On September 7, 2024, the Institute of Economics of NAS of Belarus took part in the popular science event “Science Festival 2024”

On September 7, 2024, the Central Botanical Garden of NAS of Belarus hosted the main popular science event of the country – “Science Festival 2024” (hereinafter - the Festival). The event gives visitors an opportunity to get acquainted with the advanced developments of Belarusian science, learn more about the profession of “scientist”, plunge into the cognitive world of science thanks to interactive forms of interaction, and feel like a scientist for a while. The event was attended by Chairman of the Presidium of NAS of Belarus, Academician Vladimir GUSAKOV, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Natalia PETKEVICH, Minister of Education Andrei IVANETS.

The Science Festival in Belarus has been held since 2018 to raise the prestige of science in society, popularise the achievements of Belarusian scientists, and attract pupils and students to engage in research activities. A wide range of participants is traditionally represented here. Among them are academic institutes, higher education institutions, children’s creativity centres, and technology companies. The festival includes platforms with popular science lectures, master classes, exhibition of developments, intellectual and entertaining games, science shows and experiments.

The Institute of Economics of NAS of Belarus (hereinafter - the Institute) participates in the Festival every year. Each new exposition of the Institute at the Festival becomes larger, more informative and more popular among the visitors of the Festival.

To familiarise the visitors of the Festival with the activities of the Institute, the young scientists offered them to take a journey around the planet “Economikus”, where the guests could understand how interesting and multifaceted economic science is. There were 2 zones: children’s and adult.

Having visited the adult hemisphere of the planet, the visitors could get acquainted with the directions of the Institute’s activity, study economic facts about the development of the sovereign Republic of Belarus, and test their knowledge in the field of economics in a game form. The exposition of new printed publications of the Institute, which reflect the topical issues of the Belarusian economy development, deserved special attention.

Children were offered to learn the basics of financial literacy. The forms of interaction with the young visitors of the Festival varied from thematic drawings to listening to instructive fairy tales.

“The heart” of the Festival was the exhibition “100 Innovations of Young Scientists”, held to accumulate and popularise the scientific achievements of young scientists in the implementation of the most important and significant areas of scientific, technical and innovative activities. This year the Institute presented the project “Interactive Guide to Country Specifics of Foreign Trade Activities”, which was elaborated by Ekaterina TAVGEN, a researcher at the Centre of World Economy. The project is an information system that allows for a qualitative assessment of the foreign business environment.