{"id":156604,"date":"2025-09-23T10:53:36","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T07:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/156604\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T10:53:38","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T07:53:38","slug":"twenty-years-of-high-tech-park-from-freedom-to-grey-zone","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/156604\/","title":{"rendered":"Twenty years of High-Tech Park: from freedom to grey zone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It has been 20 years since Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka signed the decree establishing the High-Tech Park (HTP). Once a symbol of digital freedom and a driver of growth in the 2010s, the HTP has struggled in the 2020s under international sanctions and domestic political pressure.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n (pixabay.com)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When the park was founded, Belarus had just recovered from the economic crisis of the 1990s and had not yet faced the energy shocks that would arrive a few years later. The economy was still riding on Soviet industrial heritage, while the country cautiously opened to both East and West. The government maintained a command system with limited market mechanisms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The HTP thrived because Belarusian-trained engineers possessed skills in high demand at home and abroad. The global IT market was expanding rapidly, and Belarusian businesses seized the opportunity. The park never sought government subsidies; instead, it promised growth in tax revenues and living standards. Officials, unsure of what the digital economy meant, largely kept their distance\u2014a hands-off approach that proved crucial to the HTP\u2019s success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rapid growth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The HTP attracted foreign companies to Belarus while nurturing local teams that quickly evolved from service contractors into creators of original products. It was during this period that the world first associated Belarus with EPAM and Viber\u2014brands that joined tractors and \u0141uka\u0161enka as the country\u2019s best-known symbols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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