<P> Countries are seeking to augment the efficiency of traditional extractive sectors but also to make greater use of information and communication technologies and other modern technologies, such as solar energy, to develop the business sector, education and research . In March 2013, two research institutes were created by presidential decree to foster the development of alternative energy sources in Uzbekistan, with funding from the Asian Development Bank and other institutions: the SPU Physical − Technical Institute (Physics Sun Institute) and the International Solar Energy Institute . Three universities have been set up since 2011 to foster competence in strategic economic areas: Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan (first intake in 2011), an international research university, Inha University in Uzbekistan (first intake in 2014), specializing in information and communication technologies, and the International Oil and Gas University in Turkmenistan (founded in 2013). Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are both generalizing the teaching of foreign languages at school, in order to facilitate international ties . Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have both adopted the three - tier bachelor's, master's and PhD degree system, in 2007 and 2012 respectively, which is gradually replacing the Soviet system of Candidates and Doctors of Science . In 2010, Kazakhstan became the only Central Asian member of the Bologna Process, which seeks to harmonize higher education systems in order to create a European Higher Education Area . </P> <P> The Central Asian republics' ambition of developing the business sector, education and research is being hampered by chronic low investment in research and development . Over the decade to 2013, the region's investment in research and development hovered around 0.2--0.3% of GDP . Uzbekistan broke with this trend in 2013 by raising its own research intensity to 0.41% of GDP . </P> <P> Kazakhstan is the only country where the business enterprise and private non-profit sectors make any significant contribution to research and development--but research intensity overall is low in Kazakhstan: just 0.18% of GDP in 2013 . Moreover, few industrial enterprises conduct research in Kazakhstan . Only one in eight (12.5%) of the country's manufacturing firms were active in innovation in 2012, according to a survey by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics . Enterprises prefer to purchase technological solutions that are already embodied in imported machinery and equipment . Just 4% of firms purchase the license and patents that come with this technology . Nevertheless, there appears to be a growing demand for the products of research, since enterprises spent 4.5 times more on scientific and technological services in 2008 than in 1997 . </P> <P> Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan count the highest researcher density in Central Asia . The number of researchers per million population is close to the world average (1,083 in 2013) in Kazakhstan (1,046) and higher than the world average in Uzbekistan (1,097). </P>

Central and northern asia political map with capitals