Regional legislators evaluated Tatarstan’s energy saving and innovation experience

Regional legislators evaluated Tatarstan’s energy saving and innovation experience Фото Ильдара Мухаметзянова Фото Ильдара Мухаметзянова Фото Ильдара Мухаметзянова Фото Ильдара Мухаметзянова Фото Ильдара Мухаметзянова Фото Ильдара Мухаметзянова

Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov addressed members of the meeting in the Kazan City Hall: “The given issues are really challenging, they are important for all our regions.” In his words, since 2000 the republic has adopted 3 programs on energy saving. The main report on the issue was presented by Alexei Kubrin, deputy representative plenipotentiary of the RF President to the Privoljsky federal district. Chairman of the State Council Farid Mukhametshin pointed out that Tatarstan has become one of the first Russian regions aimed at energy efficiency.

The legislators also discussed creation of innovation sites, clusters in regions. In his speech, Farid Mukhametshin focused the attention on main directions of the Tatarstan innovation politics, the republican experience and prospects. In his opinion, in order to build “clever” economy first it is necessary to form legal base and create innovative infrastructure. “Our republic has basically created such an institutional foundation,” he said. Its’ long-term basis is the Tatarstan “Scientific and innovation development strategy for 2015” setting the key priorities, challenges and goals, special “Innovation memorandum of the Republic of Tatarstan”, law “On innovation activity in the Republic of Tatarstan”.

Farid Mukhametshin told about the republican investment system, enterprise-support infrastructure, and various types of techno parks: 5 industrial parks, techno polis “Chimgrad”, 9 techno parks and 8 business incubators. The Tatarstan parliament has adopted the Program of social and economical development that set an ambitious goal – to rise the Tatarstan GRP up to 2 trn rubles by 2016. The Tatarstan regional program of nanoindustry development for 2012-15 is almost completed.
Tatarstan actively develops infocommunication technologies. For example, over 18 thousand state officials work in the republican system of electronic document flow. The number of state and municipal electronic services is growing. Every month over 1 mln state services are rendered electronically, this includes police fine payments, electronic kindergarten placement, internet passport and registration services.

As to the cluster approach to the formation of innovation-technological structures, Farid Mukhametshin said that at present the republic has 14 scientific and educational clusters: petrochemical, machine-building, info-communicational, agricultural and others. They consolidate the resources of universities, elementary and middle professional education and enterprises. “The republican universities today are becoming the main subjects of scientific and innovation activity – big centers preparing competent specialists,” he said. “At the same time we meet the challenge of renewing working and engineering staff. This will be an important factor to rise the international competitiveness of the Tatarstan economy in conditions of WTO entering.”

The legislators adopted a final document, which in particular refers to the development of the federal law “On innovation activity in the Russian Federation”.