Skolkovo’s Scientific Advisory Council ended a whirlwind tour of American educational institutions this week by holding its quarterly meeting at Stanford University, where the prospects for Russian science, education and business came under scrutiny.
In what is often described as a complex political climate, it was the location of the meeting rather than the agenda that was of greatest significance, said Nobel prize laureate Zhores Alferov, co-chair of the council.
“I was one of those who insisted on the idea of holding the meeting at Stanford University,” the Belarusian-born physicist said. “I think it’s important to show that relations between researchers of our countries have always been good, and remain so today,” said Alferov.
The meeting, a quarterly checkup on the activities of the Skolkovo research clusters, doubled as a signing ceremony for an agreement on a student and information exchange among St. Petersburg Academic University, the nanotechnology scientific-educational center at the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Boreskov Institute of Catalysis and the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech).
“The value of this agreement is that Skoltech will collaborate with institutions that offer highly specialized programs, including catalysis,” said Skoltech President Prof. Edward Crawley.
Alferov, for his part, noted: “Understanding that Skoltech was created in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, we need to expand cooperation among Russian and foreign institutions.”
Meanwhile, representatives of Skolkovo’s five research clusters – space, nuclear, energy, biomedicine and IT – received positive appraisals of their work.
“The council continues to approve of our cluster’s activity, and it’s really important we get this feedback,” said Igor Bogachev, the executive director of the IT cluster.
It emerged at the meeting that the IT cluster would expand into three new research areas: Wearables, computer graphics and so-called “gamification” – creating game-derived solutions for application elsewhere.
That means startup businesses in these areas will now be permitted to apply for Skolkovo participant status, which brings a host of benefits including tax breaks, office space and access to grants.
In the field of space research, Skolkovo cluster executive director Alexei Belyakov said that amiable talks with NASA’s Ames Research Center showed that cooperation between Russia and the United States was inevitable, regardless of politics.
“Russia is the biggest international partner for space exploration,” Belyakov said. “Russia and the U.S. are linked by many examples of successful cooperation – supplying rocket engines, work on the international space station, sending astronauts to the ISS in our spacecraft,” he said.
“In the long run, everyone understands that we will continue to work together. Turning your back is a very expensive endeavor, and, as the latest events show, American ships aren’t too safe, and this calls for international cooperation,” Belyakov added.