Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Today, in conditions when information and communication technologies are developing at a rapid pace, ensuring economic growth and increasing national income is not feasible without innovative development.

In this regard, as part of the state visit of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Singapore, a number of agreements were identified and reached on six key areas of cooperation in the near future, two of which are directly related to innovation.

This is, first of all, the implementation of a joint program with the participation of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy to train and improve the skills of civil servants in all areas, including digital transformation and innovation.

The second is the attraction of advanced "green" technologies and digital solutions, within the framework of which the opportunities for introducing Singapore’s achievements in the field of digitalization, as well as the application of innovations and technologies of this country in the field of "green" development were discussed.

This decision, of course, is justified, since Singapore is considered one of the few countries that, having taken a course of “high-tech” development, managed to turn into an innovative center of Southeast Asia in a relatively short period.

According to the report of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) "Global Innovation Index 2022", Singapore ranks 7th in the ranking of innovative development, behind only Switzerland, the USA, Sweden, the UK, the Netherlands

The country has been able to achieve such progress mainly due to two factors - investment in the development of innovative human capital and funding for basic research and development.

This process was launched in early 2000, when Singapore began to pay significant attention to the transition from economic development to innovation.

In this regard, the authorities of the country have adopted and implemented many such programs as "Development of Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship", "School of Accelerated Learning", "Creating a Digital State", "One Network for All", "National IT Literacy Program" and etc.

As part of their implementation, the state provides the low-income population with the opportunity to compensate for up to 90% of the cost of education, annually allocates up to 20% of the budget for the education system and financial resources (in 2022 - in the amount of US$25 billion, which is 5 times more than in 2000 - US$5.1 billion) for the development of research and development (R&D), as well as creating favorable conditions that attract international experts, etc.

As a result, Singapore today ranks first in the Human Capital Index (compiled by the World Bank), 14th in the UN Human Development Index, 3rd in the Global Competitiveness Index and 12th in the world in the UN e-Government rankings.

In Uzbekistan, innovative development is also one of the priority areas of ongoing reforms.

In particular, in order to fully realize the intellectual and technological potential of the country, as well as to increase the role of the national scientific and innovation system in the socio-economic development of Uzbekistan, the Agency for Innovative Development (formerly the Ministry of Innovative Development) was established in 2017.

The Strategy for Innovative Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2019-2021 has been implemented. and in 2022, a new similar document was adopted until 2026, one of the main directions of which is to ensure the accelerated socio-economic growth of the regions by increasing the innovative activity of small businesses.

Also, in 2021, a targeted program was developed to create an innovation ecosystem, aimed at transforming regions into innovation zones. Today, as part of its implementation, 190 innovative projects have already been launched in 13 regions of the country, which have provided 1,986 citizens with new jobs.

Funding is also provided for fundamental research and development. According to the World Bank, R&D spending in Uzbekistan is about 0.5% of the country’s GDP, or about US$350 million.

As a practical result of the measures taken in the country, it can be indicated that Uzbekistan ranked 82nd in the Global Innovation Index 2022, rising by 40 positions compared to 2015 - 122nd place. Of the CIS countries, only Russia and Belarus are ranked higher, ranking 46th and 77th respectively.

In general, cooperation between Uzbekistan and Singapore in the innovation field will not only strengthen the relationship between the involved departments of the two countries, conduct joint innovative research, develop and implement scientific and technical projects, but also expand the circle of Uzbek-Singapore cooperation to a new scale.

Aziz Salikhov,

chief researcher at ISMI

under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan