The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, together with the Ministry of Digital Transformation, has launched a large-scale reform called Science.City. Its goal is to bring science and business closer by creating special scientific parks.
According to Deputy Minister of Education and Science Denis Kurbatov, for a long time, science and business in Ukraine have worked separately. This has led to scientific developments remaining in laboratories, while businesses sought the necessary technologies abroad.
'The Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Digital Transformation have jointly developed a system of bills under Science.City. This is a special legal regime for scientific and innovative activities,' Kurbatov explained.
Another issue has been the funding system for scientific institutions due to high taxes, which reduce resources for research and lead to a brain drain. The Science.City reform aims to create favorable conditions for the development of scientific innovative activities by lowering taxes, simplifying procedures, and accelerating procurement.
In Kyiv, Lviv, and Zhytomyr, pilot scientific parks are already operating, where Ukrainian and foreign companies are working together with universities on research. For example, the scientific park at KPI is developing prosthetics technologies for the wounded.
The Science.City reform offers a public-private partnership mechanism that combines scientific knowledge and business needs. This will help quickly create necessary developments for the real economy, particularly in the defense sector. The main goal of the reform is to make Ukrainian science an important player in the development of the country's economy.
The Science.City reform is aimed at creating conditions for cooperation between research institutions and businesses to develop innovative technologies that will contribute to the growth of the Ukrainian economy. It involves lowering taxes, simplifying procedures, and accelerating procurement, which should promote the activation of cooperation between scientists and the business community, as well as the creation of new innovative products and services.