As the situation with COVID-19 has shown, mistakes associated with insufficiently developed policy measures in medicine, science, education and other socially significant sectors of the economy are very costly for society. In the July issue of Nature, First Vice-Rector, HSE ISSEK Director Leonid Gokhberg discussed the topic of the growing practice of making management decisions based on big data analysis.

Alexander Sokolov, Director of the Foresight Centre and Deputy Director of the HSE ISSEK, visited Shanghai (PRC) in early May to take part in the International Pujiang Innovation Forum. The forum is annually hosted by the PRC Ministry of Science and Technology jointly with the Shanghai Municipal Government to discuss and coordinate decisions in the science, technology, and innovation policy area. This year the participants shared their expectations about the period until 2035.

A new supercomputer, which has been recently set up at MIEM, will allow the university to carry out high quality research in deep learning and mathematical modeling. The computer was ranked sixth in the April Top-50 ranking of supercomputers in Russia.

Is big data going to replace conventional statistical observations of the science, technology, and innovation sphere? Participants of workshops hosted by the ISSEK and a number of partner research centres in Austria and Germany in Vienna on 6–7 March agreed that the role of statistics is only going to increase. The experts outlined the potential for cooperation in the scope of S&T research projects and educational programmes.

OECD experts presented the next issue of the Science, Technology and Innovation Outlook 2018, in which the Russian Intellectual System iFORA, developed by HSE ISSEK (Institute of Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge), was referred to as an example of successful initiatives in the field of digital science and innovation policy (DSIP).

The National Training Workshop for Technology and Innovation Support Centres’ personnel ended on 29 November, 2018 at the Higher School of Economics; it was organised by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Rospatent, and the Federal Institute of Industrial Property (FIIP), and lasted for three days at various venues. HSE experts presented their approaches to patent analysis, and legal protection of intellectual property. According to the workshop participants, the university’s research in patent statistics and big data analysis (which is playing an increasingly important role in the area) was most impressive, and contributed to extending knowledge horizons.

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) 2018 begins tomorrow. A representative delegation from the Higher School of Economics, and the HSE ISSEK will take part in the business and presentation programmes. In particular, the panel session 'Resources and Economics of Global Oceans' will be held on 25 May, which Leonid Gokhberg, First Vice Rector and ISSEK Director was invited to attend. On 25 and 26 May ISSEK experts will host two discussions at the HSE stand: 'Application of Big Data analytics to support strategic decision-making', and 'Doing science: how comfortable young researchers feel in Russian academia'.