subscribe to news Science and business interaction is one of the main topics at Khimia 2022

The Panel on Business and Science: Effective Interaction, organised by EXPOCENTRE AO in partnership with Women in Nuclear (WiN), the International Research Institute for Advanced Systems (IRIAS), the Grebenschikov Institute of Silicate Chemistry and the Moscow Agency of Innovations, was held within the Khimia 2022 exhibition.

The event was moderated by Evgeniya Enshina, Head of the Russian branch of Women in Nuclear. The question of whether formal and informal communities are needed for effective communication between business and science, and what should be the main mission, goals, objectives, and tools in organising funding was answered by Mikhail Gerasimov, Director of the Centre for Coordination of S&T Cooperation Projects at the IRIAS.

"Today, unfortunately, science lives by its own laws, and business solves its own problems. There was an attempt to regulate this problem by creating various development institutes, engineering centres. But as of today this is not working. The problem is that business gives limited demand to science and expects it to provide a turnkey product which can be sold immediately. And science aims to produce new knowledge. But new knowledge is not linked to the production of new products. This creates a contradiction that needs to be resolved," the expert said.

Mikhail Gerasimov also drew attention to the fact that science has no money to create scientific samples, and business does not want to invest, as it wants to get a ready profit. At the same time, when some socially important projects are needed, opportunities are found to link science and business. There are certain measures to support both science and new technologies. But they work on a spot basis and are used by organisations which have an idea of how this system works.

Alina Boldyreva, Director of the Marketing Department of the Finval Machine Tool Holding, joined the discussion. According to her, in terms of science and business, there are successful projects in the defence-industrial sector. The companies that work alongside the defence industry structure help to implement new technologies and make it so that the defence industry enterprises can meet the plan for civilian products.

Vera Myasoedova, Chief Researcher at the Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics, and Mikhail Nechaevsky, Head of the Digital Transformation Department at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, gave their opinion on the readiness of science to integrate into business and on how much science should change to become interesting for business. Natalia Tyurnina, Deputy Director for Research at the Grebenshchikov Institute of Silicate Chemistry, spoke about how not to lose the talent pool so that it is motivated and works for the Russian science and not for foreign funds.

The panel participants also discussed other topics interesting for the professional audience. 

Press Service, EXPOCENTRE AO