In accordance with §5 of the Protocol of the 8th Meeting of the Heads of Ministries and Departments of Science and Technology of the Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), (dated June 19, 2024), guided by the provisions of the Guidelines for conducting a joint competitive selection within the SCO, a call for joint multilateral research and innovation projects within the SCO has been announced.

Besides Belarus, the project selection is also carried out in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Republic of Tajikistan.

The competitive selection will be carried out in the following areas:

• adaptation to climate change: protection and restoration of the environment, conservation and rational use of natural resources;
• life sciences: preventive medicine, fight against epidemics; healthy longevity technologies;
• high-tech and sustainable agriculture: technologies for obtaining new plant varieties and hybrids that are resistant to changes in the natural environment; creation of biological and chemical means for increasing crop yields and protecting plants from diseases; conservation of biodiversity;
• nanosystems and materials: nanotechnology for creating new materials;
• information and telecommunication technologies: use of artificial intelligence in telecommunication and transport systems; microelectronics and photonics technologies;
• energy and energy saving: highly efficient resource-saving energy; new technologies for energy generation and storage systems; use of mega-science installations for nuclear, laser, and quantum research;
• earth science: soil monitoring and soil science; technologies for prevention and reduction of natural risks;
• medicine and biotechnology: creation of new generation medical products; technologies for the development of biotechnological drugs; use of biotechnology in the economy;
• social sciences and humanities.

The competitive selection includes the following stages:

1. Submission of applications (application form attached) - until June 30, 2025;
2. Exchange of the list of received applications - until July 7, 2025;
3. Independent national examination - until October 20, 2025;
4. Exchange of expert assessment results - until October 31, 2025;
5. Joint discussion of the examination results and selection of projects for funding (joint meeting/video conference/exchange of letters) - from November 3 to 10, 2025;
6. Announcement of the list of winners - until November 17, 2025;
7. Implementation of joint projects: January 2026 - December 2028

Contact person at the State Committee for Science and Technology: Sergey Mikhailovich Labetsky, tel. +375173780766.