Last Saturday, April 24, Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Maxim Reshetnikov held a working meeting with the Institute’s management to discuss Skoltech’s involvement in promoting innovation in the real economy and addressing tasks on the national development agenda.
Credit by sk.ru
According to the Minister, the current ‘reset’ of the markets underscores an increasingly important role of technology and innovation in creating competitive products. “We ought to jointly identify the formats and solutions that will help to effectively implement the achievements of Skoltech and its emerging environment in the real economy,” Reshetnikov said.
In this regard, Skoltech can become a major research platform, leveraging its frontier solutions in photonics and telecommunications, energy, artificial intelligence, and agriculture. The government and businesses should team up in order to create scaling tools for such solutions.
Following the President’s instruction, the Government of the Russian Federation is discussing specific solutions lying at the core of the frontal strategy for the social and economic development of Russia. As the key objective, the short-term research and technology policy should include large-scale “pull” projects, a.k.a. “beacon projects”, that would help develop new markets, produce a multiplicative effect, promote breakthrough technology, and bolster the growth of advanced industries and new scientific and engineering schools. This is an excellent opportunity to gain a firm foothold in the new technological setting, build a modern infrastructure, enhance the quality of life, and switch to environmentally friendly technologies.
Credit by sk.ru
Chairman of the Skoltech Board of Trustees Viktor Vekselberg and Skoltech President Alexander Kuleshov showed Maxim Reshetnikov around the state-of-the-art labs of the Center for Hydrocarbon Recovery, the Center for Energy Science and Technology, the Center for Photonics Science and Engineering, and the 5G lab of the Skoltech-based NTI Center of Excellence. All these labs pursue advanced research in the promising areas targeted by the short-term technology agenda, with focus on Skoltech’s initiatives, such as the creation of a photonics cluster and a pilot production line for sodium-ion batteries and the development of digital agriculture, among other things.
“Technology transition projects are a pressing task for Russia. The transition mechanisms should be fine-tuned through a concerted effort of both the state and businesses. Although the expertise of the Skolkovo Foundation and Skoltech constitutes an essential element in this context, it should be backed by effectively functioning consortia for Russia to fit into the global agenda with evolving markets,” Viktor Vekselberg noted.
“Skoltech is fully open to undertaking any task on the national agenda. We believe it is important to ensure that our research and development efforts help attain the national priority goals,” Alexander Kuleshov emphasized.
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