Skoltech is an international graduate research-focused university that was founded by the group of world-renowned scientists in 2011. Skoltech's curriculum focuses on technology and innovation, offering Master's programs in 11 technological disciplines. Students receive rigorous theoretical and practical training, design their own research projects, participate in internships and gain entrepreneurial skills in English. The faculty is comprised of current researchers with international accreditation and achievements.

Tag Archives: Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology

Meet the BoT

17/09/2014

Members of Skoltech’s board of trustees (from top right clockwise) Arden L. Bement, Alexander Kuleshov, Jan-Eric Sundgren, Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker, Alexander Galitsky

Ahead of Skoltech’s board of trustees meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, we conducted a series of short talks with five of its members. We present their key points here with the hope to shed light on ideas and policies they believe will shape the university’s future, and provide a closer-than-usual encounter with the persons who formulate these concepts and strategies. Meet the people that make up our BoT.

Interviews by David Nowak, Alina Sazonova and Ilan Goren

1. What is your opinion on what Skoltech has achieved since it has been in operation?

Arden L. Bement, Director for the Global Policy Research Institute at Purdue University

Skoltech has become an operating global institute with officers, faculty and students recruited against the highest standards from around the world. Both the new faculty and the students have received special training in innovation and entrepreneurship at MIT.

Three centers for research, innovation and entrepreneurship (CREIs), two in bioscience and one in electrochemistry, have been established and two more, in energy and quantum materials, are pending approval. Moreover, most of the performance metrics for the first three years have either been met or exceeded.

The students are clearly outstanding. They’ve been very carefully selected, and they would compete well in almost any university in the world.

Alexander Kuleshov, Director of the Institute for Information Transmission Problems (Kharkevich Institute)

The most important thing in the development of Skoltech – is that it was actually established and began operations. But there is still a very long way. The success of a new university built from scratch can be achieved only with active support by the government. I’m very high on the potential in Russia for economic development. Skolkovo and Skoltech are feeding talent into that economic engine. But to create jobs and build the Russian economy, changes are going to have to be more widespread.

Alexander Galitsky, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Almaz Capital

“What I have heard from the students is that they’ve gained big international experience in understanding industry requirements and needs. It’s very important for graduate universities that people become involved in the global value creation chain, and in introducing new technologies and innovation.

Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker, Secretary General of the Human Frontier Science Program Organization

A lot has been achieved. Skoltech’s president Ed Crawley did a great job in developing a concept and putting it into practice. The university developed CREIs (Centers for Research, Education and Innovation), recruited students and faculty and developed contacts with the best institutions, and not just MIT. This is quite an achievement.

Jan-Eric Sundgren, Senior Adviser to the CEO, Volvo Group

The task is formidable. However, Skoltech has not only recruited excellent students, faculty and staff members, adopted a new and innovative strategy but is already starting to gain an international reputation.

2. How important is Skoltech to develop talent in Russia? How useful can and should it be for this country’s society and economy?

JES: Skoltech provides a new possibility to attract and recruit top talents. Russia is a very large country. But by inspiring other domestic universities and by building strong international networks Skoltech’s effect will be much larger than it size.

ELW: Education is everything. It is the future of Russia, Europe and everyone else. Investment in universities and in good structures and young scientists is crucial. From that the translation to technology will grow. Skoltech needs to become a model for doing this.

AG: Skoltech is one of the key drivers to rebuild the education system in Russia. Traditionally, universities educated people generally, but never taught students the profession of a scientific job. Skoltech marks a paradigm shift and now professors are giving students various tools to become professionals.

3. How important is Skoltech’s role in international collaborations?

AB: Skoltech was conceived as a global institute from the outset. Its outlook is accordingly international and focuses on bringing global technology advancements to Russia. Through Skoltech’s Centers for Research, Education and Innovation program, Skoltech will discover new technology concepts and generate intellectual properties that will have high market value in world markets.

ELW: You need to have the right level of both cooperation and competition. Compete for students and professors, but also collaborate. Many of the problems in Russia and worldwide can only be solved by cooperation: climate, drinking water, energy. You must develop structures and multidisciplinary research centers – like stem cells or nano-tech – which help the right people work together. But make sure you recruit the best people.

AK: Becoming a leader in collaborations with Russian and foreign universities, is one of Skoltech’s most important goals. To achieve that, you need to involve researchers who worked in and with western universities and laboratories and maintain contacts globally. In science, personal relationships are crucial.

3. What is the significance of the collaboration with MIT?

AK: When you build a completely new institute it is extremely useful to bring in well-known universities as mentors of sorts. MIT can offer an immensely experienced faculty, programs, courses, and extensive experience of building startups. The only question is to what extent is MIT positioned to share with us all this knowledge.

AB: MIT is one of the top institutes of technology in the United States and the world. It has gained its reputation through graduating top talent for all sectors of the global society, creating important scientific and technology discoveries and starting new business enterprises in many places around the world. It also has a wealth of experience in innovation and entrepreneurship in that has been recognized by Russia’s leaders as having high value to Russia in diversifying its economy.

ELW: The system of higher education in the US, where MIT and Caltech and other institutions operate, is highly impressive and innovative. That is why the cooperation with MIT is so crucial. It reminds all of us where and how to go.

4. How long before the Skoltech project starts paying off? How do you see its role expanding over the next five or six years?

ELW: Hard to say, as there are very few examples like this. This is a wonderful opportunity: building a university from scratch. You have to have the right mixture of senior and junior faculty but no hierarchy. Everyone needs to be a scientist. They key is not too many directors giving orders. Young people have great ideas. You have to let them thrive.

JES: The completion of a real campus is of utmost importance if Skoltech is to be able to deliver on its high ambitions. This is also essential to gain real momentum both to build up in-house research facilities and create a real student life. The possibility to create an attractive campus will imply many new possibilities in the next 5 years.

AB: Skoltech, to my knowledge, is the only institute designed ab initio to educate leaders with a solid grounding in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education at the graduate level and to integrate this education with experimental learning in the practices of innovation and entrepreneurship.

In the process of this learning, the students will be involved in frontier research. These graduates will be in very high demand around the world. A key issue is how to develop the incentives, career growth paths and innovative environments that will encourage them to build their careers in Russia.

5. Is Skoltech the kind of institute you would sign a check for in that capacity?

AK: Yes. I’m an optimist.

Seminar: A (Non-Random) Walk Down Entrepreneurial Alley

When: 22-09-2014 13:30

Where: Beijing-1 Auditorium, China cluster, Skolkovo School of Management

One of the biggest challenges science-based startups face is overcoming financial issues. In other words: the ‘show me the money’ problem. If this piques your curiosity, please join us for a seminar with Dr. Benoit Leleux, titled “A (Non-Random) Walk Down Entrepreneurial Alley”.

When: September 22, 2014; 13.30 – 15.00

Where: Beijing-1 Auditorium, China cluster, Skolkovo School of Management

Dr Benoit Leleux, guest speaker at the Skoltech seminar on entrepreneurship

SEMINAR ABSTRACT:

In the talk Dr. Benoit Leleux will review his 25 years of research, practice and teaching in entrepreneurship around the world, focusing in particular on growth financing issues faced by technology firms. He will review quickly the findings of his 2008 book “Nurturing Science-Based Startups” based on 30+ award winning clinical studies and expand on his current and future research agenda.

* The Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) is a private graduate research university in Skolkovo, Russia, a suburb of Moscow. Established in 2011 in collaboration with MIT, Skoltech educates global leaders in innovation, advance scientific knowledge, and foster new technologies to address critical issues facing Russia and the world. Applying international research and educational models, the university integrates the best Russian scientific traditions with twenty-first century entrepreneurship and innovation.

Come Fly With Him

15/09/2014

Dr. Sergei K. Krikalev, cosmonaut and space explorer, during a talk with students and faculty at Skoltech

When Dr. Sergei K. Krikalev entered the lecture hall, a member of the audience turned to her friend and said in hushed voice: “here comes a legend”. This was not starry eyed hyperbole. There is ample evidence to support the choice of words.

As a cosmonaut, Krikalev completed six flights. He has spent more time in space than any other human: a total of 803 days, 9 hours, and 39 minutes aboard MIR and the ISS. He was the first person ever to enter the International Space Station. A fluent English speaker, he is a living symbol of collaboration between superpowers. A quick web search yields images of him in a trademark NASA astronaut suit, embroidered with Russian and American flag patches. After he had retired from active duty as an astronaut in 2005, he held senior positions at the Russian space program. And on his free time he crisscrosses Russia, sharing his story with awestruck students – and their professors.

At the beginning of his Q &A session at Skoltech he directed a question at the audience.

“Should I assume you are technical experts or simply curious?”

“Both!”, a professor replied, extracting a smile out of the chiseled jawed spaceman. This turned out to be an honest response: queries from the crowd revealed varying degrees of experience and knowledge.

Bram Caplan, the university’s director of student affairs tested the veteran cosmonaut’s flexibility: “If you had 100 million dollars to invest in a space research project, what would you do with the money?”

Immediate response: “I’d try to get more money.” Then came a more thoughtful reply: “we need to build a new spacecraft and a space base that would support missions and supply parts for trips beyond what we’ve achieved so far “.

Saksupapchon Punyapat, a student from Thailand, smilingly observed that how questions about lessons learned always orbit around success. “But what have you learned from failure?”

Sergei Krikalev, cosmonaut and guest speaker at Skoltech, wears a training space suit at a NASA training in June 2004

Sergei Krikalev, cosmonaut and guest speaker at Skoltech, wears a training space suit during a NASA training in June 2004

“Let me say what I think is needed in order to have a better chance at achieving success. Know that your decisions and choices matter. and yes, you really do must study a lot. And if you want to join the space industry, you need to live in not the most comfortable conditions and learn to fly an aircraft and make sacrifices. Like I did. ”

Then there were more professional questions about vertical landing, the optimal number of crew members to be carried aboard a space vehicle, and the future challenges of design and engineering. And what about the differnce between government and private sectors’ involvement in space exploration?

“It has to be said: governments were there first,” Krikalev replied immediately and paused, as if resisting the temptation to say that ‘we were there first’.

He continued. “When things were risky and unsure and potentially very costly in terms of human lives and, less importantly but still crucially, money, the state took it upon itself to explore outer space. Only when things stabilized did the private sector join in. On the other hand ‘private’ means simplified and cheaper. There are less verification processes, and a better understanding of cost structures. As for Russia, we don’t see similar private activities here because our knowledge and procedures for defining costs are not as transparent as in the west. Then again, private western companies do not carry out manned missions. Not yet. The way we’re going to proceed from now in is to involve more private companies to solve parts of the missions, but not whole missions, especially not the risky ones – like a flight to Mars. When we don’t know how to enter the atmosphere or how to build a heat shield or how long a mission will take or how much it will cost – the government will shoulder all this risk.”

After 90 minutes and an ever growing stream of questions came the winning query: So how much would you pay to travel as a private space tourist?

“Hard to say, really. After all I got paid to fly to space.”

Seminar: “Manufacturing Technology And Economy: What’s Next?”

When: 16-09-2014 13:30

Where: Moscow School of Management, Rid de Janeiro lecture hall. Brazil

Manufacturing. Image courtesy of Chrysler Group

The next frontier of manufacturing will involve closing the gaps between customers and providers, linkages in global supply chain and the broad issue of sustainability argues professor Mitchell M. Tseng, our guest speaker at a seminar title “Manufacturing Technology And Economy: What’s Next?”.

When: September 16, 2014, 13.30 – 15.00

Where: Moscow School of Management, Rid de Janeiro lecture hall, (Brazil)

SEMINAR ABSTRACT:

As a manufacturing technologist by training, I have been at the front row of sea change in manufacturing to witness the great expansion of production capability and capacity in the last four decades. In conjunction with information and communication technology (ICT) as well as globalization, the advance of manufacturing technology contributes to the dramatic improvement of human lives. Since the ability to produce determines a region’s quality of life, many countries have moved manufacturing to the top of the national agenda in the last few years.

In this presentation, we would like to discuss the next frontier of manufacturing. It includes closing the gaps between customers and providers, linkages in global supply chain and the broad issue of sustainability – not only environmental, but also economic and social sustainability. Hopefully, these discussions can lead to examine some fundamental issues in manufacturing that we need to take on with further innovation drives.

Prof Mitchell M. Tseng

SPEAKER INTRODUCTION:

Mitchell M. Tseng is the Chair Professor and Director of Advanced Manufacturing Institute at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He started his career in developing key enabling manufacturing technologies for computer industry, some of which, including the diamond machining for polygons in laser printers, are still widely used. He has been working closely with industry with more than 100 projects to upgrade product design and manufacturing capabilities in companies. He worked in Xerox and Digital Equipment Corporation for two decades developing products, service systems and managing business transformation.

Prof Tseng is an elected Fellow of the International Academy of Production Research (CIRP), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and Hong Kong Academy of Engineering Sciences (HKAES). He is the recipient of LEAD Award from SME, Franz Edelman Laureate (INFORMS), and Outstanding Industrial Engineer (Purdue). He also holds faculty appointments in MIT Zaragoza Logistics Center, Nanshan Professor in School of Design, China Academy of Arts and Honorary Professor of Business and Management in Technical University of Munich, Ministry of Science and Technology Chair Professor in Feng Chia University (Taiwan).

Federated Satellite Systems Workshop under the auspices of the EU – Russia Year of Science 2014

When: 13-10-2014 11:00

Where: MSM, Beijing Auditorium

Skoltech is proud to announce it will host the Second Federated Satellite Systems Workshop on October 13-15, 2014. The workshop is a joint initiative of Skoltech (the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology), Cornell University and MIT and will be held for the first time in Moscow. The event will take place under the auspices of the EU – Russia Year of Science 2014, with participants from the US, Europe, Japan and Russia. A keynote speech will be delivered by Mr. Michael Schmidt, the Head of the Studies and Special Projects Division at the European Space Agency (ESA ESOC).

FSS – Federated Satellite Systems Workshop Logo

Led by Skoltech professor Alessandro Golkar and organized by the university’s Strategic Innovations Research Group and the Space Center for Innovation and Research, this workshop will broaden the FSS research community by opening this cross-cutting problem to experts on all related domains and strengthening the links with researchers on similar topics worldwide. The workshop aims to forge links to create a multidisciplinary and international research community that will follow novel approaches to innovate the way in which spacecraft missions are conceived, designed, implemented, and operated. It is through this process that we will create transformational new space science and technology.

Mr. Michael Schmidt, Head of the Studies and Special Projects Division at the European Space Agency (ESA ESOC) – Keynote Speaker at the FSS Workshop

Federated satellite systems have recently been proposed as open satellite constellation concepts for opportunistic sharing of data relay, processing power and on board storage services. FSS architectures operate by exploiting unused telecommunications and processing capacity available in participating spacecraft at any given time. Related topics of interest include, among others:

Heterogeneous spacecraft networks
Distributed space systems,
Distributed decision making and spacecraft cooperation
Satellite Distributed processing
Inter-satellite-link payloads
Optical space communications
Small satellite distributed and collaborative networks
Space communication protocols development and standardization
Free-space wireless power transmission
Fractionated spacecraft,
Plug and play space hardware
Emerging space network concepts. Space internet.
Cloud computing concept transfer
Resource management under uncertainty and network scheduling
Advanced space system concepts and architectures
Business case studies based on space infrastructures

For more information, please contact the FSS Workshop Organizing Committee at

Faculty Prospectus Available Now Online

04/09/2014

The new edition of the Skoltech Faculty prospectus is now available online.

You are welcome to read through this brochure and learn about members of our faculty and their various research projects: bio-medicinal therapies, computer vision, hydrocarbon recovery and renewable energy, quantum physics and string theory, satellite systems and space exploration, composite materials and manufacturing, innovation and product realization, and many more.

The prospectus outlines collaboration with leading international partners (such as MIT) and Russian institutions, current developments and past milestones. It also provides a look at Skoltech’s vision, as well as at our concrete development plans.
Feel free to share this document, using the social media buttons or provided link. We hope you find the reading as informative and inspiring as our team did.

CANCELLED: Colloquium: Partial Differential Equations Models in the Socio-Economic Sciences

When: 11-09-2014 16:00

Where: CANCELLED

Differential equations. Image courtesy of Wikipedia

We are sorry to announce that The Skoltech Colloquium planned for this week is cancelled and rescheduled for May 2015.

Abstract: Professor Peter Markowich presents nonlinear partial differential equation models for some problems in the socio-economic sciences:

1) a parabolic free boundary problem describing the evolution of the price of a good in an economic market.

2) a Boltzmann-type kinetic model for opinion formation in human societies under the presence of strong leaders.

3) a mean field (human) crowd motion model consisting of a nonlinear conservation law for the crowd density coupled to an eikonal mean field. The presented systems are based on modeling ideas stemming from statistical physics, adapted to the social science topics.

They feature interesting mathematical/analytical twists, which will be discussed in detail.

What: Partial Differential Equations Models in the Socio-Economic Sciences

Where: Hypercube, 3^rd floor

When: September 11, 16.00

Professor Peter Markowich

Guest speaker: Professor Peter Markowich works in applied partial differential equations, covering modeling, analysis and numerics. His favorite topics are (nonlinear) Schrödinger equations, semiclassical analysis, kinetic theory and the connection of diffusion-convection equations and functional inequalities.

He is Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, and currently he is a Distinguished Professor at King Abdullah University of

Science and Technology (on leave from Cambridge). Peter Markowich has received important national and international awards and was plenary speaker at the ICIAM 2003 and invited speaker at the ICM 2010.

If you like to participate and for further information or questions, please Liliya Abaimova
We look forward to seeing you.

Academic Year Opening Ceremony: Balloons, a Tree of Hope and 115 New Graduate Students

01/09/2014

Edward Crawley, Skoltech’s president,, at today’s opening of the academic year ceremony

Some call the first day of the academic year in Russia ‘First Bell’ (‘Первый Звонок’ in Russian), citing the tradition of a first grader schoolgirl ceremoniously carried around while ringing the school’s bell. Others refer to it as ‘Knowledge Day’ (День знаний). We, at Skoltech, are fond of all these historical names. But we also like to look at the present and future of tech and science education. Enter Skoltech’s new students, who officially began today their journey towards a Masters or Doctoral degree in science.

Photos: Aleksei Kalabin, Vitaly Shustikov, Maxim Nazarov, Ilan Goren

With the addition of Skoltech’s 115 new students the university’s community now numbers 400 members, almost half of whom study at the institute. After doubling the number of enrolled students each year since Skoltech’s establishment 3 years ago, the tech and science institute now has 190 MSc and PhD grads in Biomed, Energy, IT, Product Realization, Space, Advanced Studies and Composites.

Skoltech’s president, Ed Crawley referred in his address at the Hypercube Innovation Center’s auditorium to the ongoing growth of a “community of founders”, slated to move into its new home – a state-of-the-art campus building – in 2016. Later, as he took a break from chatting with faculty, doctoral researchers and MS students, he looked around the hall, filled with young and excited faces, and simply said: “they feel something is happening here – it’s called opportunity.”

At the end of the ceremony a young tree was passed from Dmitry Smirnov, a straight A’s senior Energy student and the students’ council founder to Divya Shankar, a freshman MS student in Space technology. Smirnov told the audience he feels the plant symbolizes of continuing growth and responsibility. Judging by the applause, listeners seemed to concur. Then all they went downstairs and had their pictures taken, greeted each other and experimented with the helium-filled balloons. Perhaps this was the students way of reminding themselves that this is, after all, an institute of science and technology.

Some of Skoltech’s outstanding students received accolade – and awards. The Academic Excellence Award was given to Mikhail Barannikov, Alexander Ivanov, Dmitry Smirnov, Boris Urman, Jelena Nadj, Andrii Omelianovich, Vahe Taamazyan, and Alexander Vidiborsky.

The Outstanding Contribution Award was handed out to Dmitry Smirnov for his impact as founding president of Student Council, and to Nikita Rodichenko for his impact as a leader of the engineering club and masterskaya developer. For their impact in running three hackathon events – Vladimir Eremin, Rustem Feyzkhanov, Dmitry Vasiliev, Alexander Ivanov, Vahe Taamazyan, Irina Zhelavskaya – got on stage and received their awards.

Celebrating the opening of the acadmeic year on the 1st of September 2014 at Skoltech

If you like to participate and for further information or questions, please Liliya Abaimova
We look forward to seeing you.