St. Petersburg, 28 Jul. Russia and Africa need to move towards creating a common infrastructure for advanced scientific research based on large installations, said Mikhail Kovalchuk, president of the Kurchatov Institute National Research Center.
In Russia, a network of mega-science-class scientific installations is being created, thanks to which the country will become a world leader in the field of research infrastructure in a few years, Kovalchuk recalled, speaking at the session «Fundamental Science as the Basis of Technological Sovereignty» within the framework of the forum «Russia — Africa».
«This is the sublimation of interdisciplinary research. People of different professions come together at these installations, study together, work together and create new products, new materials, new medicines, new methods of nuclear medicine, new energy technologies, and so on,» Kovalchuk said.
On the basis of these installations, international research centers are being created — for example, the neutron research center based on the PIK high-flux nuclear reactor in Gatchina, Leningrad Region, Kovalchuk recalled. Countries — the former republics of the USSR — are actively involved in the creation of these centers, he added.
Kovalchuk told what, in his opinion, could be «the best option for the development» of Russia's scientific partnership with Africa. According to him, it would be possible to create laboratories with the interested countries of the African continent — in some in Russia, specialists from Africa would be trained in the latest research methods, and in others, in their countries, they would then conduct scientific work.
«It seems to me that this is one of the very important scientific and educational trends that we could form with our African colleagues,» Kovalchuk said.
«Moreover, it seems to me that if this causes your support, we can continue to talk about creating a unified research infrastructure Russia-Africa,» he added. According to Kovalchuk, it will be about creating a single scientific and technological space based on large research facilities.
The second summit and economic and humanitarian forum «Russia — Africa» is held on July 27-28 in St. Petersburg. acts as an information partner of the event. » data-title=»The head of the British Foreign Office spoke about the need to work more actively with Africa»>