There are ten times fewer scientists than in Canada: the National Academy of Sciences of Kazakhstan identified the main issue facing research in the country.

The president of the analytical center established under the revamped National Academy of Sciences, Akhylbek Kurishbaev, discussed the research conducted by the organization, as reported by Orda.kz.

2024-12-12 07:30:27https://orda.kz/uchenyh-v-10-raz-menshe-chem-v-kanade-v-nan-pri-prezidente-rk-nazvali-glavnuju-problemu-nauki-395576/

In Kazakhstan, there are 21,000 individuals engaged in research and development (R&D). For comparison, Kurishbayev provided figures from other countries: 180,000 in Australia, 210,000 in Canada, 480,000 in South Korea, 77,000 in Israel, and 26,000 in Belarus.

When comparing countries by population, Kazakhstan has half the number of researchers as Canada, two and a half times fewer than South Korea, and just six million more than Australia. In Israel and Belarus, the numbers are half as much. This indicates that the percentage of scientists per capita in Kazakhstan is significantly lower than in the aforementioned countries.

Additionally, as noted by Kurishbayev, a large portion of Kazakhstan's scientific staff is concentrated in the two capitals.

“According to our data, 60% of researchers involved in R&D reside in the cities of Almaty and Astana, and 66% of all funding allocated in the country also goes to Almaty and Astana. In 2023, only eight akimats allocated funds from their local budgets for the development of regional science, which constitutes 0.43% of the total science funding,” said the head of the National Academy of Sciences under the President of Kazakhstan.

In Kurishbayev's opinion, this issue should be addressed by the science and technology councils that are established within regional akimats at the direction of the President of Kazakhstan.

Another problem raised by Kurishbayev is the prevalence of "narrow specialization" in the research community of Kazakhstan.

“In the United States, 90% of discoveries and major scientific achievements are made through interdisciplinary research. Here, however, the competitions involve research institutes, scientific departments, and groups of scientists separately and independently,” stated Akhylbek Kurishbayev.

Previously, we reported on the issue of the shortage of scientists in Kazakhstan. This was also discussed by historian Jaksylik Sabitov in an interview with Orda.kz.