Rifkat Minnikhanov to deputies: ‘It is enough what we have’
“Now the Priority 2030 programme helps to bring the fundamental developments of scientists to a laboratory sample — something that may be of interest to industrial partners for their commercialisation. But if world-class RECs (Research and Educational Centres — ed.) are created in Tatarstan, their implementation will accelerate," Albert Rizvanov, the corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, discusses the future of science. Gene therapy, digital transport doubles, linguistic services for translation from Russian into Tatar and vice versa — these promising developments were first presented by the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan at an exhibition in the parliament. Here, Ppresident of the Academy of Sciences Rifkat Minnikhanov said that he sees the “integration” of universities, scientific and educational centres and enterprises of the republic into the new federal agenda as his super task.
Science shown to deputies
The arsenal of scientific and technical achievements of Tatarstan science was put on display in the lobby of the parliament before the announcement of the annual report by President of the Academy of Sciences Rifkat Minnikhanov on 29 March. But then the universe of scientific as if was be “compressed” into PDF files and posted on the screens of devices mounted on tripods. Mysterious medical devices, digital models of transport systems, optoelectronic methane sensors — an ordinary person without a technical education can hardly understand why this is necessary and how it can work. Although there was a responsible “consultant” near each screen with an illustration, ready to explain in detail the value of the development, there were no people willing to immerse themselves in the mystical secrets of science. The exposition was empty for half an hour, and its authors were frankly bored. Few of the deputies of the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan were seriously interested in scientific achievements.
Deputies gathered around the exposition after Rifkat Minnikhanov, the president of the Academy of Sciences, began a tour together with Vice Speakers Marat Akhmetov and Yury Kamaltynov. As expected, they began to get acquainted with the exposition of the Humanities block of the Academy of Sciences, then they heard in detail the report of the centre for life activity on road safety and only by the end they reached the applied developments of the Department of Mathematics, Mechanics and Machine Science and the Department of Medical and Biological Sciences. The latter, by the way, is the largest department of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan and promises a breakthrough in the treatment of severe neurodegenerative diseases.
Pharmaceutical companies invest in the development of drugs themselves
Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan Albert Rizvanov shared what scientific thought in medicine is working on. “Today's agenda includes the concept of treating neurological diseases and neurotrauma, that is, everything related to the human nervous system," he said. According to him, the search is underway in the field of gene therapy, which allows to eliminate the root cause at the genetic level. “We are developing an analogue of the drug for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy. Do you remember collecting a lot of money for the treatment of SMA? Now the Krug Dobra Foundation is purchasing imported medicines for children. One injection costs $2 million. We are engaged in import substitution of expensive drugs," he said. According to him, scientists from the Kazan Federal University and the Academy of Sciences have approached the beginning of preclinical trials of drugs for the treatment of SMA. However, the financing is conducted in partnership with large pharmaceutical companies. “Izvarino Pharma is among them, there is interest from other industrial partners who invest money in development," he said.
Digital doubles for KAMAZ and ELAZ
The Department of Mathematics, Mechanics and Machine Science presented the project “Digital Twins of Transport Systems”. What is the point? “It's one thing to assemble a product and test it in full size, another is to test a virtual model, test a vehicle collision in a special program," Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan Alfred Suleymanov told Realnoe Vremya. “Putting a car in a wind tunnel is problematic now, but in our program, when conducting them, you can get accurate characteristics of fuel consumption and speed," he said. “Before that, the automotive industry worked with a foreign program, and now we are ready to switch to a domestic one.” KAMAZ and ELAZ, KMPO, Ufa Engine-Building Production Association became interested in the development.
Do scientists earn a lot? “They do," Alfred Sumeymanov replied confidently. “Of course, those scientists who are engaged in fundamental science, it is more difficult for them to earn money. But we, the “applied scientists” (they conduct applied research — author's note), are in constant contact with industrial enterprises. They don't need our “wishes”. They wait for the solution of urgent production problems in terms of ensuring safety," he concluded.
From the history of writing to linguistic services
The deputies did not have time to completely view the exposition before the meeting, but promised to return during the break. But they gave Rifkat Minnikhanov the opportunity to be the first to make a report on the work of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan. “Today is a truly fateful day. For the first time in the entire existence of the Academy and the State Council, we have gathered together to discuss topical issues on the scientific and technological agenda. We hope that this good initiative will allow us to build an effective long-term dialogue and interaction algorithms," he greeted the deputies. He also recalled that the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan remains a large scientific and educational centre, which includes 12 institutes and seven departments.
One of the significant events of 2023, he called the participation in the implementation of the Russian government's megagrant together with the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the development of the History of Writing online portal. For the first time, reference writing samples were presented in the form of digital copies of handwritten and epigraphic monuments from the archives of Russia, representing the history of writing in different traditions and in different languages. “It was important for us to show the thousand-year-old written culture of the Tatars against the background of the all-Russian written tradition," he noted.
Tatsoft Russian-Tatar translator becomes available on iOS
One of the significant events of 2023, he called the participation in the implementation of the Russian government's megagrant together with the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the development of the History of Writing online portal.
The Academy of Sciences continues to develop digital linguistic services. In April, a beta version of the mobile application of the Tatsoft national translator is to appear in the form of a mobile application for iOS, Rifkat Minnikhanov said. Tatsoft machine translator was developed by the Institute of Applied Semiotics of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan. “To date, more than 30 million requests from more than 110 countries have already been processed. There is a beta version of the Android mobile app on Google Play.
The dream of a world-class REC
The Academy of Sciences has been given the supervision over the creation of a world-class Scientific and Educational Centre in Tatarstan, Minnikhanov recalled. But so far there has been no special progress in this direction. “We hope that through joint efforts it will be included in the list of supported federal sites and, following the example of those regions that have already formed similar structures, it will become a significant institute for technological development, ensuring effective cooperation between universities, scientific organisations and enterprises," he said. As you know, the republic has applied to participate in the federal competition for its creation. It is possible that the results will be known by the summer, after the formation of a new government of the Russian Federation.
With the arrival of the new President of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, science will receive additional support. 723 million rubles will be allocated annually from the budget of the Republic of Tatarstan for the program of scientific and technological development of Tatarstan for 2024-2026. Of these, 311 million rubles will go to development projects and 412 million rubles — to support advanced engineering schools. “We have tried to consolidate [events] in the Program of Scientific and Technological Development in order to carry out a unified and coordinated policy," the head of the academy said.
According to him, this year it is planned to launch a series of new contests and awards to support the best researchers, teachers and young scientists. There will be six new contests and prizes in the Program of Scientific and Technological Development of the Republic of Tatarstan. Besides, initiatives are being launched to attract outstanding research scientists and highly qualified personnel of the Postdoc of the Republic of Tatarstan, Invited Scientist of the Republic of Tatarstan with coverage of up to 150 new people per year. Besides, there will be conditions for professional development and career growth of Tatarstan scientists in leading scientific and educational Russian and foreign organisations.
What position will Tatarstan take in the national rating
Once again, Rifkat Minnikhanov touched upon the topic of Tatarstan's participation in the national ranking of scientific and technological development, which was launched two years ago. “Last year, we managed to rise from the fifth position to the second, ahead of the recognised leaders — the regions — scientific centers: St. Petersburg and Tomsk Oblast. Now it becomes important to keep the high bar achieved," he said. According to him, the new system of indicators for the rating of scientific and technological development has become more complicated and includes 43 main indicators grouped into three blocks. Here he appealed to the deputies with a request to provide regional tax measures to support organisations engaged in research and development work. “This would be a very important contribution of our parliament to the development of science and innovation in the republic," concluded Minnikhanov.
“The president of the Russian Academy of Sciences became a member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation by decree of the president of Russia. Do we need any recommendations from us to somehow raise the status [of President of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan]? After all, science plays an extremely important role," Fadbir Safin, a deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, asked at the end of his speech. Rifkat Minnikhanov did not start into long arguments. “It is enough what we have," he replied laconically to the general laughter of the audience.