On December 6, Saratov University hosted a meeting of the Council under the Governor of Saratov Region for Science and Innovations.

Before the meeting of the Council, Governor Roman Busargin got acquainted with the advanced achievements of the university. Strategic projects of SSU within the Priority 2030 programme were presented at the exhibition. Oksana Semyachkina-Glushkovskaya, Deputy Head for Commercialisation of Scientific Developments, SSU Scientific Medical Centre, spoke about the work on the technology of night photostimulation of the drainage function of the brain and the elimination of toxins from its tissues. Chair of the Department of Dynamic Modelling and Biomedical Engineering Anatolii Karavayev presented developments on the diagnosis of socially significant diseases. Associate Professor of the Department of Open Systems Physics Alexander Sadovnikov presented a way to increase the speed of information transmission.

Head of Priority Projects and Programmes Elena Yelina, spoke about the implementation of the Teachers in the Educational Paradigm strategic project, introduced the Governor to the system of continuing pedagogical education at the university and commented on unique university projects: the SSU Pedagogical Classroom and the regional pedagogical olympiad for schoolchildren.

‘Against the background of all technological projects, we are also implementing a social project – "Teacher in the educational paradigm". We teach high school students from schools in the Saratov region, this gives us the opportunity to work with students from remote areas. We also actively interact with young teachers,’ Elena Yelina said.

‘This program is very good and important. Now the country and the region need these developments more than ever to motivate schoolchildren to the teaching profession, as well as to work with teachers and schoolchildren,’ Roman Busargin stressed.

The exhibition also featured other scientific developments of SSU, as well as projects of young scientists who won the Student Start-Up. Among them are Vasilii Ageyev, a graduate of the Institute of Physics, Maxim Inkin, Assistant at the Department of General Physics, and Victoria Skazkina, Junior Researcher at the Department of Dynamic Modelling and Biomedical Engineering.

The work of the Council for Science and Innovation was headed by Governor Roman Busargin. The meeting was attended by Deputy Chair of the regional government – Minister of Industry and Energy of the region, First Deputy Chair of the Council Mikhail Torgashin, rector of Saratov universities, and representatives of industrial enterprises.

At the meeting, the Governor of Saratov Region, Roman Busargin, supported the proposal of industry representatives to create a single centre combining science and production. ‘Our region is among the leaders in import substitution. This result ensures the potential of our universities. But the most difficult task is to reduce the time from a scientific idea to its real implementation in production. The new platform will help in this.’

He said that since the beginning of the year, the production of new products replacing imported analogues has been growing in the Saratov region. Thanks to the cooperation of science and production, 87 types of unique products have been produced in the region, including 19 since the beginning of this year. We are talking about instrumentation, space industry, gas, oil, chemical, defence industry, pharmaceuticals. Both leading universities of the region and high-tech enterprises, such as Almaz, Korpus, Kontakt, Promavtomatika Design Bureau, Signal, take part in their development.

In the first block of the meeting, the participants discussed the scientific potential of universities as a window of opportunity for the technological reboot of the country and the region.

Rector of SSU Aleksei Chumachenko spoke about the university's solution of tasks for several strategic projects within the framework of the Priority 2030 programme in the context of socio-economic development of the region.

Since October 2021, Saratov University has been working under the Priority 2030 program, which we entered as a result of intense competition. On November 27, we reported on the first results of the program to the commission of the Ministry of Education and Science. The results of the written reports were also summed up. Only 22 universities out of 106 submitted the report without comments, that is, all indicators were met and the results themselves were recognized as absolutely reliable. Our university is among such universities.

Priority 2030 was supposed to focus on several major strategic projects. When choosing them, the university relied on the following arguments: the established polythematic clusters of world-class research directions in SSU; the volume of grant activity of SSU research groups; 60 years of experience in the development of the electronic industry in the Saratov region with the active participation of SSU scientists; the development of "Big" chemistry and the creation of new materials in the region; the development of medicine and medical technologies. However, the main and defining thing was that the region demonstrates a high interest in university research and development.

Aleksei Chumachenko announced the first results of the implementation of strategic projects: "Personalized Medicine Technologies", "ICT Electronics", "Chemistry and new Materials", "Digital University", "Teacher in the educational paradigm".

University scientists continue to actively work on methods of diagnosing diseases, developing a system for remotely controlled drug delivery. The Rector also noted that multifunctional materials and high-tech solutions for personalized medicine and much more have been developed. The need for medical personnel is being filled at the Faculty of Fundamental Medicine and Medical Technologies.

SSU scientists have developed radiation-resistant nanoscale magnetoelectric chips, created a new material for electric vehicles and flexible electronics. Work is underway on new material for 5G communications and other developments. In the Research-to-Technology Center, sSSU, work is underway in the fields of vacuum chemical and thermal treatment, vacuum metallurgy and the production of metal-cutting tools made of hard alloy. The only center of collective use in this area in Russia is functioning. According to the rector, the site turned out to be very popular not only among enterprises of the Saratov region.

It is important to note that the university specialists have developed a technology for applying a diamond-like carbon coating for the fuel equipment of diesel engines. Now, as part of the import substitution program for Common Rail systems at a small innovative SSU enterprise, this coating is applied to mass-produced parts as part of an order from the Altai Precision Products Plant, which is the main manufacturer of fuel systems supplied to the KAMAZ conveyor.

According to the Teachers in the Educational Paradigm project, work continues on the creation of a system of continuous teacher training, which has already begun to bear fruit both in terms of reducing the number of teacher vacancies in the region, and in terms of motivation, teacher interest in this work.

The solution of another important task of the Priority 2030 programme is the training of professional personnel for technological independence. SSU has an Institute of Additional Professional Education, through which students can exercise their right to receive two or more qualifications during their studies. The university's opportunities for retraining and advanced training of various categories of citizens living in the Saratov region have not been exhausted.

In recent years, the university has changed the vectors of not only youth, but also personnel policy. The University employs young talented scientists, leaves them in the Saratov region. The university trains not only scientists and teachers, but also for many years has been producing engineering personnel for enterprises of our region. SSU has decided to further develop engineering areas at the university in close cooperation with industrial partners within the region. SSU has started creating a network of university-wide fablabs with the Digital Integrative Bioengineering Systems general direction so that students can acquire relevant engineering knowledge not only in basic, but also in additional educational programs.

‘The University is not only a supplier of highly qualified personnel, but also a centre of scientific and innovative activity, whose products are needed by the Saratov region. Already today, the university is ready to transfer to production a number of developments that may be in demand in various sectors of the economy of our region,’ Aleksei Chumachenko summed up his speech.

Acting Rector of SSTU Sergei Naumov, Rector of Vavilov University Dmitrii Solovyov, Vice-Rector for Research, SSMU, Alexander Fedonnikov also made reports on the topic of the scientific potential of universities. The heads of Saratov enterprises told the meeting participants about the state of the regional industry in the face of external challenges and about the implementation of the import substitution strategy.

Director of the Signal Engels Instrument-Production Association, a member of the SSU Board of Trustees Alexander Nikonov shared the experience of his company in the new conditions. He highlighted the key principles on which the industry should rely – the transition to the concept of "import saving", the withdrawal of regional industry to the federal and world level, the return of Saratov Region to the league of machine tools. Alexander Nikonov stressed the need to consolidate efforts to develop imports and exports of the region and the importance of media support and internal communication between the participants of the strategy implementation program.

In his speech, CEO of Bioamid JSC, a member of the SSU Board of Trustees Sergei Voronin spoke about the activities of his company and gave statistics of its work. The main direction of Bioamid JSC is the production of a trace element complex based on bioavailable organic compounds for modern formulations of premixes, compound feeds and organomineral fertilizers. Sergei Voronin noted that the company's activities are provided through the commercialization of its own biotechnological developments within the framework of research activities.

Alexander Rafalovich, Deputy CEO for Scientific and Technical Development of the Almaz Research-to-Production Enterprise, noted the work on import substitution for space communications. A line of devices has been developed to completely replace imported analogues on satellites, in ground-based space communication stations.

Following the meeting, the Regional Governor's Council for Science and Innovation recommended that scientific and educational organizations of the region, in cooperation with the real sector of the economy, take an active part in the implementation of initiatives, projects and events of the Decade of Science and Technology in Russia.

The Ministry of Education of the region and the Ministry of Agriculture of the region will continue to assist Saratov State University and Vavilov University in the implementation of the Priority 2030 program, increasing the contribution of universities to the socio-economic development of the region.

The Ministry of Industry and Energy of the region will promote the expansion of the practice of concluding contracts on targeted training of employees of enterprises.

The meeting participants agreed to continue close cooperation within the concept of technological development of the country until 2030 by the President’s order.