On September 27, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The development of an innovative development strategy for small and medium-sized enterprises has begun in Vitebsk, Zinaida Koroleva, Deputy Chairperson of the Vitebsk City Executive Committee, told a BELTA correspondent. For the development of the innovative direction in business, the Vitebsk City Executive Committee, together with one of the business centres and the Association of Employers and Entrepreneurs, with the support of the Kuniasky Entrepreneurs and Employers Union, has begun the development of the project. The main goal of the strategy is to strengthen the innovative activities of small and medium-sized businesses in the regional centre and to develop a mechanism for interaction between entrepreneurs and university science. As Zinaida Koroleva emphasized, while developing large private businesses, small and medium-sized businesses can occupy their niche in the market provided that innovative products are created in both industrial and intellectual spheres. There are examples of business entities in Vitebsk that are actively developing this area of activity. The production of an automated multifunctional fluorescent analyser of biological cells and tissues with high resolution has been mastered at the private enterprise "Spectravtomatkompleks", the scientific firm "Dipol" develops all types of night vision devices, and the company "Simurg" creates innovative products for the medical industry. The non-state sector of the economy employs 16.4% of the working-age population of Vitebsk. Tax revenues from small enterprises of the regional centre for 8 months of the current year amounted to Br362.5 billion. Their share in the total tax revenues reached 44.7%. As of September 1, there were 14.2 thousand business entities operating in the non-state sector of the economy in the regional centre, including 10.3 thousand individual entrepreneurs, 3.5 thousand small enterprises, and 369 artisans. -0-

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