Kazakhstan to establish $1 bln venture fund

An innovation-oriented venture fund with a capital of $1 billion will be established in Kazakhstan, Tengrinews.kz reports. “You know that according to the law, starting from this year, all subsoil users have to spend 1 percent of their total annual income on research and development, but not everyone has the know-how. I believe that this money can be used to form an innovation-oriented venture fund with an initial capital of $200 million. I want to take this capital of $1 billion (over time),” President Nursultan Nazarbayev said at the meeting of the Foreign Investors Council. The President noted that active participation of Kazakhstan's foreign investors and partners could make this fund a key source of financing of innovative projects. “It will finance researches of our universities, innovative technologies park and regional innovative offices as part of international projects. These funds can also be used to finance a wide range of research programs via the G-Global information and communication platform,” Nazarbayev said. By Renat Tashkinbayev