On August 13, 2021, the NRFU Directorate’s staff took part in a meeting with representatives of the delegation from Uzbekistan, in particular, with the leadership of the Ministry of Innovative Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Foundation for Science and Innovation Support, the Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Ukraine.

Although the Foundation for Science and Innovation Support of Uzbekistan is similar to the NRFU in its functions, there are couple of differences. We would like to share some interesting facts:

– thanks to the Foundation’s funding, 30% of the material and technical base of research institutions has been updated during the last 3 years;

– for the winners of startup calls there are customs privileges for the purchase of equipment and there is also an automatically granted residency in the premises of the Ministry of Innovative Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan;

– reporting on project implementation takes place once a year (for startup calls – once a quarter);

– annual grant support budget – $ 100,000,000;

– in case of for applied developments there is support, provided for their subsequent commercialization

– scaling of projects through bilateral calls;

– grant support for internships of young scientists abroad (from 1 to 6 months);

– flexible legislation aimed at accelerating innovation development.

During the meeting, the parties discussed areas of future cooperation, in particular, the possibility of organizing scientific meetings, holding bilateral calls, exchange of experts.