On the third day of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, SPbPU Rector Andrey Rudskoy visited the main site at Expoforum, held talks with foreign and Russian partners, signed a memorandum of cooperation with Gazpromneft — Industrial Innovations and went live on the St. Petersburg TV channel.
During the live broadcast, Andrey Ivanovich shared his impressions of the forum: "Such meetings are very important, especially in the current conditions, when we are obliged to rebuild the country's economy, establish completely new contacts, deeper and broader, with those countries with which there was not such a range of relations before. I mean China, India, the CIS countries, the Middle East. They are full of energy and desire to work with us in all fields of activity: microelectronics, materials science, alternative energy sources, ecology, fresh water. Therefore, such events are very useful not only for Russia. Each of our partners understands what prospects are opening up for them.»
The next step in cooperation with leading Russian industrial companies was the signing by the Polytechnic of a memorandum of cooperation between Gazpromneft — Industrial Innovations LLC and universities, research centers, engineering companies and enterprises in order to create a scientific and technological platform for the development and introduction of new technologies and products of the oil refining industry. Thus, SPbPU became a participant of the Gazprom Neft scientific and technological platform for the development of oil refining and petrochemistry technologies. The agreement was signed by Mikhail Nikulin, CEO of Gazpromneft-Industrial Innovations, and Andrey Rudskoy, Rector of the university.
Gazprom Neft's own scientific and technological platform unites the work of specialists, leading industry and technological institutes, engineering companies and innovation centers for the development and implementation of solutions in the field of petrochemistry and oil refining. Cooperation with St. Petersburg Polytechnic University will be aimed at finding production technologies that are in demand by the domestic market of composites and polymers.
Specialists of the Gazprom Neft Technological Center for Industrial Innovation will also support the development of training programs for specialists in the field of polymer chemistry. Young scientists and university students will be provided with opportunities to work on applied tasks that are solved by Gazpromneft-Industrial Innovations.
"Today's agreement opens up new horizons for us and our partners from Gazprom Neft in the development of the country's oil refining industry- Andrey Rudskoy commented on the event. — We already cooperate in the field of corporate master's degree programs and DPO, conduct joint scientific activities, develop scientific and technical projects. Gazpromneft—Polytech REC has been operating at the university for several years. In the summer we will open the second scientific and educational center "Gazprom Neft" on IT and business analytics. And last year, a long-term cooperation strategy was approved, aimed at involving the best competencies of university employees in the development of the company's northern fields".
"The scientific and technological platform accelerates the development of oil refining and petrochemistry, attracting engineering and scientific personnel, — Mikhail Nikulin emphasized. — In less than two years of work, the platform participants managed to develop, test and introduce into production the products necessary for the industry, for example, fuel additives. Together with the Polytechnic University, we plan to work in the field of intersectoral technologies and high-tech innovations, joint training of specialists in new areas for Russian oil refining and petrochemistry."
Two meetings of the Polytechnic's management with foreign partners took place at the forum site. Rector of SPbPU Andrey Rudskoy and Vice-Rector for International Affairs Dmitry Arsenyev held talks with the official delegation of the National Agency of India for the Promotion and Promotion of Investments "Invest India".
The program of the national Indian agency "Invest India" was developed by the Department of Domestic Trade and Industrial Development of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India. The agency provides targeted support to local and foreign investors. The leaders of the Polytechnic offered various options for cooperation to Invest India representatives within the framework of the Startup India program to promote Russian startups to the Indian market and Indian startups to the Russian market, presented projects of the international polytechnic accelerator for promotion in the Indian market. At the negotiating table, they discussed the possibility of assistance from the Invest India agency in attracting Indian industrial companies to invest in high-tech developments of the Polytechnic University, which are in demand in the Indian market. The agency's representatives are also ready to assist in attracting Indian universities to implement research projects under India-Russia bilateral financing programs and BRICS programs, in organizing cooperation between the Polytechnic University and industrial and professional associations of India in various areas.
During a meeting with the official delegation of Tsinghua University (China) Andrey Rudskoy noted that now it is very important to activate the mobility of students from both countries in connection with the lifting of COVID restrictions, their participation in summer and winter schools. They also discussed the implementation of joint network educational programs for bachelor's, master's, and postgraduate studies, cooperation in the field of training highly qualified personnel (postgraduates and doctoral students), joint postgraduate programs, mutual participation in dissertation councils, and joint defenses. Rector of SPbPU Andrey Rudskoy told the partners that the issue of organizing a joint postgraduate course of the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunications of SPbPU and the School of Aerospace Engineering of Tsinghua University is now being resolved. They also talked about joint scientific projects supported by the programs of the scientific foundations of the Russian Academy of Sciences/MES-PRC, network partnership within the framework of BRICS. In 2022-23, the Polytechnic University, together with the universities of the People's Republic of China, prepared seven applications for BRICS grants. The leaders of the Polytechnic University invited Tsinghua University to take part in the V International BRICS+ Municipal Forum, which will be held in November 2023 in St. Petersburg, and invited to the celebration of the 125th anniversary of SPbPU in February 2024.
At the end of the meeting, Andrey Rudskoy and Tsinghua University Vice President Jiang Peixue signed an act on the implementation of a joint professional development program commissioned by Gazprom Neft PJSC "International Economic Partnership in Energy: China". 50 people were trained. Establishing direct contacts with Chinese and Russian industrial companies for targeted joint training of highly qualified personnel, implementation of advanced training and retraining programs is one of the effective forms of cooperation between partner universities today.
