Belarus' High Technologies Park (BHTP) was established on September 22, 2005 on the President of Belarus Decree "On the Hi-Tech Park" with the aim to develop modern technologies and expand their exports, as well as to attract both Belarusian and foreign technologies and companies to the sector.[1]
To benchmark and learn from experiences of other innovative clusters the Hi-Tech Park has signed a number of Memoranda of Understanding with the parks of China, Finland, Armenia, Republic of Korea, India [2] and other organizations.
The organization is headed by the Director. There are 2 Boards in the Park structure - the Expert Board [3] and the Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board in responsible for the Park work organization and control. The Expert Board is responsible for technical and scientific part in the Park. The 2 Boards participate in meetings and decide about new residents acceptance.
The park is located in Minsk - the capital of the Belarus. Its present territory is ~124 sq acres. HTP’s infrastructure includes five zones:
Scientific premises and production facilities for IT companies will be built in the first area on almost 15 hectares . The residential area (about 9 hectares) is at the beginning of its improvement, it will include residential housing and social infrastructure. Some resident companies have already finished construction of their offices in the public and business centre. In this area IT Academy, its hostel and a hotel are also planned to be built. Social and recreation zone will consist of gyms, swimming pools, restaurants, etc.
The Park is in close cooperation with educational establishments of Belarus. On March 25, 2009 HTP Research and Innovation Lab was opened in BNTU.[4] On April 9, 2009 HTP Innovation Complex was opened in the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics.[5]
On April 20, 2010 BHTP had 84 residents - both Belarusian and foreign companies:
The Park resident companies are acknowledged worldwide. The IBA Group and EPAM Systems, the two largest Belarusian enterprises, were the first in Europe to achieve the SEI CMMI (Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model Integration) Level 4 Rating.