On November 4 Perm National Research Polytechnic University hosted the III International Conference on "Innovative models of international integration in science - International Research Groups (IRG)."
At the official opening ceremony conference participants were greeted by the Chairman of the Government of Perm krai G.P. Tushnolobov; Chairman of the Perm Scientific Center of the Ural chapter of RAS, Director of the Institute of Continuum Mechanics V.P. Matveenko; rectors of the leading Perm universities and other dignitaries.
The Conference brought together leading Russian and foreign scientists, representatives of business and government to build international cooperation in the fields of engineering and natural sciences, as well as to promote Prikamye as an innovative region.
IRGs are a unique project of Perm krai, running since 2011. At present there are no similar projects in any other region. It was only in 2013 that there was a similar project started at the Federation level. According to the results of competition of scientific teams, which include two project managers, one from Perm and ine international, they receive subsidies from the budget of Perm krai in the amount of 3 million rubles per year for up to 3 years to implement their projects. Around the pair of scientists a team is formed, which includes undergraduate and postgraduate students. An important component of the partnership is that it involves attracting leading international scientists to the region, while our scientists actively represent our region at international events.
The conference summed up the results of the first IRGs, which were launched in 2011, as well as named the winners of the competition in 2014, who will start working on their projects next year. Regional government grants starting at 3 million rubles were awarded to 9 small research groups of scientists of Perm universities. A third of the amount of each grant will be directed towards the fees of foreign professors involved in cooperation.
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During the work of the international research groups of the region 28 patents have been received, 2 of which were international.10 more patent applications are being processed. In scientific journals indexed by Web of Science or Scopus international scientific citation systems about two hundred articles were published as well as over 250 articles, which appeared in Russian journals. In Perm region alone international scientists conducted over 1000 lectures, seminars, and master classes.
The 2012 IRGs, who plan to continue working on their projecs in 2015, also showed impressive results: 16 patents and 1 software certificate as well as 21 patent applications still being processed. There were also 114 publications in international journals and 154 publications in Russian journals. Over 700 lectures by international scientists were held.