Prime Minister Vladimir Putin holds a meeting of the Commission on High Technologies and Innovations.
Concerned about the brain drain issue, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has proposed to fight it by using innovative measures. "The only efficient approach is to enable both Russian and foreign scientists to fulfil their potential in our country," Putin said at a meeting of the Government Commission on High Technologies and Innovations, held in Dubna. He believes that "young and talented" researchers should have an opportunity to make a name for themselves in Russia. To do this, they should have access to the most modern laboratories and unique equipment.
In his opinion, Russia has all the necessary conditions to start building world-class research facilities, ones that are "similar to the famous Large Hadron Collider," in order to obtain results worthy of the Nobel Prize. Putin urged scientists to achieve a breakthrough: we have already had nuclear and space breakthroughs, now we need something new. The prime minister did not specify what exactly the authorities want researchers to do, though.
However, scientists are ready to create sources of national pride. Thus, a working group at the Ministry of Education and Science has picked the six most promising mega-science projects. They include the Ignitor thermonuclear tokamak (a joint project beteen Italy and Russia on equal terms, with the possibility for other countries to join), the International Centre for Research of Extremal Light Fields and the PIK research reactor under construction in Gatchina, near St Petersburg. According to the estimates of Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko, the implementation of each project will require 5 to 40 billion roubles over the course of 3 to 5 years.
After rejoicing in the fact that national science is still alive, Putin froze the scientists' enthusiasm by telling them that megaprojects are quite costly, which means they should undergo "thorough international expert analysis and be broadly discussed in the research community."
The prime minister also advised that science should not be guided by Western achivements.
"Russia should stop playing catch-up with developed countries," he instructed. "For decades, when we wanted to emphasise a country's success, we regarded international products as the benchmark for our own. The trick is to become leaders ourselves in order to feel secure and have a better life."
Pierre Sidibe
