President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, friends,
Today we are meeting at the Kurchatov Institute, a research centre with an incredible history that continues its rapid development today. We were talking about this right now, and Mikhail Kovalchuk told me about it in detail and showed me around the centre. It is necessary to have such research centres, not only in Moscow or the leading regions, but throughout Russia.
Over the past few years, we have worked hard to build up our research potential, and we have achieved noticeable success in this. We have developed a research infrastructure, including at our universities.
By creating a network of federal universities, we have strengthened not only our education system but also our research sphere as a whole. I would like to say that Igor Kurchatov, the founder of the Kurchatov Institute, graduated from Crimean Federal University, then Taurida University.
Over the past few years, we have worked hard to build up our research potential, and we have achieved noticeable success in this.
Measures to boost the development of science across Russia were outlined at the meetings of the Council for Science and Education and in the Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly. We also talked about this at a recent meeting with the President [of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Sergeyev]. We decided to create mega-science centres in Novosibirsk and in Protvino in the Moscow Region.
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Large research centres will be established at leading universities in Kaliningrad, the Volga region, in southern Russia, in Siberia and the Far East. In fact, they are being created as we talk. They will greatly enhance our competitiveness and become centres of attraction for the best international scientists and young Russian researchers.
Not just prominent leading universities and research centres should be used as the basis for the establishment of new technology centres.
In fact, our spatial development programme, about which I also spoke in the Presidential Address, is designed to provide conditions for the people’s creative endeavours and to encourage them to form new research communities, so that conditions for self-realisation, interesting jobs and a full-bodied life will be available across Russia.
Of course, we must also continue to improve the social status of our researchers, designers and engineers, who are moving our science forward and making genuine breakthroughs.
Let us hold a general discussion on these issues. And then we will hold one more meeting.
Let’s proceed, please.
President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Sergeyev: Mr President, colleagues,
The draft law introduced by the President to amend Federal Law No. 253 grants the Russian Academy of Sciences significant additional authority. Among other things, the Academy will be instructed to forecast trends in science and technology, socioeconomic development, and to submit proposals to government agencies. This is a great responsibility. Quite often, government and society rely on the Academy in creating new large projects.
One of the strategic goals set in the Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly was the country’s spatial development, ensuring regions’ connectivity and sustainable development, overcoming gaps in the quality of life. Spatial development has always been and will always remain, I think, our country’s national idea. In our minds, Russia’s vast territory has always been synonymous with its greatness. Developing the country’s territory at a new scientific and technological level is vital today. I want to tell you about several projects that we are discussing and proposing right now.
Researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences, Lomonosov Moscow State University and highly respected experts, in close cooperation with the public and private sectors, recently finished developing a concept for a strategy for spatial transit and logistics corridors across Russia that would connect the Asia-Pacific region and the European Union.
The concept includes fostering conditions for the multidimensional development of Siberia, Russia’s Far East and the Arctic by building two spatial transit and logistics corridors based on a new high-speed railway and the Northern Sea Route. Between these corridors, there will be a grid of transit, energy, information and communication infrastructure facilities that will provide a foundation for creating economic zones, building high-tech enterprises and creating jobs for local people. The concept provides for the possibility of extending the corridors to Japan and South Korea, and onward towards the United States.
Our feasibility studies have shown that this project is more efficient economically than a group of smaller projects that address economic modernisation piecemeal. The Security Council, the Government and the Federation Council, as well as several ministries have already discussed the project. Mr President, we need an opportunity in the near future to report to you in more detail on the project, including all the developments.
A national space monitoring system covering the entire territory of our country – a kind of interactive electronic map with a spatial resolution of about one metre – could be another strategically important spatial development project. Modern space radio electronic, optoelectronic and satellite communication technologies make it possible to update such a map several times a day. In the future, it could be updated every few minutes. That way, we can monitor the dynamics of our country's life.
The next class of major projects includes network projects for territory development based on innovation technologies in specific science and technology areas. Building dozens of nuclear medicine centres with domestic equipment across the country could be one such example.
Unfortunately, to date we have to admit that our country – a recognised world leader in both high energy physics and nuclear physics – became dependent on foreign makers in almost every area and missed a vast global market. This is particularly unacceptable in a situation where the Government set a goal to combat oncology related challenges and achieve an average life expectancy of 80+ by 2030.
Importantly, Russia’s fundamental science and industry-specific research possess all the competences and technologies that are needed to produce domestic positron emission tomography units, CyberKnives, proton therapy units and radiopharmaceuticals. These competencies must be launched as soon as possible and used throughout the country. This is a major national project, which could be jointly operated by the Academy of Sciences, Kurchatov Institute, Rosatom, and the Healthcare Ministry.
We discussed this project with Mr Kovalchuk, Rosatom, and the Healthcare Ministry. We will be ready to submit proposals soon.
Speaking about our country’s spatial development, it is imperative to focus on the uneven level of regional development. There are regions that are traditionally research-oriented; these are metropolitan regions and cities like Novosibirsk, Tomsk or Kazan. However, there are also regions that, for a variety of reasons, have special needs. I would like to briefly discuss two of them, the Russian Far East and Crimea. These regions need a separate scientific and technological development programme supported by the federal authorities.
We are aware of the demographic pressure faced by the Far Eastern Federal District, on the one hand. On the other hand, the outflow of young and well-educated professionals to central Russia continues unabated.
What should we do to retain our young researchers? We must create good living conditions, a high salary and a comfortable urban environment. But it is no less important to launch large anchor projects that will be interesting to them. These must be competitive and rapidly growing projects that are technologically better than in the industrialised neighbouring countries.
We propose three such projects. We have coordinated them with Mr Trutnev and discussed them at the Academy of Sciences and also with Mr Kovalchuk for the past few months. First, we propose
