Huge Cash Boost for Kazak Science
Thursday, 19 October, 2006
Huge Cash Boost for Kazak Science
Thursday, 19 October, 2006
President Nursultan Nazarbaev announced the spending increase on October 13 at a ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the country’s Academy of Sciences. Funding will increase by a factor of 25 over the next five years, to reach an annual total of 2.7 billion US dollars.
He also said five scientific centres would be set up to focus on the key areas of nanotechnology, biotechnology, nuclear technology, space and energy.
Scientists interviewed by NBCentralAsia say an increase of this magnitude will call for coordination to match, in terms of both creative capacity and financial management.
Andrei Chebotarev, who heads a research centre called Alternativa, says that Kazak science has become increasingly uncoordinated since the Academy of Sciences ceased to function as the sector’s lead agency. “I believe science has lost some kind of common coordinating centre, resulting in a situation where there are no shared standards or methods for developing the sciences to a deeper, theoretical level,” he said.
Tynysbek Kalmenov, director of the Centre for Physics and Mathematics, takes a different view, arguing that the main obstacle to progress is the shortage of good scientists. Any good research institution needed a world-class figure at its head, he said, adding, “I doubt there’s a scientist in the country who fits that description.”
Another issue highlighted by NBCentralAsia’s interviewees is the need to ensure the substantial amounts of money available are actually spent on what they are intended for. Although the government plans to set up a special coordinating agency to monitor the funding flow, there are concerns that pseudo-academic institutions will spring up and siphon off large sums of money.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
