Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev recently signed a new law that introduces amendments and additions to several legislative acts regarding science and technology policy, platform employment, and state control. The aim of the legislation is to advance Kazakhstan’s national scientific system by defining entities involved in scientific activities, establishing the legal status of the National Academy of Sciences, detailing the functions of the Science Fund, and setting out mechanisms for financing scientific activities.
The law addresses strategic, professional, and social issues within scientific activity by closing legal gaps, creating conditions for training scientific personnel, implementing guarantees for the social protection of scientists, and introducing corporate governance. The government’s focus on scientific and technological policy is aimed at raising the internal level of scientific and innovative work, reducing the innovation gap with global technological leaders, and assimilating new external information for commercial use by Kazakh companies based on the experience of developed countries.
To motivate scientists, the law includes provisions such as purchasing housing or improving living conditions under a joint program by the Kazakh Ministry of Science and Higher Education and Otbasy Bank. This initiative follows President Tokayev’s instructions to create favorable working conditions for scientists in order to encourage them to pursue research endeavors that will contribute to the development of science and technology policy in Kazakhstan.
Overall, this new legislation is expected to contribute significantly to the development of science and technology in Kazakhstan by providing a framework for effective application of scientific achievements while enhancing intersectoral coordination between different areas of research and innovation.
