President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with the winners of the President’s Award for Young Scientists 2019. The meeting was held at the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy got himself acquainted with the work of the award winners. The Head of State also watched the exposition of the Presidential Fund of Ukraine and presented certificates and award pins to the laureates.
“I am pleased to present state awards in the field of science and technology to the Ukrainian scientists today. I have repeatedly said and will continue to say that the most valuable thing in Ukraine is our people. Their intelligence, talents, creativity and hard work. And our scientists prove that,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during a meeting.
The Head of State noted that 40 scientific works in the fields of infrastructure, energy, defense, agriculture, medicine, ecology, cybersecurity, etc., had won this year's award.
“These works modernize processes, allow the state to potentially save or earn billions of hryvnias, can improve the lives of both individual industries and all citizens of Ukraine. That is why we have dramatically changed the concept of the event this year. We want the works of the winners not to be put into cold storage and to be implemented not by individual Ukrainian enterprises, but as widely and comprehensively as possible,” the President said.
According to him, aside from scientists, ministers and business representatives have been invited to the meeting today so that they can get to know one another and plan the beginning of cooperation.
“This is an important step to restore effective communication and partnership between science, government and business. I know that our ministries - the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Ministry for Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture, the Ministry of Energy and Environmental Protection have already been interested in a number of works. We are hopeful that it will bring benefits, dividends to our country and you, dear scientists,” the President stressed.
The Head of State noted that Ukrainians had made a significant contribution to many spheres - from space conquest to IT. According to him, we must do everything to allow our scientists to fulfil themselves not in Silicon Valley, but in their homeland. This requires the support of both the state and the private sector.
“This includes funding, developing new research, marketing of scientific ideas and putting those ideas into practice. We must give impetus to the development of Ukrainian science. Introduce to Ukraine and the world our new Sikorsky, Vernadsky, Korolev,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted.
In addition, the President thanked the staff of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine for the work and emphasized the expediency of renovating its premises.
“What I saw here is a treasure, and I am grateful that you have kept it all - a corner of science for Ukrainians. But it seems to me that, first of all, we need to carry out renovation,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The President also said that the state should create normal conditions for the work of scientists.
