Issue
Science and innovation are at the heart of UK government strategy for promoting prosperity and growth. Research and knowledge is increasingly developed and transferred through international collaboration which provides opportunities to work with the best in the world researchers in the world and gain access to large scale international facilities; leading to mutual benefits for UK and Russia.
Actions
To promote international collaboration the UK’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) jointly fund the UK Science and Innovation Network (SIN), based in 28 countries around the world.
Science & Innovation Network (SIN) - Russia work to the following objectives:
Stimulate strategic World-class science & innovation collaborations with Russia to benefit the UK & Russia and deliver wider policy goals
Inform UK and Russian Governments of each other’s science and innovation policies & research funding mechanisms
Improve UK policy based on international experience and emerging opportunities and challenges with Russia
Create world-class global goods partnerships between UK & Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Armenia & Azerbaijan
Harness Russian innovation prosperity partnerships and investment to grow UK innovation capability
Science and Innovation in Russia
Russia is taking many positive steps towards modernising its innovation infrastructure and strong opportunities for UK industry, consultancy and research collaborations exist with Russia’s £3.23 billion innovation city currently being built on 380 ha of greenfield on the outskirts of Moscow named “Skolkovo” . Dubbed “Russia’s Silicon Valley”, it is being designed as a testing ground for new economic policies to stimulate commercialisation of scientific research through the Commission’s five themes; IT & telecommunications, Space, Energy efficiency & Life sciences & Nuclear. There is also strong opportunities to collaborate with Russia’s new innovation university called Skolkovo Tech joint with MIT.
The Russian Federation currently spends around 1.2% of its GDP on R&D with total R&D and education spend for 2013 at around £7.72 billion; of which £37.5 million is earmarked for applied science and research; £3.72 billion for universities; and £1.06 billion destined for Federal target programmes including “Research & Development on Science & Technology Priorities of the Russian Federation 2007–2013”, “Science and pedagogical staff of innovation Russia 2009–2013” and “Education 2011–2015”. The rest is earmarked for other educational & cultural programmes. The Russian Government has also approved its ‘Scientific Federal Target Programs’ for 2014-2020 with a programme budget of £4.71 billion – with the aim of ensuring ‘a world-class level of research and development and global competitiveness’ by 2020 with targets to increase the numbers of young scientists in research and enhance the R&D budget.
The priorities for the research relationship between the UK and Russia are agreed every two years at the UK-Russia Joint Committee Science & Technology Co-operation. The next one is due to take place in London on 17th October 2013 at The Royal Society co-chaired by Minister Vince Cable, Secretary of State for the UK’s Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) and Minister Livanov, of Russia’s Ministry of Education & Science.
What is SIN Russia doing?
The Science and Innovation Network (SIN) in Russia, based in the British Embassy in Moscow, was launched in February 2010 in order to further engage Russia’s brightest scientists in collaboration with the very best UK based scientists using targeted programmes and projects funded by BIS’s Global Partnership Fund. One of the SIN Russia’s long term goals is for Russia to be more strongly aware of the UK’s offer as a world-class place to carry out R&D in Space science, Composites, Accelerator science and Arctic/Polar research and Innovation. Also SIN Russia works to encourage Russia to publish more of its research in international peer reviewed journals to enable global science to benefit – though facilitating experts from BIS to share the UK’s experiences of implementing Open Access with Russia’s Ministry of Education and Science (MES).
Most recently SIN Russia has ensured PM David Cameron and President Putin agreement to step up collaborations in Science and Space during their bilateral in Sochi in May 2013.
The next 11th Ministerial UK Russia Joint Committee on Science & Technology Cooperation 2013-2015 to be held at the Royal Society in London on 16-17 October 2013 with a Joint Statement on enhanced cooperation in science, higher education and innovation due to be signed between Minister Vince Cable and Minister Livanov, Russia’s Minister for Education and Science.
Recent programmes set up by SIN Russia include the UK Russia Year of Space 2011-2012, which was timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering flight into orbit, with a Joint Statement signed by the UK and Russian Space Agency heads. The UK is world number one in small satellite technology and number one in Europe for telecommunications satellites, whilst Russia is responsible for 40% of all space launches globally and has ambitions to become one of the top three space nations to gain a 10% share of the global space market by 2030 – the same target as the UK’s – so UK and Russia are ideal partners in Space. So far the Year of Space has delivered a raft of prosperity outcomes facilitated by SIN Russia including a £50 million /yr saving for the UK Space industry through tax/customs waivered by UK imports of space equipment into Russia, a revised roadmap of cooperation between UK Space Agency (UKSA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscomos) and an MOU between the UK’s International Space Innovation Centre (which has now become the UK’s Space Catapult) and Skolkovo Space Cluster, all three fostered by SIN-Russia; Other deliverables include a joint Space Treaty on medicine, and a joint nano/micro Satellite project to predict earthquakes better than is currently possible with solely ground based measurements.
In Russia, SIN is based at the British Embassy in Moscow but we work across Russia with our colleagues at the British Consulate Generals in St Petersburg and Ekaterinburg and with one of our Global Partnership Fund projects looking at enhancing world class Science in global goods science in the CIS we work in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in close cooperation with the British Embassies in those countries.
SIN RUSSIA recent successes
SIN Russia work closely with a raft of Russian Partners and UK partners in Russia. To find out about the latest work of the team, our projects and recent successes, please read our latest SIN Global annual report https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/science-and-innovation-network-annual-report-2011-12
Who are SIN Russia?
Dr Julia Knights, Head & First Secretary, Science & Innovation Network (SIN)- RUSSIA
Dr Marina Sokolova, Senior Innovation Advisor, Science & Innovation Network (SIN)- RUSSIA