Valery Tsepkalo relieved of directorship public institution"Administration of the Hi-Tech Park," the press service of the Presidential Administration reports.
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko signed an order to this effect today, March 2.
As the site managed to learn from several employees of the Park administration, for them the information about the resignation of Valery Tsepkala came as a surprise.
“The new director has not yet been introduced to us,” said one of the employees of the HTP administration, who asked not to be identified.
Valery Tsepkalo himself did not respond to the website's request for comment.
It is not yet known who will take over the vacant post. We have not yet been able to get a comment from the press service of the President of Belarus.
For more than 11 years, Valery Tsepkalo served as director of the administration of the HTP, one of the initiators of which he was.
He repeatedly told in interviews how, while still being the Ambassador of Belarus to the United States in the late 1990s and early 2000s, he visited Silicon Valley, realizing the need to stop the “brain drain” from Belarus.
“It was insulting that in order to become successful, a person had to leave Belarus for Silicon Valley,” Tsepkalo told The Wall Street Journal.
Remembering that time, Valery Tsepkalo, in the preface to the book High-Tech Park: 10 Years of Development, that he had to “work individually” with each minister, explaining the essence of his own proposals for creating an IT park with a preferential tax regime for resident companies. Many of the ministers, according to Tsepkalo, did not understand and did not want to understand, “someone simply did not believe that such a thing was possible in principle in Belarus.”
“Hand on heart, we have to admit that practically no one expected that the IT industry in its current form would grow in our country,” writes the head of the HTP. - I got the impression that the majority of the participants in the process from the state apparatus agreed with the idea of the HTP, based on the following consideration: “Okay, let there be such a toy, since it does not require cash injections. It won't do any good, but it won't do any harm either."
Valery Tsepkalo was born on February 22, 1965 in Grodno. Graduate of the Grodno secondary school №14 with in-depth study of the English language. He studied at BNTU (1982-84), served in the Soviet army (1984-86). On the second attempt, he entered the Moscow State Institute international relations from which he graduated in 1991. He began his diplomatic career at the Soviet Embassy in Finland.
In 1993-1994 he was an adviser to the chairman of the Supreme Council of Belarus on foreign policy issues.
In the presidential elections of 1994, he became one of the leaders of the campaign headquarters of Alexander Lukashenko, and after his election, he became the first deputy minister of foreign affairs of Belarus.
From 1997 to 2002 he worked as the Ambassador of Belarus to the USA and Mexico.
After returning to Minsk, he was an assistant to the President of Belarus, and since October 2005, he was the director of the administration of the High-Tech Park established by presidential decree.
In 2016, the HTP approached a billion dollars in annual revenue. Over 10 years, Belarusian software exports have grown more than 30 times. If in 2006 per capita export of computer services Belarus was almost four times behind India and five times behind the USA, today the country is ahead of the USA by 1.5 times, India by 2 times, South Korea by 1.5 times. 2.5 times. Belarus entered the top 10 countries in the region of Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Africa, which are the largest providers of services in the field of custom software development, and ranked second after Israel in terms of the share of information technology development in GDP per capita.
"Per short term an industry has been created in the country, which today largely forms the image of Belarus. This happens because we have a number of products that are in the most prestigious - consumer - segment of the market. That is, they are used by hundreds of millions of people around the world. This is a well-known messenger, game, application. All this made people talk about Belarus in Business Week, Bloomberg, Euronews, Reuters and other leading world media.
Valery Tsepkalo, a graduate of the Grodno secondary school No. 14 with in-depth study of the English language, entered MGIMO on the second attempt, and received an institute diploma with honors. After studying, he remained in graduate school, which he also graduated with excellent marks, taught, and became a candidate of legal sciences. The work of Valery Tsepkalo at the USSR Embassy in Finland fell on the difficult years of 1990-1991 - a period of collapse big country. In 1994 he was appointed First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus.
On this topic: Belarusians who tamed artificial intelligence. Seven Cool Hackathon Projects For the next five years, Valery Vilyamovich worked in America as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the United States and Mexico. It was there, in the USA, that Tsepkalo visited Silicon Valley and decided that something similar should be created in Belarus. In 2005, Valery Tsepkalo became the project manager for the creation of the Hi-Tech Park, starting a new business, essentially from scratch.
Over the years, under his leadership, much has been done to create favorable conditions for the development of information technologies in the country, as well as to concentrate human resources, scientific, investment and financial potential. “We started with the fact that we wanted to create a cluster: as a concentration of organizational, human, and, subsequently, financial efforts in one direction. This approach has already proven effective. Everyone knows Silicon Valley,” recalls Valery Tsepkalo in an interview.
On this topic: Post of the day. “If in the USA there were orders like in Belarus, or why we don’t have Apple” Tsepkalo is an expert of the UN Secretary-General on information security - a member of the Strategic Council of the UN Global Alliance for Information Technology and Development.
Recently, the former head of the Hi-Tech Park spoke about the conditions for doing business in Belarus: “I will say this: the general “feeling of guilt” greatly demotivates people and deprives them of moral satisfaction from the results of their work, pride in their work.”
Many believe that Valery Tsepkala could have been released because of the “underbillion”
money earned by the HTP, liberal statements in which the former director of the HTP proposed to remove illegal entrepreneurial activity.
Recently, the IT industry was criticized by the head of Belgazprombank Viktor Babariko, who noted that “Belarus is turning into a community of high-tech vocational schools”, and Dmitry Gursky, director of Idionomics and partner of the Haxus investment fund (among its projects is the famous MSQRD), who expressed the opinion that some benefits for the development of the industry is no longer enough, "we need a whole program of action, but the benefits will not give a big growth."
Yuri Zisser on his Facebook
Valery Tsepkalo has been relieved of his post as director of administration of the High Technology Park.Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed the corresponding order on March 2.
Why were they fired?
“We know about the dismissal, but Tsepkalo is still working today, holding a meeting,”- said Naviny. by in the HTP administration.
Valery Tsepkalo himself does not comment on his dismissal from the post of HTP director. “I don't comment. Let's leave it without comment," Tsepkalo said BelaPAN. He also did not specify on whose initiative the personnel decision was made.
The dismissal of Tsepkalo is connected, among other things, with his unwillingness to deploy the IT sector in favor of the entire Belarusian economy. Such an opinion BelaPAN stated by a competent source.
“The general mood at the top of the state is to keep benefits, but only change the requirements for residents(HTP. - BelaPAN)so that they work more efficiently for the benefit of the entire Belarusian economy, not only the ICT sector, but also industry, Agriculture, transport and so on. Without any violence against them. So that they take a closer look at what they themselves, on their own initiative, based on their competencies and capabilities, could do for various sectors of the Belarusian economy,”- said the interlocutor.
In his opinion, "Director(Valery Tsepkalo. - BelaPAN)It has long been suggested to think about this issue and give their suggestions. But he simply considered that HTP residents do not need to do this, but it is enough that they develop their business normally and increase exports in their niche. He had a principled position and remains so. At least until recently.".
Another reason for Tsepkalo's dismissal could be his passive position: “We should have been a more active leader, and not just rest on our laurels and write how great everything is. It was necessary to offer some new initiatives and projects.”
What is the Hi-Tech Park?
The Hi-Tech Park dates back to 2005, when the relevant presidential decree was signed. The task of the HTP was to create favorable conditions in the country for the development of software, information and communication technologies aimed at increasing the competitiveness of the national economy.
The HTP has 165 registered residents and employs more than 27,000 people. Park residents have a number of tax benefits.
The volume of software production in 2016 exceeded $900 million, an increase of 42% compared to 2015.
The volume of HTP exports in 2016 increased by 16% to $820.6 million. 91% of the park's total production is exported. In 2016, HTP-developed software was supplied to customers from 67 countries, with 49.1% of exports going to countries Western Europe, 43.2% - to the USA.
“We compete equally with the most developed countries in the world. We create products that are among the top most famous products in the world. mobile applications, developed by HTP residents, are used by 900 million people, i.e. almost a seventh of the world's population,- said Valery Tsepkalov in June last year in an interview with the program "Contours" of the TV channel ONT.
He especially noted that "of the ten largest companies in the world, according toForbes, five are our customers, our clients.” "This suggests that we are at the very highest global level in this business segment," Tsepkalo stated.
Why is the President unhappy?
During the "Big Conversation" with the public and the media on February 3 Alexander Lukashenko instructed the chairman of the Investigative Committee to warn IT people to "didn't play pranks."
“Not only do they get a good salary, they only pay income tax, so they also started with the companies to which they provide services, to open accounts, cards and so on abroad. And they drop money on their cards there. That is, they began to receive salaries “in envelopes”,- said the head of state.
He instructed the chairman of the Investigative Committee Ivan Noskevich “go there, collect them and warn: guys, stop being naughty, because we will watch, watch - and put you on a par with everyone.”
Valery Tsepkalo proposed to exclude from the criminal law liability for illegal business activities, with the exception of medical, related to people's lives, as well as financial, related to the production of counterfeit money and construction financial pyramids.
“In our legislation, there is already administrative responsibility for activities without registration,”- Tsepkalo said in August last year in an interview "SB. Belarus today. He also called this article of the Criminal Code "a relic of the Soviet economy."
The proposal of the HTP head caused criticism from the Prosecutor General's Office.
Fight for benefits
The conflict between the authorities and the HTP arose in 2015, when it became known about plans to significantly increase income tax for IT professionals and the amount of contributions to the Social Security Fund.
Since 2005, HTP residents have been paying income tax in the amount of 9% (with a base rate of 13%), the base for payment to the Social Security Fund is one average wage across the country (for others - 5 average monthly salaries).
It was proposed to increase income tax for HTP residents by 1%, and the base for payment to the Social Security Fund - up to two average salaries.
Tsepkalo actively defended the existing tax rate, his main argument was that the HTP pays quite a lot of taxes even at the current rate.
In November 2015, in a TV interview, Valery Tsepkalo said that the benefits provided by the HTP helped stop the “brain drain” from the country and not only brought the income of programmers out of the shadows, but also stimulated the growth of the industry.
“In total, a programmer in the HTP pays three times more taxes than the average Belarusian citizen,”- said the director of the HTP. According to him, in 2014 HTP resident companies paid $40 million in direct taxes and $100 million in indirect taxes.
Tsepkalo's argument convinced the authorities, and tax rate for the HTP was retained. However, special tax regime only valid until 2020.
What would happen if there was no HTP
In the study “Activities of the High-Tech Park: a threefold increase in the export of IT services and what will happen if the park is closed”, experts from the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (BISS) Elena Artemenko and Alexander Avtushko-Sikorsky note that the creation of the HTP provided a threefold increase in the export of IT services in the period from 2006 to 2013.
In the absence of the HTP as an institutional structure and a set of preferential rules, the export of IT services per capita as of 2013 would be approximately three times smaller.
Experts interviewed HTP residents. Most see only advantages in being part of the Park. However, the problem in the functioning of the HTP is that the conditions for its work are not fixed for a long-term period.
“The regime under which the HTP operates (according to the presidential decree) has temporary restrictions. The issue of giving this regime a permanent status is a key and one of the most significant.
What exit strategies do the representatives of the industry see for themselves in the event of the elimination of the preferential regime? This is the departure of the organization to foreign jurisdictions and the resumption of gray schemes in work and salaries in envelopes:
“The IT sector is really mobile, companies can easily leave both the HTP and the country… Nobody bothers to register a company in another country”;
“With the closure of the HTP, the IT industry in Belarus will not disappear, but will cease to develop at the same pace as it has developed over the past ten years. There will be an outflow of companies from the country, but its magnitude is difficult to estimate.”
The existence of special preferences for residents of technology parks, experts say, is a normal practice in many countries, both developing and developed.
Today it became known that Valery Tsepkalo, director of the administration of the High-Tech Park, has been relieved of his post. Tsepkalo stood at the origins of the creation of the HTP, led it from its inception in 2005, made a very significant contribution to the development of the IT industry in Belarus.
As of the beginning of 2017, 165 resident companies were registered in the HTP, the total number of their employees exceeds 27 thousand. In 2016, the export of HTP services amounted to more than $ 820 million. The share of exports in the total production of the Park is more than 90%.
As the head of the HTP, Valery Tsepkala was remembered for his bright, bold statements, which concerned not only the Belarusian IT industry. We publish quotes from interviews and speeches from different years.
“I gave a lecture in Silicon Valley, and a lot of guys from the post-Soviet space came up to me ... The number of people was so large that then the idea came to me that the era of the Internet was beginning. And why, in order for a young man or girl to succeed, it is necessary to leave for the USA? Why can't we create a prototype of Silicon Valley here, in the Republic of Belarus, so that people can fulfill themselves without leaving the country, and if they do, then buying a ticket in more than one direction?
Of course, when I announced the proposal to the government, they considered me a little dreamer: “Do you even understand where you are? How are you even going to create Silicon Valley here? But at that time I was already convinced that Belarusians could be as successful as the British, Germans, Americans, Japanese, French and other successful peoples of the Earth. That we are in no way inferior, and we just need to create the right ecosystem, the right incentives, the right motivation system, and we will succeed. And we succeeded."
“I will not hide: at first, the cheapness of our developers played a role. We were cheaper compared to German or American programmers. We used to say that we can do it qualitatively and cheaply. Now we do not say the word "cheap". Our programmers cost the same as in Moscow, Berlin, and some developers are more expensive than in the USA.
We now have a lot of American companies, and, by the way, in 2016 alone, exports to the United States exceeded $ 400 million. When I worked in the United States, I could not have imagined that we would ever have at least several million dollars USA. We had absolute zero there.
And now the HTP gives two-thirds - think about it! — two-thirds of all national Belarusian exports to the United States. One third accounts for all other industries: woodworking, textiles, petrochemicals ... "
“One high-profile project a year is more than enough for the Republic of Belarus. Sometimes I hear: there were Tanks, Viber, MAPS.ME, the successful IPO of EPAM, now MSQRD - but what else? Isn't that enough?
What associations do you have with IT products made in the UK, France, Italy, Spain or neighboring Poland, Lithuania or Latvia? If you think about it, it turns out that even in many developed countries sometimes there are no high-profile projects that everyone in the world would know about. There are very few self-valued products in Europe, unlike in the USA. Therefore, Belarus looks very worthy against this background.”
“The most necessary condition for the development of the IT sector in our country will be the creation of the right ecosystem, the right environment. And this environment will give rise to companies that are really stars for us, and not only for us. And if we correctly create, support and develop this environment, then such companies will appear on their own.
It is impossible to create Microsoft, Apple or Google by any efforts - state or otherwise. There must be an initiative of some guys from below who live by this idea. And which would embody these ideas in the form of such corporations, which today stand as the economies of large countries, such as Ukraine, for example. Therefore, it was really very, very important for us to create the right environment, the right ecosystem – the cluster that I have already mentioned.”
“When people talk about Silicon Valley, many people think of venture funds or law firms, which will help you get into these venture funds, secure your rights to intellectual property and so on. But the strength of Silicon Valley is that it has a critical mass of development engineers who work for different companies. And we need to create an ecosystem in which a person with an idea can find a person who can implement this idea. And the creation of this ecosystem is possible thanks to service companies.
Outsourcing is not a dirty word. And it would be good if the state used outsourcing everywhere. Service companies may have lower returns, but on the other hand, there is no risk.
And this is a huge plus for Belarus. If a product fails in 5 or 10 years, there must be companies that can accumulate a workforce. The fact that we have both service and product companies is the strength of our IT sector.”
“We say that we stand for development, for the growth of people's well-being. But the question is that for successful development, a more or less understandable, clear goal should be formulated.
It is important that everyone government bodies, the education system understood which direction to run. It seems to me that today we do not have such a goal.
In the same Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew said: guys, we will create an international financial center. Everyone understood this, respectively, the legislation adapted to this. The education system began to produce specialists in the field of finance who speak English. Government officials began to promote it. Diplomats began to involve the right people.
With a specific, clear and understandable goal, everyone starts to run in this clear and understandable direction.
“The most effective, from my point of view, state is where business and government structures do not directly touch at all. Then the personal factor disappears, likes and dislikes of people. That is, the business process gets rid of a number of risks of a subjective nature. And, of course, the motives for corruption are reduced to almost nothing.
Example. In Singapore, if you do not receive a reasoned response to a request for, say, a license within a certain time, it is automatically considered that you have been issued one. That is, the flaw of the official is interpreted in favor of the applicant. As a result, no red tape. This is what you should strive for. As you can see, society only wins.”
“In 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak assembled their first computer in a garage and sold a non-existent batch to a nearby store. Then friends registered Apple, which today costs twice as much as the entire economy of Ukraine.
Having registered the company, the two Steves concentrated on production and promotion. They didn't have to staffing, internal labor regulations, instructions on fire safety with a list of those responsible, a book of accounting for inspections, invoices - forms of strict reporting and a book of accounting for such, personal files of employees, an office for rent and even a mandatory legal address (they were in the garage).
They did not even have a subscription to the "Tax Bulletin" and many other things, without which the "correct" organization of their business is impossible. The guys just invented, made computers and sold them.
It must be understood that in our country, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak would most likely be held accountable for "illegal business activities associated with the receipt of income on a large scale, committed by a group of persons" under Article 233 of the Criminal Code. And in the States, they themselves earned money, and moved the world high-tech forward. ”
“In my opinion, liability for illegal business activities (with the exception of medical, related to people’s lives, and financial, related to the production of counterfeit money, the construction of various financial pyramids, etc.) should be excluded from our criminal legislation long ago. Indeed, in our legislation there is already an administrative responsibility for activities without registration.
I think that this article in the Criminal Code has remained as a relic of the Soviet economy, when only state-owned enterprises could exist. And if someone decided to do, say, sewing denim suits (they were called “guild workers”), then his activity was qualified as illegal, he was arrested and had to serve a long term in prison.
But the time is different. It is impossible to imagine without private business modern economy. And without the right of people to do something (hence - entrepreneurship), to dare, to try, development is impossible.
“Issues with taxes should be resolved calmly, through negotiations between the authorities and business entities, as is the case in the United States, in Europe and in the developed countries of Asia. We need civilized approaches in solving economic problems relationship between the state and citizens. With regard to business entities, the approaches applicable to murderers, terrorists, robbers, drug dealers and other asocial elements are no longer seen. After all, entrepreneurial people not only do not pose a danger to society, but on the contrary, they create jobs and contribute to economic growth.
In developed countries, the procedure for considering cases related to the payment of taxes is determined by civil law relations. The criminal aspect falls on the most extreme case, when the possibilities to resolve the issue within the framework of civil law relations have been completely exhausted.
You have to understand that companies like IBA bring currency into the country. We can penalize a company that imports $40 million a year and blame it for importing another $1 million. But this is logic turned inside out. After all, the company could not bring anything to the country at all if it decided to develop its business not in Belarus, but, say, in Poland or Lithuania, which sleeps and sees, in order to drag Belarusian IT companies to Vilnius, where technopark.
“The education system must adapt to the needs of the market. There is no need for government orders, because no one knows what will happen in 5 years. It is necessary to raise the prestige of teachers. And we need to launch initiatives to support natural science and technology education.”
“There is no business without loss. And the director of a state-owned enterprise has no right to make a mistake. If he has three successful new projects, and the fourth one did not go, then the leader can be seriously punished “for miscalculations in economic activity". Therefore, most of our directors do not take risks, do not go for innovations, since by definition they involve risk, they do not try to introduce something new.
There is no such thing in the world. There, the leader is evaluated according to general indicators. economic activity. Failure is not punishable. Therefore, to our deepest regret, our enterprises will continue to lose in the competition.”
“I have a dream: I would like to see every Belarusian as a host. The owner of the land, the owner of factories, factories ... I would like each of our citizens to acquire property in their own country.
Ownership brings a person closer to God. For God is the Lord, the lord, the owner of being. And a person, in order to approach, become like God, it is also necessary to become a master, owner, master. With property, a person acquires the basis of personal dignity. Man is proud of his property. He is also proud of his country - the place where he is the owner. He would not exchange such a homeland for anything and would not offend anyone!
Privatization, in my opinion, should pursue two main goals:
1. Giving each Belarusian a worthy share in the national wealth of the country.
2. Attracting investments in the modernization of enterprises and obtaining funds for the state budget.
Belarusians can become a nation of owners. To do this, they must be endowed with land and means of production. To endow with the property that would tightly connect our people with their ethnic homeland. That property, which makes a nation out of a people, an ethnos, and a citizen out of a person.
When preparing the material, excerpts from interviews on the portals TUT.BY, kp.by, sp.by, nv-online.info, onliner.by, quotes from Valery Tsepkalo's speech at the project
Today, on March 2, it became known about the unexpected decision of the president: to release Valery Tsepkala from his post. Valery Vilyamovich himself does not give any comments. In the meantime, Belarusian programmers and businessmen in the IT industry are shocked by an unexpected decision, we offer the readers of Komsomolskaya Pravda an interview with the head of the Belarusian "Silicon Valley", which we did last year. Then the Hi-Tech Park celebrated its tenth anniversary. We talked with Valery Tsepkalo about the history of HTP development, its current work, personnel, plans and prospects. Valery Vilyamovich told us about how he sees the Park in 5-10 years.
This year, the Belarusian Silicon Valley celebrates its tenth anniversary - this is the name of the High-Tech Park, which is located in the Minsk district of Uruchcha. Now the HTP unites 159 IT companies under its wing, which, by the end of the year, are expected to bring the annual volume of exports of products and services to one billion dollars! Valery Tsepkalo, who was at the origins of the creation of the HTP, spoke about how the park was born and how exactly it was possible to achieve such results.
Work on the creation of the HTP began in 2005, says Valery Vilyamovich. - The park was immediately considered as a project with extra-budgetary funding. Thanks to the assistance of the President of Belarus, we received a commercial loan of 312 thousand dollars - at 17% per annum. And two years later we returned it with interest - everything went even better than we expected.
Now the HTP has 159 registered residents, and 25,000 IT specialists work here. Every year the number of employees increases by three thousand people. The income of the park administration is made up of deductions from residents in the amount of 1% of their total revenue.
In terms of revenue, we are growing by 30-40% per year - these are very good results, - says Valery Vilyamovich. - Especially considering that the global growth of the IT industry in the world averages 3-4%. 10 years ago, the creation of the park could be called a start-up. Now, every year, startups are born in our park that make a splash all over the world. Among the most striking examples of such products are the World of Tanks game, the Viber messenger, the MAPS.ME map service and the sensational MSQRD application - the very one that Facebook founder and owner Mark Zuckerberg recently bought out.
It is no secret that over 90% of Belarusian software products and IT services are supplied abroad, the main consumers are in Europe and the USA. Belarusian companies have customers to match the scale of the park: Google, Microsoft, Coca-Cola Company, Bank of America, Oracle, Bosch, IBM, Deutsche Bank, Reuters, Airbus and others.
The share of the CIS market in the export of our residents is now only 4.8%, although two years ago this figure was 12.6%, says Tsepkalo. - The decline can be explained by two factors. The first reason is related to internal Russian problems - first of all, this is the fall in energy prices. The second reason is the law adopted in Russia on the so-called national software producers - we are talking about import substitution. This means that we have to reorient ourselves from Russian market to the markets of Europe and North America. Nevertheless, among the clients of our residents there are still many large Russian companies. For example, our resident OOO Sberbank-Technologies, a subsidiary of Sberbank of Russia, creates its own banking software products. LLC "YandexBel" has been participating in the creation of Yandex services for five years. Omegasoftware develops software for large industrial enterprises Russia. Among their customers are Uralvagonzavod, Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, MZ Arsenal, Ural Locomotives, Neftekamsk Automobile Plant and a number of others. The brand "Galaktika" is also known in Russia. Main office Corporation "Galaktika" - HTP resident UE "Top Soft". It is the largest developer of "full cycle" economic software.
One of the most important issues in building a successful enterprise is employees. No wonder there is a saying - cadres decide everything. Especially when it comes to IT. Tell us about the park's experience in finding suitable specialists.
Indeed, we are building our growth on interaction with the education system. Our greatest merit is that we were able to restore the prestige of engineering education. Math and physics are starting to gain popularity again in Centralized Testing - it's worth a lot. In the field of education, we work in three directions at once. First, our companies open laboratories jointly with universities. Now 80 such structures have already been created. Secondly, based on the Israeli experience, we have created an educational center in the park. He works with adults who are interested in IT, but have a different education and want to get an IT specialty. In this center for the period 2011-2015. over 4400 people have been trained. Education is paid, but companies are ready to reimburse the cost of education for those graduates who have successfully completed the courses. Thirdly, there are numerous courses based on IT companies that take suitable people from the labor market and retrain them. Finally, we have created a business incubator in the park, which allows young people to attend various IT events, gain knowledge, share experience in the field of IT, and also find a team for a startup.
- How do you see the Belarusian Hi-Tech Park in the future? In a year, three, ten?
We intend to improve the ecosystem that we have built here in ten years. We want to continue to encourage young people to come into the IT industry so that it grows and accumulates a critical mass of development engineers. And if we talk about a dream, we want to basically make Minsk, and maybe the whole republic, a big technology park where people would sit in cafes and discuss how to create a new startup. Not somewhere far abroad, but in Belarus, where some of their compatriots have already been able to turn their small firms into large global companies. Using the example of HTP, we show that you can repeat this path of success, you can achieve a lot with your mind and work!
