Russia’s first ‘Technological Valley’ will be established at Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) this year, according to a recent decree signed by Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
Implementation of the project fulfils the announcement by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in his annual message to the Federal Assembly last year about the establishment of specialised scientific and educational valleys based around Russia’s leading universities.
Putin said: “These centres should be established on a geographical basis, while their future specialisation will depend on the university where they are based.”
Under state plans, up to 15 such centres will be established in Russia over the next three years.
The newly established centres will participate in the implementation of some scientific and technical state programmes, which will be selected by the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Presidential Council for Science and Education, as well as representatives of large Russian business.
Funding of the new educational centres will be carried out by the state from the reserves of the Nauka project, along with funds provided by private investors and the state budget.
The Moscow valley centre will be known as the Vorobyevy Gory Innovative Science and Technology Center (INTTS) and will be granted special legal regimes and tax breaks that will be similar to those granted to Skolkovo, a high technology business area that is being built at Mozhaysky District in Moscow.
Oksana Tarasenko, the deputy head of the Ministry of Economic Development, who oversees the project, said: “The specialisation of the Moscow State University valley will be very diverse – from biomedicine, pharmaceuticals and biomedical research to nanotechnology for new materials, nanomachine-building, robotics and special-purpose technologies.
“The main objective of the project will be the development and implementation of technologies that are in high demand from business, as well as the attraction of highly qualified personnel to the universities and the newly established Technological Valleys, including some well-known university professors and teachers.”
Supported by university leaders
The new state initiative has received support from representatives of Russia’s leading universities.
When the Technological Valley was first approved in 2016, with a focus on research activities and the commercialisation of scientific developments, the reported aim was to make it a hybrid of Harvard and Silicon Valley.
Viktor Sadovnichy, the rector of MSU, who first put forward the idea, said: “The project is very important for MSU and the entire Russian system of higher education.
“So far, we have already started a search for investors for the Technological Valley. The Moscow city government has already promised to provide up to RUB10 billion (US$154 million) that will be invested in the building of new laboratories and other R&D infrastructure for the project.”
In the meantime, other Technological Valleys are due to be established at other leading Russian universities.
According to recent statements of the governor of the Tambov region, Alexander Nikitin, one such centre could be established within the territory of the region on the basis of one of the local agrarian universities – taking into account the status of the Tambov region as one of the centres of agricultural and livestock production in Russia.
According to Tarasenko from the ministry, Technological Valleys may also be created in Sochi, as well as the Tatarstan, Kaliningrad, Tula and Ryazan regions.
Autor: Eugene Vorotnikov
Quelle: University World News
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