ASTANA – Kanysh Satpayev Kazakh National Research Technical University announced Jan. 20 the appointment of Dastan Kozhabekov as Chairman of the Management Committee of the Parasat National Science and Technology Centre.
Dastan Kozhabekov
Commenting on this appointment, Iskander Beisembetov, rector of the university, said: “The President of Kazakhstan and the country’s legislature have created all the necessary conditions for successful commercialisation of scientific research. At the same time, it is important to re-address the mechanisms of business and scientific institutions integration to provide better support for commercialisation projects. It is important to ensure the funds are spent as intended and to build a platform to attract foreign investors, which will stimulate the development of the local science.”
According to Beisembetov, “the principles of commercialisation need to be reassessed not only to provide direct financial support for innovative projects, but also to guarantee the economic effect from the investments and to foster the creation of R&D-intensive technologies locally that will improve the efficiency of the local industries.”
“I am confident that many years of work experience in the R&D sector that Dastan Kozhabekov possesses together with the expertise acquired during his studies in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will allow him to fully achieve all the goals at the Parasat Centre,” he said.
Kozhabekov, 49, graduated from the Almaty Institute of Architecture and Construction, Industrial and Civil Construction Department with a degree in construction engineering. He received his MBA degree (Innovation and Global Leadership Programme) from MIT. He also completed internships at Georgetown University (Washington, USA) and Cambridge University (UK), as well as at Enbridge (Canada).
He started his career as a design engineer, and, since 1997, has worked in a number of top-level management positions at KazakhOil, KazTransOil, KazPetroMac, and KING. From 2008 to 2014, he was deputy general director of the Astana-based Kazakh Institute of Oil and Gas and in 2014-2015; he worked as its general director.
The Parasat Centre was founded by the Government of Kazakhstan in December 2014. It comprises the following organisations within its three main areas of operations:
Research and Development: a) the International Scientific and Industrial Holding Phytochemistry, JSC; and b) Altay Geology and Ecology Institute, JSC;
Commercialisation and R&D Support: a) Parasat Joint Stock Investment Fund for Risky Investments, JSC and b) the Centre for Innovative Technologies and Industrial Engineering, JSC;
Commercialisation and Technology Adoption: a) Kazakh-Belarus Joint Venture “Holography Kazakh-Bel”, LLP; and b) the Education and Scientific Center for Pilot Production of Aquaculture, LLP.
