Belarus High Technologies Park
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Belarus Hi-Tech Park (HTP) is a tax and legal regime in Belarus, contributing to the favorable development of IT business. It is a Belarusian analog of Silicon Valley in the US. Belarus HTP operates on the principle of extraterritoriality. The companies registered in it can enjoy all the advantages provided, regardless of the location of their Belarusian office.
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As of October 30, 2018, 388 resident companies with over 30.000 employees were registered in the HTP.[1] The HTP resident headcount has been going up steadily over the last five years.[2][1]
On the territory of the HTP, the provisions of the Belarusian Decree No. 8 "On the Development of the Digital Economy". This Decree on Development of Digital Economy was signed on December 21, 2017. Decree No. 8 entered into force on March 28, 2018. According to Decree No. 8, until January 1, 2049, residents of the Park are exempt from most taxes, including income tax. The regulations of the decree also help develop IT education and promote promising startups.[3]
In November 2018, the Belarus Hi-Tech Park's management also approved documents that detailed the work of the cryptocurrency industry.[4] Currency.com was the first cryptocurrency tokenized asset exchange on the HTP, which was also the first in the world to offer users tokenized government bonds.[5]
Such support for the IT sector in 2019 increased the share of the IT sector, which provided half of the GDP growth.[6] The export of IT services in 2017–2019 increased by 2.4 times.[7] Production growth in the first half of 2019 was 166%. The total export of services of HTP residents in 2019 exceeded $2 billion.[8][9] At the end of the first half of 2020, the park's export volumes increased by 40% compared to the same period in 2019.[10]
In January 2020, the HTP registered 758 companies with a total of more than 58 thousand employees.[11] In April 2020, the number of resident companies in the Park was 818 with a total of more than 61 thousand employees.[12][13] In July 2020, the number of residents of the Park increased by 71 companies.[14] In October 2020, another 83 companies became residents of the Hi-Tech Park. Thus, in October 2020, the number of residents of the Park totals 969 companies, which employ more than 65 thousand specialists.[15]
In March 2021, the supervisory board of Hi-Tech Park carried out a decision on registration of 65 new companies as HTP residents. More than a half of newcomers are registered in 2020-2021 that indicates active development of startups.[16]
Park specialists teach children and teenagers to program.[17] Since 2019, the HTP has been publishing an electronic guide to applicants for IT specialties.[18][19]