Investing in strategic innovation the only way out of crisis

Liudmyla Suprun, director of Ukraine’s State Agency for Investment and Innovation (SAII), made the statement recently that the only way for Ukraine to pull out of the current crisis was to attract investment to strategic innovative projects. The main ways to ensure that the government can realize its innovation policy today are: to set up and ensure the activity of the National Commission for Investment and Innovative Development (NCIID); to institute a system of strategic development planning by the state; forming a national innovation system; setting up innovation entities; and increasing innovative culture in Ukrainian society, said Ms. Suprun.

The State Investment Agency has determined as its priorities for the upcoming year to be: finding a mechanism for stimulating the export of domestic goods by providing trade credits to non-resident legal entities under guarantee from foreign states; attracting foreign investment and mobilizing domestic investors to establish export-oriented manufacturing; fostering maximum profitability at companies and stimulating public-private partnerships in investment areas.

According to Ms. Suprun, investment needs to be directed at priority areas of Ukraine’s economy: energy, nano- and bio-technologies, aviation and the space industry, processing and preserving farm products, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, chemicals and light industry. These are the primary areas that need to have new technologies introduced. To ensure financial support for innovative activities in Ukraine, SAII will have draw funding both from the State Budget and from other sources.