Prime Minister Askar Mamin chaired a meeting of the Higher Scientific and Technical Commission under the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The Minister of Education and Science Askhat Aimagambetov reported on priority areas for the development of science and the distribution of grant funding for research of young scientists for 2020-2022, and Minister of Energy Nurlan Nogayev reported on applied technological research in the field of nuclear energy.

In 2020-2022, the total grant funding for scientific research of young scientists will amount to 9 billion tenge (3 billion tenge annually).

To date, according to the results of state scientific, technical and economic examinations, national scientific councils have selected 1,013 applications of young scientists in seven priority areas:

• energy and mechanical engineering (102);
• rational use of natural resources, including water resources, geology, processing, new materials and technologies, safe products and structures (313);
• information, telecommunication and space technologies, research in the field of natural sciences (167);
• sustainable development of the agricultural sector and the safety of agricultural products (139);
• life and health science (127);
• scientific foundations of "Mangilik El" (education of the XXI century, fundamental and applied research in the field of humanities, 155);
• national security and defense (10).

The commission approved the allocation of “Research in the field of natural sciences” as a separate priority area, which is intended to further strengthen and develop the existing scientific schools of Kazakhstan, the formation of a new generation of scientists in this field.