I Forum of Young Scientists of the Siberian Federal District "Knowledge Triangle"
Tomsk Regional Branch of the Russian Union of Young Scientists, together with Tomsk Polytechnic University organized the I Forum of Young Scientists of the Siberian Federal District “Knowledge Triangle”, which was held from November, 30 to December, 2 in Tomsk, Russia.
This event was supported by the RF Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy in the Siberian Federal District, SB RAS, Tomsk Region Administration, Tomsk city Administration.
Altai, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, and Omsk regional branches, as well as regional branches of the Russian Union of Young Scientists in the Republic of Altai, Buryatia, and Tuva took part in the Forum.
More than 200 young researchers, postgraduates and students selected on the basis of the competition, the representatives of research organisations and educational institutions from Tomsk, Omsk, Barnaul, Kemerovo, Yurga, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Magnitogorsk, Tyumen, Seversk, Abakan, Republic of Khakassia, Ulan-Ude, the Trans-Baikal region, Moscow and St. Petersburg participated in this event.
The I Forum of Young Scientists of the Siberian Federal District was organized in the form of an open dialogue between the representatives of state authorities, business communities, research and educational bodies and young researchers, entrepreneurs, and managers.
Problems of innovative development of the Russian economy which cannot be solved without understanding and introduction of current successful experience in the formation of innovative economy at the regional level are regarded the key issues in crisis conditions. There is an urgent need to attract active young researchers to the formation of regional development strategy for the near future and for the long-term prospects in order to activate innovative processes and use regions’ domestic opportunities to a greater extend.
Hussein Chechenov, Chairman of the Committee for Science and Education, the Council of Federation, and Farit Mukhametshin, Head of Rossotrudnichestvo, Special Representative of the President of RF for Relations with Commonwealth of Independent States, sent their greetings to the organizers, participants and guests of the Forum.
During the Opening Ceremony the Forum participants had an opportunity to see the presentations and speeches of Petr Chubik, Rector of Tomsk Polytechnic University, Alexander Scheglov, Chairman of the all-Russian non-governmental organization "The Russian Union of Young Scientists", Aleksey Sevostyanov, Deputy Mayor of Tomsk city, Aleksey Pushkarenko, Chairman of the Committee for science and innovation policy of Tomsk region Administration, Yuri Gavrilenko, Head of the Territorial Administration of Federal Agency for the Administration of Special Economic Zones in Tomsk Region, Nikolai Vyatkin, Deputy of the State Duma of Tomsk Oblast.
Dr. Anneli Pauli, Deputy Director-General of Directorate-General for Research, European Commission, sent the video message: “Research and mobility to develop the European Research Area as part of the Global Research Area”. Enrico Predazzi, Chairman, Euroscience Open Forum 2010, presented the video message about ESOF 2010 in Torino.
Congratulations and greeting to young scientists presented Nikola Macharova, EURODOC President, Alexander Gromov, Deputy Vice Rector for International Cooperation of TPU and Elena Rybalkina, Board Member, Head of Tomsk regional branch of the Russian Union of Young Scientists, EURODOC coordinator in Russia.
After the opening ceremony and press conference with regional media, the Forum was held in plenary sessions and workshops:
Workshop “Intersectional interaction of research, business and authorities in the innovative community: problems and trends”.
Moderators: Dmitry Demyanyuk, director of the Institute of Additional Continuing Education, TPU; Vera Pudkova, Head of Commercialization Office, TUSUR.
Workshop "International cooperation and academic mobility as key factors of scientific and research activity".
Moderators: Alexander Gromov, Deputy Vice Rector for International Cooperation, TPU; Natalia Podvoiskaya, Deputy Chairman of the Board, Coordinator of regional branches of the Russian Union of Young Scientists.
Workshop "Resource-effective technologies for the future generations".
Moderator: Andrey Lider, Deputy Head of the Information and Analytical Centre of TPU.
Plenary session (presentation of Russian and international organizations supporting research activities): RUYS, EURODOC, BEST, ÅÊ, ESOF 2010, DART Europe, DAAD
Moderator: Elena Rybalkina, Board Member, Head of Tomsk regional branch of the Russian Union of Young Scientists, EURODOC coordinator in Russia.
The Forum provided a unique opportunity for young scientists not only to communicate with colleagues around the Siberian Federal District, but also with the young leaders of Russian and international organizations that support research activities: the Russian Union of Young Scientists, EURODOC - the largest Association of Young Scientists in Europe, a local group of Students’ Union of Technical HEIs of Europe (BEST) from Ural State Technical University (Ekaterinburg).
A unique practical experience of participation in FP7 mobility programmes shared the expert of National Contact Point Mobility of the 7th EU Framework Programme on the basis of State University – Higher Institute of Economy, Alexander Grigoryev (Moscow).
The Forum in Tomsk is a part of federal RUYS project. During the year 2009 similar forums for young scientists had already been held in three federal districts: Central, Volga and Southern. The feature of Tomsk Forum proved to be its international component, and the new direction of discussions - resource-efficiency (in October 2009, Tomsk Polytechnic University had been awarded the status of the National Research University of Resource-Effective Technologies).
The main idea of the Forum in Tomsk was to communicate and exchange experience of representatives of education, science and business, as well as to build the constructive interaction between all three sides of the “Knowledge Triangle”. And the link to make this connection real are young scientists. This Forum participants - young scientists from SFO - had a great opportunity to show their worth in the integration of all brinks of the "Knowledge Triangle". And the interaction of industry, science and education has enormous potential for the development of the Siberian Federal District, Russia and the world. The Forum days showed that in Tomsk there were a lot of interesting projects and ideas worthy of being promoted.
At the closing of the event, participants reviewed the draft recommendations and formed a drafting group to finalize the outcomes document, taking into account the suggestions received during the workshops.
Until December 14, 2009, the drafting group will take suggestions from the participants of the Forum to improve the draft recommendations of the event (to the address sfo@rosmu.ru). And in February 2010, the final outcomes will be posted on the www.rosmu.ru and sent to the appropriate Federal and regional public authorities.
A special emphasis will be placed on the discussion of issues related to staff formation for the development of innovative activity in the Siberian Federal District.
Young scientists gathered at the Forum, visited the Special Economic and Innovative Zone in Tomsk Region, participated in a Guided tour “Tomsk in the Lights”, visited Innovative centres of education and research in Tomsk Polytechnic University, visited the studio of renowned sculptor Leontiy Usov.
At the Tomsk city Mayor’s welcome reception, Deputy Mayor of Tomsk city Anatoly Abramov handed over flags with the Forum symbols to the heads of RUYS regional branches, the EURODOC President and the representatives of Ekaterinburg local group of Students’ Union of Technical HEIs of Europe (BEST).
The participants and organizers unanimously expressed the need for such activities and supported the initiative of TPU rector to organize in the next 2010 year the Second Forum of Young Scientists of the Siberian Federal District in Tomsk, Tomsk Polytechnic University.
Elena Rybalkina.
