Estimated contribution: Russia will increase funding for science and education

The government will allocate additional funds to create advanced universities and research centers in the Russian Federation. Vladimir Putin gave this instruction to the Cabinet of Ministers at a meeting of the Council on Science and Education during his visit to Novosibirsk. The Russian leader also spoke with successful young scientists and asked them what dangers the rapid development of AI poses. Despite the growth of the scientific and educational sphere, the problem of low salaries of scientists and underfunding in the regions remains. How they want to attract business to science, why the launch of the SKIF mega—installation is so important, and why Putin stopped the motorcade on the way to the airport - in the Izvestia article.

What topics did Putin discuss with young scientists?

Novosibirsk Akademgorodok turned into the intellectual capital of the country on August 11. Vladimir Putin's current working trip to the region is dedicated to the future of Russian science. The presidential itinerary began with an inspection of the advanced educational infrastructure — the new SUNC campuses of Novosibirsk State University (NSU). There are 240 teachers working in physics, mathematics, chemistry and biology fields, and about 600 schoolchildren from 41 regions of the Russian Federation, as well as from abroad, study here.

The Head of State appreciated the new campuses, including the state-of-the-art leisure center. There, the head of state talked to high school students in the gym, who told them which universities they wanted to enroll in. Then Putin met with graduate students and young researchers from the SUNC NSU. You could see how worried the guys were, nervously rubbing their sweaty hands, but in the end everyone got a chance to share their story with the president.

One of the highlights of the meeting was the dialogue with Anastasia Kaigorodtseva, whose rapid professional trajectory made the president surprised. The girl manages to combine three serious positions at once: she works as a researcher at the Lavrentiev Institute of Hydrodynamics, works as a deputy dean of the native Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of NSU, and more recently — also deputy director of the International Mathematical Center.

A case changed her fate: after the 9th grade, she passed an interview and received an invitation to the SUNC Summer School. "I only came for a month, but in the end I stayed here forever," Anastasia shared. She successfully passed all the steps of the academic elevator of Akademgorodok, having defended her PhD thesis. According to her, there were enough opportunities to leave the field, but two factors held her back: the unique "seamless" infrastructure connecting schools, universities and research institutes, and mentors who carefully guided her into big science from school.

An entertaining dialogue took place between Maxim Yemelyanov, President and lecturer of the NSU Institute of Intelligent Robotics.

— What threats does artificial intelligence pose to us? Putin asked.

— Vladimir Vladimirovich, I'll tell you honestly, you have nothing to be afraid of, — the young teacher answered.

"I've never been afraid of anything," the Russian leader retorted with a smile.

I was also struck by the story of Timur Nasybullov, 35-year-old deputy director of the Mathematical Center in Akademgorodok. After graduating from NSU, he worked at universities in Italy and Belgium. Despite the fact that his European colleagues offered him to extend his contract, the scientist deliberately chose to return to Novosibirsk. He cited the enormous opportunities for self-realization as the main reason: thanks to the opening of the Mathematical Center, he was able to build a career much faster, rising from an ordinary employee to deputy director.

At the same time, the picture presented to the President reflects, first of all, the achievements of the most powerful scientific centers. At the same time, there are still issues in the regions that require further attention, including those related to the level of funding for science, working conditions and salaries for specialists. Earlier, Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Valentin Parmon emphasized that over the past five years, Russia has lost 50,000 researchers, which threatens the country's technological sovereignty. "Naturally, there is a question of salary discrimination among scientists in regions and megacities," the scientist warned.

In this regard, it is especially important that science development measures take into account not only the most successful centers, but also opportunities for further strengthening the scientific infrastructure and human resources in the regions. There is reason to expect that these issues will continue to be among the priorities of the Ministry of Education and Science.

President's instructions at the meeting of the Science Council

After a conversation with young scientists, the Russian leader headed to the Koltsovo science city to participate in the key event of the visit — the opening of the unique mega-installation Siberian Ring Photon Source (SKIF). As Putin stated at a meeting of the Council on Science and Education, the launch dates had to be postponed after the introduction of Western sanctions, but domestic specialists completely created the critical equipment for installation on their own.

SKIF's unique parameters will pave the way for advanced research in physics, chemistry, materials science, biology, and archaeology. The capabilities of the mega-installation will make it possible to make a breakthrough in practical areas: from creating new medicines and improving the properties of aviation materials to searching for rare metals and increasing the efficiency of oil production. In addition, bright X-ray beams will help to study ancient artifacts without contact and solve complex environmental problems.

Already at the very meeting of the Science Council, Putin called for accelerating the development of domestic technologies of the future. And business should actively participate in this as a customer of breakthrough solutions: "We cannot allow the situation that the obtained scientific results hang in the air, remain unclaimed," the president warned.

The Russian leader also announced the creation of a unified national database of genetic data, which will be updated annually with information about animals, plants and microorganisms with a volume of up to 10 petabytes — about 5 trillion pages of printed text. At the same time, we must try to avoid excessive monopolies and preserve opportunities for international scientific cooperation. On Putin's instructions, they will also work out a mechanism for financial support of genetic resource centers for the development of bioeconomics, pharmaceuticals and human resources.

And one of the most important decisions of the president is to continue the course of creating strong regional universities and research centers, the development of which will require additional funding. He instructed the government to put the necessary funds into the draft federal budget for the next three years. The Head of State noted that thanks to the construction of modern campuses and unique megascience facilities, advanced scientific, educational and social infrastructure is already being actively formed in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

It is thanks to megascience installations (synchrotrons, colliders) that conditions are created for world-class experiments, Natalia Kozyakova, associate professor of the Department of Political Science at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Mass Communications at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, explained to Izvestia. They generate data streams and physical effects of unattainable power, paving the way for fundamental discoveries that are impossible with smaller installations.

Throughout the visit, the President was accompanied by the Governor of the Novosibirsk Region, Andrey Travnikov. The topic of the development of domestic science and production continued at the meeting of the president with the head of the region. During the conversation, Vladimir Putin also gave an official start to the production of milk processing by Siberian Academy of Dairy Sciences LLC via video link. "Let's go, Godspeed!" the president said and congratulated the company's founder and citizen of the Russian Federation Stefan Durre on the launch.

And on the way to the airport, Putin stopped the motorcade to shake hands with Novosibirsk residents and chat in person. At that moment, schoolchildren were standing by the road. They didn't even immediately believe that the head of state had got out of the car.