On April 8, at the South Kazakhstan National University named after M. Auezov and the International Kazakh-Turkish University, specialists of PMU for the Fostering Productive Innovation Project held a seminar on clarifying the project tools, details on applying for PhD Research and Training Grant Program. PMU consultants answered questions of employees and scientists.  In general, the meeting discussed conditions of the grant program, what are the differences and advantages.

The main purpose of this grant program is to obtain competitive research on an international scale for further implementation in the "real" economic sectors of Kazakhstan. It should be noted that the goal is not to send to study abroad.    The challenge facing us is to get competitive research. Our program focuses on the research component.   Therefore, participants must be either doctoral students who have completed the 1st year of doctoral studies or researchers who have received a degree in the last 5 years in technical, medical and natural sciences.

This program is a pilot and is aimed at studying the demand for such grants and analyzing the quality of research of our young scientists. Round 1 of the grant program showed that the world's leading research centers in USA, Singapore, Germany, Australia, Holland, etc., included in the top-100 QSRankingbysubject (ranking of Universities worldwide by industry, this condition is a mandatory requirement of GP) are ready to accept our scientists.  

PhD Research and Training Grant Program allows to solve the problem of "brain drain" abroad and provides promising young researchers an opportunity to conduct qualitative research on the basis of the best research centers in the world, as well as contributes to establishment of new relationships with scientists from around the world. Within the framework of this program, a Kazakhstani scientist has the opportunity to conduct joint research with the best ones in their field and work under their leadership.

It is expected that scientists who have gained experience of joint research abroad, will subsequently significantly improve the quality of research conducted in Kazakhstan, as well as contribute to establishment of new scientific ties with global scientific community.

We need to get a "pool" of competitive research on an international scale for further implementation in the "real" sectors of the economy of Kazakhstan. One of the main requirements for our grantees is to develop a business plan or commercialization strategy that will help them to find an investor, receive funding from the state or go into business on their own.

In addition, the application procedure is simplified with a minimum package of documents, which is submitted electronically through the Portal. Selection is conducted by the Board of international experts in the field of innovation and science, who can objectively assess prospects of commercialization of applicants R&Ds. In international practice, commercialization of scientific research is usually understood as a share of profit from introduction of R&Ds in production or business, work on patenting and profit from the sale of licenses for these patents.  Commercialization of scientific research is of great importance today,  so are universities as places where new knowledge and innovations are created. The role of the state here is no less important, and many countries allocate a significant part of their budgets to support scientists.  Thus, a peculiarity of this program is that during the internship candidates are required to file for patenting (PCT) of the invention, which will allow in the future to find possible commercialization of the invention.