One of the stages of training participants in the All-Russian educational program “Leaders of Scientific and Technological Breakthrough” took place at the Federal Research Center “KSC SB RAS”. During the week of the internship, the participants studied the features of the scientific and innovative potential of Krasnoyarsk, and suggested strategies for the development of the Center.

“Leaders of Scientific and Technological Breakthrough” is an educational program for supervisors of scientific organizations and universities. It is being implemented by the Moscow School of Management Skolkovo, commissioned by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. The goal of the program is to develop the necessary competences in management among the heads and supervisors of educational and research organizations for efficient management and implementation of complex projects in the field of science and education.

In Krasnoyarsk, the program participants had a busy program. During a few days of training, they got acquainted with the institutes of the scientific center, visited two of the largest universities in Krasnoyarsk, and the Radio Communication plant, and held several project sessions with the participation of representatives of the scientific and management leaders of Krasnoyarsk.

The managers proposed their strategies for the development of the scientific, technological and research potential, human capital, regional growth and improvement of the position of KSC SB RAS in the world ranking of scientific organizations. Having considered the static information and situation on the ground, the participants noted that one of the strengths of the center is its scientific potential. In particular, the portion of publications in journals with a high impact factor among the total number of publications by scientists of KSC SB RAS exceeds the national average values. Another strength of the center is its interdisciplinarity, which needs to be further developed. One of the weaknesses is the lack of communication between the center and the business, as well as patent and implementation activities.

The program participants also suggested focusing on global trends, following the top-down path, when research topics are due to global relevance and demand rather than arise from the research logic of individual scientists or their narrow interests. To develop human resources, it was proposed to strengthen the project approach and mobility, to focus on attracting scientists with new skills and competences, to form teams to solve particular problems, which is significantly different from the traditional way of developing human resources within laboratories.

The most elaborated in terms of proposals was the presentation on the strategies of regional growth and improvement of the position of KSC SB RAS in the world rankings. The participants noted that significant progress can be achieved through increased innovation activity. The solution of this problem will be for the benefit of science as a whole in Krasnoyarsk, since its implementation implies, in the opinion of the participants, close interaction of the scientific center with the leading universities of the city. According to the speakers, qualitative changes can be achieved by creating a common technology transfer center with the support of the regional government.

The project session ended with an active discussion of the proposals made by the leaders of the scientific and technological breakthrough. There was also well-reasoned criticism and counter-proposals as well as development ideas of prominent students. In particular, it was noted that some of the suggestions are already being implemented in one way or another. For example, seven youth laboratories were organized in the center, with some of them created to solve new interdisciplinary problems. The participants in the discussion noted that given the limited time, the leaders were able to cope with their "tasks". They also assessed the potential of the center, its strengths and weaknesses, and suggested new development scenarios.

“Why does Russia often face difficulties in implementing models of scientific and technological development? In my opinion, the reasons are the lack of well-trained personnel and absence of stable relationships between science, government and business. I was interested in the process of the project development by the internship participants. As this training is intended not only for the participants of the program, but for us as well. We must all learn to think globally but act locally, which is often not the case in Russian science. The leaders presented their points of view from the outside, and tried to look at the problems of the center with a fresh look, which will help us to draw certain conclusions, ”says Alexander Shpedt, Acting Director of the Federal Research Center of KSC SB RAS at the final discussion.

“One cannot ignore the fact that a huge number of innovations of the 20th century have their origin or were implemented on the basis of fundamental discoveries of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The USSR Academy of Sciences was one of the leading scientific organizations in the world. Everyone admits it. But there is no such system anymore. We need to start from the today’s realities. In the changing conditions, we have to look for new ways of solving both old and new problems. The presence of the participants of the educational program "Leaders of Scientific and Technological Breakthrough" is a good occasion to discuss and look at the current working principles of the center. Concentration of smart people in one place will certainly help to formulate optimum strategies for organizing scientific activities and development of the scientific center ", - notes Vasily Shabanov, scientific supervisor of the Federal Research Center "Krasnoyarsk Science Center of SB RAS ".