Kazakhstan, Germany to create an innovation center
"Today we are signing an agreement with the international Technical University of Munich (TUM), the oldest technical university in Europe. The agreement provides for the establishment of a joint innovation center between Kazakhstan and Germany. And we here act as a financing party. For us, within the President's Address on Industry 4.0, human capital is the most important factor. This agreement will allow us to prepare our personnel for the implementation of Industry 4.0, and this will be our first step in this direction," he said.
According to him, university staff, in particular of Nazarbayev University and KBTU, will be trained in the new Center. Mr. Omarov also announced the preliminary budget for the first five years of the project - about $15 million.
"Production modules will be created at this site, such as dual training. It will provide both a training opportunity and a practical part. At the moment, we are only discussing the creation of a joint innovation center. We provide financing, Germans - know-how, knowledge, the first educational modules, training, practical seminars, etc. Within the framework of this project, we plan to cover 250 people next year," he said.
The head of NATD also said that the specialties, which the center will provide have not yet been specified. He stressed that the training will be based on Industry 4.0, and even called it the first step towards the new industrialization of the country.
"Regarding the subject of training, I can say that we are waiting for the Germans to make concrete proposals for the Industry 4.0. We will look for specific specialties, which Kazakhstan needs today. They are not defined yet, hence we do not want to limit ourselves, we intend to fully prepare the pool and see what we have in general," Omarov said.
The meeting of the Kazakh-German Business Council is held in Astana today. It is expected to result in signing 22 commercial agreements.