The Ural Interregional Research and Education Centre for Advanced Industrial Technologies and Materials (UIREC) continues to actively transform our region's economy, improving its efficiency and competitiveness. In the TASS Press Centre, experts have discussed what results the UIREC has already achieved over the past five years, and what goals it plans to achieve in the future. Particular attention has been paid to the issues of cooperation between scientists and industrial enterprises and training personnel for high-tech industries. The have speakers also touched on the topic of financial support for scientific projects.
The press conference was attended by the Assistant to the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Ural Federal District Evgeny Gurariy, Development Director of the UIREC Igor Manzhurov and First Vice-Rector for Economics and Strategic Development of the Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin (UrFU) Daniil Sandler.
Evgeny Gurariy recalled that the results of the centre's work had been recently discussed at a meeting of the supervisory board under the leadership of the Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative in the Urals Federal District, Artem Zhoga. The members of the supervisory board had been satisfied with the work of the UIREC, especially considering the fact that all these years it had been among the leading scientific and educational centres in Russia. This had allowed to provide it with the largest funding among all the centres in our country.
"Significant funding has been attracted over the past five years," Gurariy said. "Regional investments amounted to about 855 million roubles — these are funds for the Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk and Kurgan regions. We also received significant federal grants totalling over 650 million. However, the most important thing is that we were able to build effective cooperation between the regions, government bodies, universities and industrial partners. The bulk of these funds were used to co-finance research and development work. More than 100 R&D projects were supported. All of them were developed in close cooperation with industrial partners, who also made their investments. After the completion of the R&D stage, the new project development stage followed, where the projects were further refined within the framework of the technical assignment agreed upon between enterprises, universities and scientific organizations."
Evgeny Gurariy added that regional authorities had successfully coordinated key processes in the centre, which had made it possible to achieve high efficiency in its work.
"We are sure that the main criterion of success is the assessment of our industrial partners," shared Gurariy. "Their interest and willingness to invest confirm the relevance and importance of our work. It should also be noted that regional governments have invested state funds in the project, which indicates its high priority for the socio-economic development of the regions. Now universities and the Department for the Development of Scientific and Educational Centres have been instructed to prepare an updated program, which will be presented in May. We hope for further support from the federal centre and the Ministry of Education and Science. After all, the projects that we are implementing are of strategic importance not only for our regions, but for our entire country."
Today, enterprises are increasingly involved in the development of scientific and technological initiatives and the transformation of their capacities. According to Igor Manzhurov, the major industrial partners, such as Rosatom, Sinara − Transport Machines, are conducting several projects at once, each of which includes powerful research subprojects. Four areas are being implemented in the nuclear industry, each of which involves very serious scientific research in the interests of enterprises. Without additional financial support, such work would be difficult to implement.
"Last year, the Ural REC received record-setting financial support, taking a leading position among our country's scientific and educational centres," explained Igor Manzhurov. "Out of the federal grant of 250 million roubles, 200 million were allocated to implement technology projects. We launch projects with the help of federal funding, provide research groups with support from 3 to 10 million roubles, and then the projects move to the implementation stage under the guidance of industrial partners. This approach creates a seamless transition from science to production, which has become the hallmark of the Ural REC. Youth laboratories play a special role in this process. They are focused not only on research, but also on the implementation of technologies. Their interaction with industrial partners allows us to solve the key problem of implementing innovations: bringing developments to a state where an enterprise can effectively use them. We do not just create technologies, but jointly with enterprises we adapt them for real production."
Among the key areas of work of the Ural Research and Education Centre are projects with Rosatom, including a closed nuclear fuel cycle, liquid salt reactors, hydrogen energy, permanent magnets, magnetic systems and ceramics. The UIREC includes such enterprises of the Rosatom State Corporation as the Chepetsk Mechanical Plant and Rusatom MetalTech, as well as a number of other enterprises in our regions. The centre is also actively working on the creation of a "nuclear pharmacy" within the framework of UrFU. The centre has managed to implement important initiatives in the IT sphere − the Ural Cyber Range has been created; projects on unmanned aircraft systems are being developed. Big-scale projects are being implemented in the Chelyabinsk and Kurgan regions, including a project on demonstrators of a reusable rocket launcher, the "Arctic Bus" project, cooperation is being implemented with the Ilizarov Medical Centre in the field of new implants and medical technologies.
"The Ural Research and Education Centre does not simply unite scientific and industrial projects, but creates an ecosystem where innovations move from research to real production, and the training of specialists is focused on technological challenges," Igor Manzhurov emphasized. "Our initiatives confirm that science and industry can effectively work together, creating technologies of the future."
In addition to technological initiatives, educational activities remain an important area of work at the Ural Research and Education Centre. The Master's degree programme in "Management of Scientific and Technological Projects" is unique in many ways; it trains specialists capable of integrating science and production. Three universities took part in its development: the Ural Federal University, Kurgan State University, and South Ural State University.
"One of the key ideas of the UIREC is that, while developing our own technologies, we must train our own personnel: designers, technologists, project managers," said Daniil Sandler. "And these specialists must be loyal to the local enterprises where they work. That is why a Master's degree programme in scientific and technological project management was created. We created a network programme, recorded online courses, prepared methodological materials, and today we have already had two enrolments. Master's degree students, without leaving production, lead projects related to the implementation of new technologies, improving production processes, combining economics, management and technological knowledge in their work."
Large industrial partners are actively involved in this process: NPO Avtomatiki, Sinara Development, academic institutes, other universities and enterprises. This year, enrolment will be open again: 25 state-funded and 15 contract places are offered.
Daniil Sandler notes that the REC programmes are closely linked to the Priority 2030 Program. This year, this program has been rebooted, and more than 100 universities in our country are already participating. The main goal is to achieve technological sovereignty for Russia. And the emphasis here is on key scientific and technological projects based on interregional cooperation.
"The Priority 2030 Program is designed until 2036, and during this time we must double the volume of R&D," Daniil Sandler emphasized. "Over the past five years, the volume of scientific research at UrFU has already grown from 2 to 4 billion roubles, and it should reach 16 billion by 2036. Today, the university has 50 thousand students, 40 thousand of whom are full-time students. Currently, we have 22 thousand people studying in engineering and natural sciences, and 29.5 thousand such students will be studying by 2030. All these areas of development show that the Ural Federal University is becoming a key centre for training technological leaders and a driver of innovative development in the region and our country."
The Ural Research and Education Centre for Advanced Industrial Technologies and Materials was created to conduct world-class applied scientific research and development, aimed at developing advanced manufacturing technologies and materials. The Centre actively interacts with leading enterprises of the Ural region, providing scientific support for their innovative projects and training highly qualified specialists.