To develop in-depth concepts and functional requirements for research and educational clusters, the Far Eastern Federal University has established four working groups. The corresponding order has been signed by Boris Korobets, Acting Rector.
“Mr Korobets has singled out the working group leaders that basically act as university supervisors of research and educational clusters. Their goal is, together with the business community, to decide which innovative solutions and R&D support infrastructure shall be high-priority for our residents,” the head of the Fund stated.
While establishing these clusters, the import substitution needs in important sectors of Russian industry were taken into account as were the prospects for the development of high-tech industries in the Russian Far East. For one, a priority goal of the IT-Park will be to set up infrastructure for the development of IT sector in the region.
“We intend to focus here on the development and designing of electronic printed circuit boards. This place will also become home for IT-residents’ laboratories that will be developing various software. We will establish a data processing center which, in addition to other IT-infrastructure, will involve a supercomputer for math modeling of physical processes in medicine, biotech and engineering,” said Grigory Aleksanin, director of Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science and one of the research and educational cluster supervisors.
A new “Biomedicine” cluster will allow to bring pharmaceutical agents to drug manufacturers on the Russian market and to develop its own medical technologies. Vadim Kumeyko, Acting Deputy Director for Development with Institute of Life Sciences and Biomedicine in FEFU, stressed out that a full innovative pharmacological process chain is slated to get up and running within “Biomedicine” Research and Educational cluster, with the latter paving the way to conducting preclinical and all stages of clinical trials as well as to establishing a production cycle of experimental batches of medical materials and biomedical cell products.
“For now, such opportunities are just non-existent in Primorsky Krai: pre-clinical trials are conducted in Novosibirsk while our colleagues usually perform clinical trials in Moscow. We also envision great potential in terms of developing high-tech personalized medicine,” the scientist said.
Research and educational cluster “Ocean Engineering” is another area of importance. According to Alexander Wagner, Director of Polytechnic Institute and one of the project’s supervisors, one of the main cluster’s goals is to curb dependence of companies engaged in development of resources of the World Ocean and maritime shipments fr om foreign suppliers. This is a place wh ere it is planned to develop equipment that is unique for Russia in the following sectors: underwater robotics, equipment for the fishing industry, marine transport, ship repairing, hydraulic facilities.
The territory of the “Biotechnologies” research and educational cluster will accommodate experimental and mass production works of two types. Kirill Vinnikov, Director of the Institute of the World Ocean, pointed out that, as of now, there is demand from the regional business community for the deployment of experimental and mass production of marine aquatic organisms and fostering new marine products with useful properties. “Biotechnologies” research and educational cluster will house science and technology labs, testing areas for the development of artificial water bioresource reproduction technologies, creating new active natural compounds of marine origin and ensuring the biosafety of the seas in the Far East. At the moment, several potential subjects for research studies are under consideration: Japanese sea cucumber, Kamchatka crab, gray sea urchin and commercial fishery species.
“Expert operations and R&D experience of our scientific associates with the Institute of the World Ocean will enable it to successfully tackle a hole range of tasks ensuring food security of Russia through the development and deployment of technologies in the field of aquaculture, amelioration of water bodies for fishfarming purposes, eco-monitoring of the coastal zone as well as innovative production of new commercial products of marine origin with enhanced consumer qualities," Kirill Vinnikov said.
According to Lyudmila Tekutyeva, the head of Basic Chair of Bioeconomics and Food Security in FEFU and Deputy Director General for Science of the ISTC Russky Development Fund, “Biotechnologies” research and educational cluster will become a platform for entrepreneurs enabling them to shape and attract competences in developing and scaling new technologies, setting up high-tech pilot and serial production of innovative biologicals for food, agriculture, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries while tapping agricultural and marine bioresource potential of the Russian Far East.
The emphasis is put on biotechnological solutions in the field of functional, specialized and personalized nutrition, agricultural environmentalization, production of food and feed supplements, bioactive agents and substances based on the rational use of renewable Far Eastern biological raw materials.
“Even now it is evident that the Russian Far East has enormous potential in the biotech industry. Tapping into this potential will pave the way to the nation’s enhanced food security in the trans-border markets of the Asia-Pacific region as well as will cut down high dependence of Russian agroholdings, feed, food, pharmacological and cosmetic industries on imports and goods supplied by biotechnological foreign companies. In the future, we intend to bring Far Eastern bioproducts to the world export markets,” Lyudmila Tekutyeva added.
Let us remind that ISTC Russky was established as per Order of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1868 dated 18 November 2020 at the initiative of the Far Eastern Federal University. It is a territory with a special preferential regime aimed at developing high-tech business in the Russian Far East and promoting Russian science-intensive products and technologies in the markets of the Asia-Pacific region. The main areas of ISTC operations include the development of resources of the World Ocean, biopharmaceutics and biotechnologies, new means of human interaction with the digital world.