Our future

The President of Belarus visited the National Children’s Technopark on Knowledge Day on September 1st

Students met the Head of State near the technopark, and Aleksandr Lukashenko had a warm conversation with the youth. 

“You are our future, you are great,” the President praised the guys.

Later, in his speech to the students of the technopark, the Head of State stressed that this is a great temple of the most promising, smart, advanced and literate people. The President said that the idea of creating such an institution was born during a visit to the Russian Sirius centre in Sochi, “And this idea fell on prepared soil. I had visited the place several times and had learned the centre inside out. And President of Russia Vladimir Putin was my guide. He was the initiator of creating the Sirius centre in Sochi. Back then I told him that it would be a good idea to create a similar technopark in Belarus and I would like Sirius to provide support. He gave the instruction right away. And thus, we started setting up this centre here while relying on Russia’s experience first and foremost and then on the entire world experience... I should tell you that it is only the beginning. I know that the number of people willing to study here and get more sophisticated, more advanced knowledge is considerably larger. If talented people remain overboard (three people per seat), then it is necessary to expand this technopark to such limits and capabilities, which will allow all the kids, who want to get more contemporary knowledge and more advanced knowledge, to enjoy this opportunity.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko also stressed that it is important for the graduates of the National Children’s Technopark to work for the benefit of their own country and remember the country later on, 

“Although I understand that you are people of the future, people of science. And science cannot be restricted to confines of even the largest and most advanced state these days. Science is international. But wherever you may be, you have to remember that it is your land. That this land has done everything for you to grow up to be literate and sophisticated people and to be able to work in any country.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko paid special attention to another issue — the commercialisation of the results of the work of the students of the technopark.
“You are no longer little kids. You create some product. I say ‘some’ because I don’t know whether the market will like it and whether you can sell it. But we will do everything and will help you if you devise something, if you invent something useful for manufacturing sector, for our country. Something for manufacturing sector, agriculture, transport, communications, and so on. We will buy this product from you as a matter of priority with pleasure. In other words, you have to commercialise your knowledge,” the Belarusian leader assured.


According to the President, by creating this technopark the country looked beyond the horizon among other things. One of the first instructions the President gave back in the day was to create a foundation for supporting gifted and talented youth.

“Talented people, the intellect of the nation represent the greatest treasure for Belarus. If we have such people, we will overcome any challenges. We may do without large supplies of oil and natural gas. You also contribute to the lasting sovereignty and statehood,” the Belarusian leader stated.

Aleksandr Lukashenko stated that Belarus is home to very hardworking, disciplined, and goal-oriented people. Continuing the line of thought, he cited a number of historical facts, “Think about it! Back in 1944 the war was still ablaze, a third of the population had died, virtually all our cities and towns and villages lied in ruins, roads and bridges were destroyed while restoration work was already in progress in Minsk. Our brotherly republics, which were part of the Soviet Union then, provided immense aid to us. An automobile plant was built. About three years later, in 1947 it made the first MAZ trucks. Two years later the first Belarus tractor rolled off the assembly line of Minsk Tractor Works (MTZ). Colossal efforts were needed to make it happen. It was in Minsk that the first batch-produced Soviet computing machines had been made. It is not the kind of desktop computers you have today. Those powerful computers occupied a huge building. For the generation that still remembered the horrors of that war it was a genuine feat of intellect and labour. And we, Belarusians are proud of having accomplished the impossible.”
The Head of State urged the students to aim for great goals and create in the name of peace, “You should see the key goal in front of you: peace and a sky full of light above your head.”
As a Knowledge Day gift to the technopark the President presented a certificate for a minibus. He also promised that if the technopark earns at least half of the cost of another bus like that, then the government will surely cover the rest of the cost.
The President said that when he was getting familiar with materials concerning the technopark, he found out a surprising and pleasant thing. It turns out that the number of technopark students from the regions is higher than the number of students from Minsk.
“The fact that you, regionals have reached the level of Minsk and have exceeded it makes me glad,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. 
In a conversation with the guys, the Head of State noted that the history had gifted sovereignty to Belarus and its people unexpectedly and accidentally to some extent. It is now necessary to preserve sovereignty. 
Aleksandr Lukashenko explained that independence is a relative term because there are no absolutely independent countries in today’s world. It is true even for the largest, most powerful, and most advanced countries, which need support and allies one way or another.

“We have this independence and we have sovereignty. We have to preserve it so that we would never allow the generations that will follow us to be enslaved. If we have more people like you, we will definitely never be enslaved and will not wear bast shoes,” the Belarusian leader is sure.

The Head of State was informed about the structure of the technopark, areas of its activity, the system of work with gifted youth and prospects for the development of the educational institution. Director of the National Children’s Technopark Sergei Sachko spoke about the institution which includes a school, a training and laboratory building and a dormitory.

It was also about the technopark admission rules. Students make applications, then attend in-person interviews and perform test tasks.
The Head of State instructed to study the technopark’s practices and work out a university admission mechanism for its students. New university admission rules for the technopark’s students have already been in place during this year’s university admission campaign. 23 technopark graduates were enrolled in universities without entrance tests on the recommendation of the supervisory board of the technopark. The National Children’s Technopark also plans to update its training programs and develop projects to meet the needs of the real sector of the country’s economy.
Aleksandr Lukashenko visited an education and lab wing where he took a close look at the operation of the labs specialising in aerospace technologies, electronics and communications, robot technology, and energy solutions of the future. The kids demonstrated their own system for detecting and tracking the emotional state of people. And they not only talked about the project, but also showed it in action. The system tracked the emotions of the guys on the line during the speech of Aleksandr Lukashenko. So, what did the faces of the students show? For example, pride, happiness, interest and respect. To make it more convincing, the young scientists also scanned emotions of their guests: the President and various officials. In particular, the face of the Head of State showed happiness. Faces of other people, who were present, also demonstrated either happiness or interest.
The development of a system for the remote monitoring of agricultural land was also presented before the President. Unmanned aerial vehicles help see what lands need more fertilisers. Nuclear energy is also studied in the children’s technopark. The school students have worked out a project for modernising nuclear power plants in order to reduce maintenance costs and increase the efficiency of nuclear power plants. 
The other R&D products demonstrated to the Head of State included smart glasses, highly effective coal-based absorbent, a Tetra Pak packaging analogue, a speech data security system, and the use of flax manufacturing waste for energy purposes. 
Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasised all the time that the kids should bring their R&D products not only to scientific conferences. These products should be polished at enterprises and should be assimilated into the manufacturing sector if possible. He instructed the government to take care of the matter.

Based on materials of sb.by and belta.by

Photos by Belta