Science and technology in Kyrgyzstan
Science and technology in Kyrgyzstan examines government efforts to develop a national innovation system and the impact of these policies.
Food prices rose two years in a row and, in 2012, production at the major Kumtor gold mine fell by 60% after the site was perturbed by geological movements.
Many universities are more interested in chasing revenue than providing quality education; they multiply the so-called ‘contract’ student groups who are admitted not on merit but rather for their ability to afford tuition fees, thereby saturating the labor market with skills it does not want.
The insufficient rate of capital accumulation also hampers structural changes designed to boost innovation and technology-intensive industries.
In February 2014, Rosneft signed a framework agreement to buy 100% of Bishkek Oil and a 50% stake in the sole aviation fuel provider at the country's second-biggest airport, Osh International.
[5] Kyrgyzstan needs to invest heavily in priority sectors like energy to improve its competitiveness and drive socio-economic development.
[1] The government's National Strategy for Sustainable Development (2013−2017) recognizes the need to remove controls on industry in order to create jobs, increase exports and turn the country into a hub for finance, business, tourism and culture within Central Asia.
With the exception of hazardous industries where government intervention is considered justified, restrictions on entrepreneurship and licensing will be lifted and the number of permits required will be halved.
The State Program for the Development of Intellectual Property and Innovation (2012−2016) sets out to foster advanced technologies, in order to modernize the economy.
This program will be accompanied by measures to improve intellectual property protection and thereby enhance the country's reputation in relation to the rule of law.
A system will be put in place to counter trafficking in counterfeit goods and efforts will be made to raise public awareness of the role and importance of intellectual property.
The government is also introducing measures to increase the number of bachelor's and master's degrees in science and engineering fields.
This document proposed creating a regulatory framework to guide the training and certification of research personnel for easier integration into global scientific networks.
Table: Central Asian researchers by field of science and gender, 2013 or closest year 2013 2011 2013 2011 Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), Table 14.1 The three main partners of Kazakh scientists are based in the Russian Federation (99 co-authored articles between 2008 and 2014), Germany and Turkey (74 each), the USA (56) and Kazakhstan (43).
According to Thomson Reuters' Web of Science, Kyrgyz scientists published 46 articles in internationally catalogued journals in 2005 and 82 in 2014.
[1] Language may play a role in the low count in international journals, as the Thomson Reuters' database tends to favor articles written in English.
Kyrgyzstan and the other four republics are also members of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program, which also includes Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Mongolia and Pakistan.
The landlocked Central Asian republics are conscious of the need to co-operate in order to maintain and develop their transport networks and energy, communication and irrigation systems.
[1] Kyrgyzstan joined the Eurasian Economic Union in 2014, shortly after it was founded by Kazakhstan, Belarus and the Russian Federation.
As co-operation among the member states in science and technology is already considerable and well-codified in legal texts, the Eurasian Economic Union is expected to have a limited additional impact on co-operation among public laboratories or academia but it may encourage business ties and scientific mobility, since it includes provision for the free circulation of labor and unified patent regulations.
The focus of this research projects is on three societal challenges considered as being of mutual interest to both the European Union and Central Asia, namely: climate change, energy and health.
IncoNet CA builds on the experience of earlier projects which involved other regions, such as Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and the Western Balkans.
It involves a consortium of partner institutions from Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Portugal, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan.
ISTC branches have been set up in the following countries party to the agreement: Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
The headquarters of ISTC were moved to Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan in June 2014, three years after the Russian Federation announced its withdrawal from the center.
