Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (SkTech) is the new private university to be constructed through collaboration between the Skolkovo Foundation and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), called the SkTech/MIT initiative. The agreement to work together on this new university was only signed on October 26, 2011, but activities to create the basic components of the new university have already begun. SkTech will be an experiment in creating a world-class university of the 21st century, balancing graduate level science education, a network of collaborative research centers and an integrated Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, with the goal of developing applied knowledge that will impact the economic development of Russia.
Establishment of the first round of affiliated research centers began on February 9 and 10, with a major conference organized by the SkTech/MIT Initiative. SkTech is planning to include a network of up to 15 specially funded collaborative research centers within the structure of the new university. The research centers will be a three-way partnership between SkTech, a Russian research university and a foreign university. These labs will support cutting edge fundamental research in areas important to Russia’s scientific priorities of biomedical, energy, information, nuclear and space technologies, but will also include labs that creatively cross boundaries in scientific disciplines. The unique focus of SkTech and these new research centers will be on what SkTech President Edward Crawley called “useful knowledge.” The ultimate goal is to create world-class science and technology that will contribute to the transformation and modernization of the Russian economy and to securing Russia’s place as a world leader in key science and technology areas.
The conference followed the recent call for proposals for these research centers. Almost 300 people attended the conference, mainly scientists, researchers and university officials from across the U.S., Europe and Russia. Participants included more than 70 from Russia and 15 from other European countries. The Russian contingent was regionally diverse with people from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Perm, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Ufa and Nizhny Novgorod.
The conference was a multi-layered and complex presentation of not only the research center grant application process, but the full context for the research centers. Topics included a description of SkTech, an explanation of the Skolkovo Project as a whole and participation by leaders of the industry clusters that support startup companies within the Skolkovo Project. There were keynote addresses by SkTech president Edward Crawley; Serguei Beloussov, Russian entrepreneur and investor; Igor Agamirzian, CEO of Russian Venture Company and Noubar Afeyan of Flagship Ventures.
Summing up the results of the conference, Professor Michael J. Cima, faculty research lead for the SkTech/MIT Initiative, remarked that “interest of the scientific community in the SkTech Research Center Program was illustrated by the attendance at the conference, which was well over subscribed. I feel that the conference achieved its main goals of providing a forum by which to answer questions about the research centers and, most importantly, to provide a venue for Russian scientists to meet potential international partners.”
Daniel Satinsky is a founding partner of the Russia Innovation Collaborative, LLC. He is primarily responsible for developing and managing RIC’s extensive network of Russian regional, institutional and commercial partners.
Source: ModernRussia.Com