ALMATY – Kazakhstan has more than doubled its research and development spending since 2023, expanded international university partnerships and increased support for young scientists as it seeks to build an economy driven increasingly by knowledge and technology.
Science and higher education have become strategic priorities under a broader modernization agenda. The government’s approach increasingly links three areas that have often developed separately: training skilled professionals, producing scientific research and commercializing new technologies.
According to the Kazakh Prime Minister’s press service, the scale of investment in research has grown substantially. Domestic spending on research and development increased from 121.5 billion tenge (US$228 million) in 2023 to 260 billion tenge (US$489 million) by 2026, more than doubling over three years.
The number of specialists working in research and development reached 28,374 in 2025, nearly one-third higher than four years earlier. Young scientists account for approximately half of Kazakhstan’s research community. The government has also introduced changes aimed at strengthening the profession’s institutional and social foundations.
Legislation now formally defines the status of scientists and research workers, while an ombudsperson institution for scientists and research workers has been established. The age limit for researchers eligible for support as young scientists has been raised to 44.
Financing mechanisms are also shifting toward a greater emphasis on practical outcomes. Alongside conventional research grants, Kazakhstan is expanding support for experimental and engineering work designed to produce prototypes, pilot models and technologies ready for application.
The approach reflects a recognition that increasing research spending alone does not automatically produce an innovation economy. The more difficult question is whether scientific results can cross the gap between laboratories and the marketplace. Kazakhstan reported that more than 1,200 fundamental and applied research projects were completed in 2025.
The country is also implementing 241 innovation projects, while more than 30 domestically developed solutions have entered international markets. Several projects illustrate the potential of this approach. Researchers at Satbayev University developed and introduced a technology for producing high-purity technical selenium through vacuum distillation, reaching 99.5% purity and increasing the product’s value for export markets.
Scientists at Nazarbayev University have also developed technology for producing precursor materials for lithium-ion battery cathodes from domestic raw materials. Such projects could become increasingly important as Kazakhstan seeks to move beyond its traditional role as a supplier of raw materials and participate in higher-value segments of global industrial and technological supply chains.
Universities move closer to research and innovation This transition is also reshaping the role Kazakhstan expects universities to play. In an article for The Astana Times published in January, Dr. Yerzhan Tokbolat, a lecturer in finance at Queen’s University Belfast, and Miras Dolayev, professor of practice at Almaty Management University and founder and CEO of Data Science Academy, argued that Kazakhstan’s higher education sector has reached an important turning point.