Introduction General characteristics of technology parks

What will be here

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  incubation and acceleration programs for startups;
  
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  venture financing;
  
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  IT Academy;
  
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  IT laboratories;
  
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  IT hotel;
  
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  data center;
  
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  coworking and offices;
  
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  event halls.
  

As a result, IT-park will become a special type of free economic zone, in the territory of which the development of high-tech and high-tech IT products will be intensely developed.

The technopark forms the necessary platform by combining the capabilities of three elements - state organizations and enterprises, educational institutions, private organizations and entrepreneurs.

The capabilities of state organizations and enterprises are significant financial resources, the creation of a legislative base and a creative administrative resource.

The possibilities of educational institutions are a bank of scientific and highly qualified personnel.

Opportunities of private organizations and entrepreneurs are financial means, the opportunity and desire to replicate high-tech products.

Here is such a symbiosis.

The remaining buildings (event hall, IT hotel, IT laboratories, conference rooms, additional premises for offices, etc.) will be commissioned by 2020.

Since the technopark is the first of its kind synthesis of the integration of science, education and high technologies in Uzbekistan, the builders are tasked with erecting a unique architectural solution.

One of the hallmarks of world-famous IT companies is their unusually arranged workspace. In their creative offices, you can work around the clock, seven days a week (24/7).

Open spaces where you can move on rollers and scooters, during breaks from work you can play musical instruments or your favorite game. Take a break in a hammock or bin bag. Snack not only hot food, but also eat fresh vegetables and fruits. Stay overnight at an IT hotel.

Here is the little that will be an integral part of the IT park in Tashkent. The interior will also reflect the desire for progressive design trends, the new aesthetics of postmodernism.

Where did the money come from

The main sources of financing are

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  funds received for the performance of work on the profile on the basis of contracts;
  
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  grants and loans of international financial organizations and institutions;
  
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  in the missing part, funds from the ICT Development Fund.
  

Promising start-up projects implemented by residents will be financed at the expense of the ICT Development Fund after their selection.

What are the benefits

Residents of the technology park are exempted from paying the following deadline before January 1, 2028:

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  all types of taxes and mandatory contributions to state trust funds, as well as a single social payment;
  
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  customs payments (with the exception of customs duties) for equipment, components, parts, assemblies, technological documentation, and software not included in the country, imported for own needs, software according to the lists approved in the established manner.
  

Incomes in the form of remuneration received before January 1, 2028 by employees under labor contracts with residents of the technology park:

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  subject to personal income tax at a fixed rate of 7.5%;
  
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  are not included in the total annual income of individuals determined for tax purposes.
  

Who can become a resident and what will he receive

Legal entities that must work in one of the following activities:

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  computer programming, consultations and other related services;
  
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  data hosting and processing services, Web portals;
  
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  software release;
  
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  other types of education, not included in other categories - exclusively in the direction of training in information technology.
  

The company must also have economically sound business plans.

The Directorate will consider and select promising startups to participate in acceleration and incubation programs. Priority areas will be:

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  financial technology;
  
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  medical technology;
  
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  automotive technology;
  
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  e-commerce;
  
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  e-education;
  
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  agricultural technology;
  
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  e-government;
  
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  digital technology integration.
  

Startup financing includes venture when the directorate is part of the founders. The form and size of the deposit, distribution of shares and the procedure for the return of financial resources are determined in the contract.

The directorate and startup independently determine the order of further interaction, the terms of mutual settlements, as well as the procedure for exiting the project.

             

2.2 The main difference from foreign technology parks   

 

Technoparks, by their idea, as they were conceived about half a century ago, and by the way they are developing at the fastest pace in the United States (where there are most of the technoparks , about 150), are not at all what we are doing. In contrast to our practice, where technology parks are, in fact, another university faculty or laboratory of a plant designed only to promote the implementation of the development of their specialists, in the West they have significant freedom from founders who do not impose technology parks not only on specific customers, but even directions work. European and American technology parks are guided by the same principles as any independent commercial company - economic efficiency. And choose customers accordingly. If Uzbekistann practice does not go beyond its current narrow framework of structures that only serve the needs of the founders, then our prospects in this sense seem rather modest. This can be seen if you look at the dynamics of the development of domestic technology parks - it is significantly inferior to the Western pace.

In Finland, for example, there are already 7 technology parks, slightly different from each other, but similar in the main - they are self- reliant in their work. The largest is an industrial park in Tampere. There is no similar in Uzbekistan yet and is not expected in the near future. Although it is comparable in age with ours in age, but in power and prospects it far exceeds the latter. Even in the conditions of the severe economic crisis that is currently taking place in Finland, it can be classified as a very small number of quite prosperous, if not even prosperous, enterprises. The secret to success is independence from the "fathers."

The Tampere Technopark was established by the University and the Science and Technology Center. He received territory from them (almost for nothing - the land in Finland is very expensive) and at the initial stage he enjoyed all the benefits provided by the state for universities. But in its work, the technology park in Tampere is completely independent, as, indeed, are all the other most prosperous Western technology parks. Being a powerful independent structure, it is directly (and not through the founders, as we have) connected with investors, banks and industrial enterprises.

There are several technology parks in St. Petersburg organized at major universities. Such an origin is normal and natural. The bad thing is that they do not have their own legal entity, do not have the right to invite people from the street as clients under the contract. Even in the best technoparks, such as, for example, the Technopark of the Electrotechnical University (formerly LETI), all clients are professors, associate professors, and they are meek at the same university, which is trying to help them realize their wonderful ideas through the technopark. Noble with ama in itself, this installation limits the technopark in maneuver, greatly inhibits its development. If this could still be understood in the first year or two, at an early stage, during the formation period, then in the future such a policy seems erroneous. The administration of technology parks should be able to choose a client for themselves, based on the draft of its business plan. According to forecasts, if our technology parks do not leave their current semi-embryonic state, then, upon completion of the state program to support technology parks, they are likely to die.

 

3. Prospects for the development of technology parks in Uzbekistan  

             

3.1 The role of the state in the development of technology parks   

 

January 10, 2019 by Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan was given an official resolution on the preparation of the state program ““Regulations on the organization of the Activities of the Technology Park of Software Products and Information Technologies“. The Government of the Uzbekistan Republic approved a program providing for total state funding for the construction of a IT technology parks in Tashkent . It was assumed that the regions on a parity basis will finance the creation of engineering infrastructure on state land plots, after which they will be transferred to private investors for the construction of industrial parks.

              The following facilities should have been part of the technopark:

a) office premises,

b) business incubators,

c) centers of collective use,

d) laboratory facilities,

e) warehouse complexes,

f) rental housing (apartments),

g) permanent housing,

i) hotels etc.

In general, over this period, technology parks were able to take root in Uzbekistan. An important role is played by special funding funds initiated by the state and associations of entrepreneurs , the Republic Foundation for Basic Research, the Fund for the Promotion of the Development of Small Forms of Enterprises in the Scientific and Technical Field, etc.

But in this area there are a considerable number of problems. The key problems in state support for the development of those parks are the lack of a reliable legal basis for their creation and development (although the concepts and signs of technology parks themselves, the concept and technology of their creation have already been developed) and the lack of material and technical and financial support from the outside. The situation is also complicated by the difficult economic situation in the country, especially high taxes on production and high cost of credit.

3.2 Ways of development of technology parks   

 

The idea of ​​technology parks combines solutions to two different problems: one - stimulating the development of a small manufacturing business, the second - finding an innovative way to develop the economy. In any case, the technopark needs funding from the state or region, depending on who owns the land on which the technopark is planned to be built. For a region, a technopark means the creation of new jobs and the development of new technologies; for the state, a transition to innovative development and the creation of a competitive environment. 

To date, according to the Government of the Uzbekistann Republic, three basic principles for the creation of technology parks have been developed:

a) self-sufficiency of technology parks, their independence from state funding;

b) creating attractive conditions for investors;

c) the results of the activity of technology parks must meet the interests of the region. Until recently, almost all structures that called themselves technology parks were really only involved in the banal leasing of property. Now the situation is changing, but the main question has not yet been resolved: how to attract investment and interest private capital, if few people understand the benefits, and most importantly, the functions of technology parks? 

In this case, it is important to consider the fact that the technopark is an independent, commercially successful and efficient enterprise that “makes money” using high technologies and innovations. This is a risky business: world practice shows that more than 50% of all projects in the field of new technologies fail. But successful projects are extremely profitable.

In order to guess how profitable the technopark will be, a clear and systematic planning is needed - from the stages of financing and the selection of a site for construction / reconstruction to the selection of personnel. All this is realizable, even in our difficult conditions. The main thing is confidence, a brilliant idea and good consultants.

 

Conclusion

             

Technoparks are an important element of the modern economy. Technoparks can be viewed from several points of view.

Firstly, the technology park can be considered as a special type of free economic zone, on the territory of which development is developing intensively for demanding products, new personnel are being formed, technology-innovative zones; on this side, the technology park meets the requirements for compliance with the main processes taking place in the global economy.

Secondly, science provides an incentive for business development, mainly a small tax on, which allows us to talk about technology parks as a form of support for small business, the development of which allows us to reach a qualitatively new level of social reproduction.

Thirdly, it is in science technoparks received financial and other additional opportunities to conduct basic and applied research, thus the science gets more independence from the state. In this regard, technology parks are an attractive form of support for domestic science. Thus, the process of the emergence and development of technology parks should not bypass Uzbekistan with its rather difficult economic situation. One of the ways out of the current crisis is to rely on domestic science and knowledge-intensive production. In this regard, technology parks can play one of the most important roles in this process.