Science and innovations are a real factor of the social and economic progress of Belarus. 295 research, design and technological organizations are available in the country. Nearly 30 thousand researchers are involved in research and development. Of them, 3.2 thousand persons have a scientific degree of a Candidate of Sciences and nearly 800 – Doctor of Sciences. The larger share of the country’s scientific budget (57.5%) is appropriated for development of engineering sciences, 28% – natural and medical sciences, 8% – agricultural research, 6.5% – social sciences and humanities.

The main research and development and also personnel and financial resources are concentrated in the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Ministries of Industry, Education, Healthcare and Belneftekhim Concern. The core of the scientific and technical potential and leading research center of the country is the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (NASB). It has a developed infrastructure and manages and coordinates an extensive range of fundamentally oriented and applied research and development in the sphere of natural, engineering sciences and humanities; and draws up and put forward proposals for forming scientifically substantiated approaches to the development of the Belarusian economy.

The governmental scientific and technical policy is formulated, pursued and coordinated through a system of governmental programs integrating the potential of science and production. These programs are ultimately aimed at obtaining scientific results to be used in practical applications. Implementation of the programs in 2001–2005 resulted in a significant progress: hundreds of innovative machines, tractors and agricultural machinery, tools and engines, equipment and instrumentation, medical and laser equipment were developed and found use in practical applications; innovative materials and substances, processes, systems and complexes were developed and are brought to a commercial level; tens of crop and fruit culture varieties and hybrids were handed over for strain testing; and state-of-the-art methods and software products were developed and find use in various applications. The focus of attention is resource-saving and energy-efficient processes, innovative materials and energy sources, medicine and pharmacy, information and telecommunication technologies, production processes, agricultural produces processing and storage, ecology and environmental management.

Belarus established and develops the national patent system, improves the regulatory and legal framework in the sphere of protection of industrial property objects – inventions, utility models, industrial models, trademarks and service marks, selection achievements and layout geometries. In the recent years, the trend toward a higher level of research and development has been observed. The number of applications for inventions is increasing.

The scientific and technological potential of Belarus is continuously adapting to the changing economic conditions. In 2005, the High Technologies Park was established, nearly 300 small enterprises specializing in the sphere of innovative and high technologies and free economic zones operate in the country.
Belarus intensifies international scientific and technical cooperation with many CIS and foreign countries. It signed agreements on scientific and technical cooperation with 37 countries. The collaboration is being intensified with such international organizations as the International Association for Promotion of Cooperation with Scientists from the New Independent States of the Former Soviet Union (INTAS), International Science and Technology Center (ISTC), International Center for Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI), Joint Institute of Nuclear Research, European Center for Nuclear Research (Switzerland), NATO Science Committee, SCOPES and others.

The main lines of the governmental scientific and technical and innovation policy in the years to come is to form an enabling investment climate contributing to replacement of fixed assets of the enterprises by applying state-of-the-art highly efficient technologies. One of the main targets of the governmental scientific, scientific and technical and innovation policy is to establish and develop a national innovation system, a harmonious system of innovation structures, allowing for an on-line transfer of high technologies and scientific developments to the production and attraction of investments in high-tech industries.