innovative projects and R&D projects.

A number of organizations of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus have agreed to participate in the Academic IT City. Those include the Physics Institute, the A.V. Lykov Heat and Mass Transfer Institute, the Applied Physics Institute, the R&D enterprise Center for Identification Systems, the Joint Institute of Mechanical Engineering, and the Bioorganic Chemistry Institute. Other organizations and private companies are expected to join the initiative later on.

The digital technology R&D center Academic IT City is expected to take care of digital design and computer modeling, technologies for data processing, analysis, and usage, information system security technologies, expert evaluation of software in use and software under development. A number of participating organizations have experience of using the technology for developing and running digital copies of various facilities and installations, technical, physical, and technological processes. The participating organizations will also perform computer modeling, design, and development of decision-making systems for industry enterprises, transport and logistics enterprises, for agriculture, civil engineering, extraction and processing of natural resources.