‘ERA.NET Plus with Russia’ marks a new stage in EU-Russia science cooperation
On July 1–2, 2015, the funding parties met at the Saint Petersburg State University to take the final funding decision on multilateral research projects to be funded in the framework of the ERA.NET Plus with Russia, an initiative supported under the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research (FP7). Elena Nasybulina, leading expert of the National Contact Point (NCP) for the international mobility of researchers at HSE ISSEK, made a presentation at the meeting. Along with the HSE ISSEK Foresight Centre, NCP conducted a study to determine the priorities of scientific partnership.
Foresight Courses in Manchester: Evolution of HSE Expert Participation
The annual foresight courses which have been running at Manchester University since 1999 are considered some of the most prestigious and important for researchers of the future. In July 2015 two researchers at the Foresight Centre at ISSEK who have been students on the courses themselves have been invited this year to come and teach.
Vietnamese Delegation Studies Innovation Governance at HSE
The Higher School of Economics recently hosted a special programme for a delegation from Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology. Over the course of a week, top-level officials from the country learned governance practices in the fields of science, technology and innovation in a special class held by HSE ISSEK.
New Standard for Designing Innovation Development Programmes Promotes Innovation in State-Owned Companies
On July 2, the Higher School of Economics hosted a public discussion of the new methodological guidelines for designing innovation development programmes (IDPs) of state-owned companies. These were prepared by the Russian Ministry of Economic Development together with the Open Government with the participation of HSE, and approved in April, 2015 by the Presidential Council for Economic Modernisation and Innovatiion Development’s Presidium. The updated methodology increases importance of corporate innovations and — through introduction of KPIs — strengthens top managers’ motivation.
Russia — Brazil Summer School on Foresight & STI Policy
From June 15 to 19, 2015, the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge (ISSEK) held a joint summer school with Brazil’s Center for Strategic Studies and Management in Science, Technology and Innovation (CGEE). The aim of the summer school was to explore areas for collaboration for both countries and institutions in the field of Foresight and STI policy following an earlier memorandum of understanding signed between CGEE and HSE.
‘In 20 years time, people who cope in an atmosphere of uncertainty will be the most successful’
We cannot predict the future, but we can simulate it. At the University Open to the City: HSE in Gorky Park project, Deputy Director of the Foresight Centre at the Institute of Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge (ISSEK) at HSE, Alexander Chulok talked about what we can expect in the next 20 years and how to prepare for it.
Protecting taiga forests through sensible management
The World Wildlife Fund Russia (WWF Russia) initiated establishment of the Boreal Wood Platform which is supposed to smooth transition to a sustainable management model for boreal (taiga) forests. The new discussion platform may also contribute to development of technological foresight and strategic planning in the forest sector. At the inaugural meeting of the platform on 19 May, HSE was represented by Ilya Kuzminov, leading expert at the ISSEK Foresight Centre.
Energy horizons
Global energy market is changing rapidly: production of shale hydrocarbons is getting cheaper while delivering liquefied natural gas, solar and wind energy to consumers is becoming easier. Russia has to find answers to these challenges. On May 19, 2015, in St. Petersburg, experts publicly discussed the concept of the System for Monitoring and Foresight of S&T Progress in the Power Industry.
Long-term prospects for international cooperation were discussed at HSE
On May 28, 2015 the Higher School of Economics hosted the international workshop “State-of-the-art competence centre programmes in Europe. Opportunities for EU-Russia Science and Technology Collaboration”. The participants presented competence centres’ best practices, shared experience of implementing joint S&T projects, and discussed opportunities for establishing cooperation.
Evgeny Kutsenko: “Cluster policy needs rebooting”
“Russian Cluster Week” federal economic forum took place in Moscow on May 28–29, 2015. The HSE Russian Cluster Observatory (RCO), the staff of which presented several research areas and the results of a number of HSE projects on regional and cluster policy, acted as the forum’s intellectual partner.