ETU “LETI”: LETI Wins a Special Grant in Priority 2030
On October 5, 2021, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation published the list of the winning universities of the second stage of the Priority 2030 program. The Council of the program named 46 Russian universities that will receive grants in the tracks “Research Leadership” and “Territorial and (or) Sectoral Leadership.”
ETU “LETI” is among the winners (group 2) in the “Territorial and (or) Sectoral Leadership” track and will receive 426 million rubles in addition to the basic part of the grant by the end of 2022.
“I believe that we won the competition due to our efforts aimed at the development of the university. We defined strategic projects that correspond to our main directions. Participation in the program will give us an opportunity to obtain significant results faster.”
Viktor Sheludko, Rector of LETI
54 universities presented their development programs applying for the special grant on October 1-3. On October 3, the LETI team headed by the rector Viktor Sheludko successfully unveiled development plans for the next ten years to the Council. Vladimir Knyaginin, Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg, and Igor Narkevich, Rector of Saint Petersburg State Chemical-Pharmaceutical University, came to support the university team.
“Today, LETI sees itself as responsible for shaping responses to key challenges in the Russian scientific and technological development: the growing dynamics (the rapid emergence of new knowledge and technologies), bridging the gap between science and business, and training specialists capable of achieving a technological breakthrough.”
Viktor Sheludko, Rector of LETI
Strategic projects are at the core of LETI’s development program. They are interrelated and designed to provide breakthrough results thanks to the synergistic effect. By implementing projects and consolidating resources of research and academic organizations and industrial enterprises, LETI will, among other things, strengthen the position of St. Petersburg as a major international scientific and educational hub and influence the development of other regions.
The flagship project number 1, “Nanoelectronics, Photonics, and Microwave Photonics,” solves the task of developing and bringing to the market a new type of components for photonic integrated circuits based on nanoelectronic structures. This will give a multifold increase in speed and noise immunity and will overcome the limitations of the silicon component base. The project includes the development of powerful new-generation laser crystals and ultrahigh-resolution photosensitive elements for space laser communication.
The development will be carried out in the competence center established together with the partners. Today, LETI has already created a magnonics and microwave photonics laboratory headed by the leading Australian scientist Mikhail Kostylev, Professor of the Department of Physics and Astrophysics at the University of Western Australia. To fulfill the tasks of the project, in 2021, a consortium of organizations with competencies in the field of nanoelectronics, photonics, and microwave photonics was established under the leadership of LETI.
Strategic project number 2 is aimed at developing solutions for the utilization of the terahertz frequency range. The project’s frontier is the transition from controlling the parameters of protocols and devices to controlling the electromagnetic field. The project’s developments are in demand in security, monitoring, machine-to-machine, and the Internet of Everything. A resource center with an anechoic chamber has been created at the university to organize joint activities of the consortium participants.
Among partners are leading universities in 5G and 6G technology, including Aalto University (Finland). Key partners involved in the consortium include Rostelecom, Skoltech, and Rostec. Together with industrial partners, LETI will develop and bring to market the components of the smart wireless environment.
Strategic project number 3, “Strong Hybrid Intelligence Technologies for Applied Medicine,” is aimed at creating a tech stack and platform for the digital transformation of pharmaceutics and the use of the results in applied medicine. The university’s bet is the concept of strong hybrid intelligence, that is, a symbiosis of artificial and natural intelligence. The product is an open technological platform for building digital and intelligent solutions, allowing seamless inclusion of humans in tasks to accumulate, interpret and use knowledge.
“Our partners in the project are the St. Petersburg State Chemical-Pharmaceutical University, the only university of such profile in the country, and Biocad, the leading Russian biotech company,” says Viktor Sheludko.
“During the presentation of LETI’s development program, Vladimir Knyaginin, Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg, noted that the university is developing dynamically and will reach the planned indicators in the next two years with the support of the strategic leadership program. This will put it among the leading universities not only in St. Petersburg but also in Russia.”
Viktor Sheludko, Rector of LETI
“The competitive selection was organized at a high level, completely in a digital format, the maximum transparency of the system of university evaluation and decision-making was ensured. We expect that the winning universities will become the focal points of scientific and technological development on the map of Russia,” emphasized Dmitry Chernyshenko, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
Together with St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI,” 28 universities will receive a special grant of the Priority-2030 program in the track “Territorial and (or) branch leadership,” including one university of the Northern Capital – St. Petersburg State Marine Technical University. In total, five leading universities of St. Petersburg won the special grants.