JINR Director became one of the speakers at the panel session “Major Challenges of the Science and Technology Decade” that took place on 17 June. At this site of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), participants discussed current tasks of the scientific sphere in the Russian Federation for the upcoming years in the light of global challenges.

Until recently, globalisation has been taking place in science and technology. And now, cooperation in world science is shifting to the new state,” Grigory Trubnikov noted in his speech. “It should be built based on equal cooperation. The most significant “players” of this world development may be exactly international intergovernmental scientific institutes,” he said.

Participants of the session considered the key goals of the Science and Technology Decade in Russia, the link between science and the state in solving global tasks. Another topic discussed was the choice of priorities, as well as the formation of up-to-date system of science organization. The question about a qualified customer of the scientific sector provoked a discussion. In this regard, JINR Director Grigory Trubnikov in his speech noted, “The state will play a decisive role in setting scientific tasks, if we speak about major challenges. Nowadays, there is a unique situation of an excess of financial resources in Russia. That is why the ability of the state to act like a qualified customer and remove barriers is crucially important. The main problem of the state lays in its readiness to give the right to bear full responsibility.”

Speaking about major challenges, the JINR Director noted that they not only remained on the agenda but their relevance increased. “Geopolitical fog will dissipate, and problems will show up again. It will be necessary to solve them. First of all, environmental problems will become acute. It is just the question of humanity’s survival,” he highlighted.

Speaking about the plans for the Science and Technology Decade in the Russian Federation, Grigory Trubnikov stressed that the aims of the period should be global. “It is necessary to focus on large and serious tasks. Russia has colossal opportunities, like territories and earth’s resources. It is essential to dispose them as carefully as possible. It is necessary to unite territories, which is better and more correct to do through science cities,” he said. Moreover, the JINR Director linked the success of that task to the attraction of people to science. In this regard, Grigory Trubnikov noted that it would be necessary to create a special city and social environment for personnel, as well as support the youth starting from the school. “Russia should invest resources into the human capital, education, and staff training for technologically developed national economy. We have a great support system of talented children and school students, university applicants. And then it turns out that they leave the country. That is why it is necessary to invest in postgraduate study and postdocs, the development of intellectual concentration territories, such as science cities,” he said.

As for international cooperation, Grigory Trubnikov noted that the network organization made it possible to increase the efficiency of scientific activities. And in this regard, the examples for Russia are EurAsEC and BRICS, which are balanced in terms of bilateral and multilateral cooperation, including in the fields of science and technology.

In 2022, the thematic session “Major Challenges of the Science and Technology Decade” was held in the framework of SPIEF for the sixth time. It became a site for discussing the Science and Technology Decade declared by the president of the Russian Federation. Representatives of leading scientific organizations, relevant ministries, and authorities gathered for it. Andrey Fursenko, the Aide to the President of the Russian Federation, moderated the discussion.

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum SPIEF-2022 is being held from 15 to 18 June in the city on Neva. Participants are discussing the issues of global and Russian economy, social and technological agenda, human development.