The year 2020 will historically be the year of the active phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute scientists were not only able to quickly adapt to new conditions and severe constraints, but also to significantly increase their scientific activity. In addition, scientists from the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute World Data Centre for Geoinformatics and Sustainable Development have become a national leader in rapid and thorough analysis and forecasting.
The active implementation of the Space Program has yielded results - Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute has been recognized as an equal partner in the implementation of the National Space Program of Ukraine. 30 projects have been submitted to the State Space Agency of Ukraine for consideration, and currently there is a hard active work to implement the PolyITAN-3-PUT and PolyITAN-12U projects. The Ukrainian-Chinese space research laboratory has been established.
2020 was also the year of formation of the All-Ukrainian innovation ecosystem "Sikorsky Challenge" on the basis of the Innovative ecosystem of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute "Sikorsky Challenge", which was joined by 14 universities and 5 innovation clusters.
The scientific achievements of our scientists have been awarded numerous prizes
The Prize of the President of Ukraine was awarded to Inna Bilous from IEE, Olexandr Galkin and Tetiana Lutsenko from FBMI.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Prize for Young Scientists was awarded to IHF scientists Oleksiy Zhuchenko, Vitaliy Tsapar and Artem Sazonov.
Dmytro Ushchapovsky from HTF became the winner of the Kyiv Mayor's Award in the "Scientific Achievements" nomination.
The Resolution of the Presidium of the Committee on State Prizes of Ukraine in the Field of Science and Technology set and extended the terms of payment of the scholarship of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for 11 young scientists of Kyiv Polytechnic.
Improving the management of research and innovation activity
In April 2020, by order of the Rector, a Coordinating Council was established to identify the main tasks of improving the management of research and innovation activities at our university. One of its first tasks was the inventory count of scientific schools. It found the presence of 272 scientific groups. The created database of these scientific groups becomes an effective tool for assessing and realizing the potential of scientific groups in conducting scientific, innovative and educational activities in the national and international field. Research groups are realizing their potential as guarantors of educational programs. Their participants are members of the EMC, they include leading teachers, leaders of student groups who work as leaders and executors of scientific and innovative national and international projects.
Implementation of important research projects is possible by combining the efforts of different scientific schools and groups. This requires strengthening the work of the councils of the university's comprehensive programs.
Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute science funding
Funding for science in Ukraine has several national and international sources, which allows you to implement various forms of scientific activity - grant, project, economic contract, scientific services.
Funding for science in Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute is carried out from the general and special funds. Both sources have shown a steady upward trend over the last 5 years. The requirement for a research university is the predominance of a special fund over a general one. Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute consistently fulfils this norm, moreover, in 5 years the total volume has increased by 1.4 times.
Attention to the special fund is determined by the introduction in 2020 of formula funding, according to which revenues from research to the special fund have a significant impact on the financing of educational activities. Last year, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute received a coefficient of 1.4 with a maximum possible 1.5. So, according to the results of last year, we have already financed more than 20 thousand UAH per 1 full-time research and teaching staff worker(RTSW). Our task is to maintain the tendency to increase the amount of income to the special fund and according to the results of 2021 to reach the maximum coefficient of 1.5.
In 2020, the science budget increased by 20% compared to 2019 and reached the level of over UAH 84 million. The analysis of the budget components shows that the dominant sources of revenue are applied research of the Ministry of Education and Science, economic contract works, grants of NRFU, scientific services and government procurement.
Analysis of the distribution of total revenues to the general and special funds by structural units of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute shows that the leaders in total funding for science are IMZ, TEF and ITS.
Funding for science from the special fund shows a gradual increase after the decline in 2017. But the distribution of revenues to the special fund between faculties and institutes is uneven. The leaders here are FTI, IMZ, TEF, RTF, ITS, IASA. The ratio of the special fund to the general one for most structural subdivisions meets the requirements for research HEI.
If we recall the norm of 20 thousand UAH per year per 1 full-time RTSW, it should be noted that more than half of the structural units do not fulfil it. A positive example is shown by ITS, FTI, RTF, IMZ, IASA, in which funding exceeds 60 thousand UAH per 1 full-time RTSW.
The dynamics of the number of regular RTSW and RSW demonstrates an improvement in quality. But a significant negative result last year was the scientific certification of the HEI, blocked by the Ministry of Education and Science at the end of 2019, which led to the impossibility of paying RSW allowances for scientific experience.
In 2020, the positive dynamics of the development of the material base at the expense of the state order, economic contract issues and grants of the NRFU was fixed.
The results of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute scientific activity in the context of its main components
The dynamics of funding for science in the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute from the state budget shows the growth and increase in the share of applied research. In 2020, 68 works were performed, of which 30 were completed.
In 2020, the Presidium of the Council of Vice-Rectors for Research made changes to the procedure for competitive selection of projects of the Ministry of Education and Science, adjusted the requirements for expert opinions. This has increased the chances of winning projects whose end result is real development, especially defence and dual-use. According to the decision of the Scientific Council of the Ministry of Education and Science, it is recommended to finance 80% of the price of those projects that scored more than 90 points for basic research, 83 points - for applied and 75 points - for development.
The SEP has improved the organizational support of competitions. The first (internal) stage of the competition was completely switched to online mode. Self-analyzes, examination of projects, discussion and approval at meetings of the Scientific and Technical Council were conducted. Last year, competition for the right to submit a project for competition within the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute increased significantly. Under the conditions set by the order of the Ministry of Education and Science, 17 projects were submitted by the university, which according to the results of internal examination received 84 points or more.
An important achievement of last year was the participation of our university in the first competitions of the National Research Fund of Ukraine. Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute became the third in the overall ranking and the second among the HEI of Ukraine in terms of allocated funding. Already in 2020, the total amount of funding amounted to 11.8 million, of which 4.3 million - for equipment. In December 2020, all projects successfully reported for the first stage.
On the way to increase the volume of funding on the Ukrainian market, a significant reserve is the implementation of scientific services through tender bidding on the official platform of the electronic public procurement system "Prozorro". In 2020, the university as a contractor participated in 17 tenders and won 12 of them for a total of over 5 million UAH. The absolute leader in this was the Institute of Physics and Technology: he acquired the right to fulfil three orders in the amount of UAH 2.5 million. Good bidding results should be obligatory for all departments and research groups.
Significant are the results of the provision of scientific services under agreements (economic contract issues) by the Research Centre for Technical Information Systems "Thesis", headed by Mikhailo Prokofiev. In 2020, the volume of work performed amounted to 3 million 365 thousand UAH, 47 works were implemented. Last year, 3 developments performed in accordance with the state order were completed here.
The analysis of initiative topics shows that we have too many of them with insignificant results. Thus, only in one of the thirty works the doctoral dissertation was defended, in one of the nine - the candidate's dissertation.
Participation of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute scientists in international programs and projects
It should be emphasized once again: the opportunities of the European scientific space in terms of funding are several orders of magnitude higher than the Ukrainian ones. This is our significant reserve. Therefore, everyone needs to work together to fulfill the task of the "KPI Development Strategy" in terms of strengthening international project-grant activities, namely to increase 3-5 times the number of project proposals. Well, now the leaders in international scientific and technical projects are XTF, IMZ, IEE and TEF.
Scientists of IMZ, FEL, IEE actively worked under the program "Horizon 2020". It should be noted that IEE scientists won a fight for their project in a highly competitive competition "Feature Emergence Technologies".
The implementation of two PBF and FPM projects under the NATO Science for Peace and Security program continued. IMZ scientists have won another project under this program.
Three projects continued to be implemented and one new project, funded by the German Research Society, was won.
Six international bilateral projects with Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, China and India are carried out by scientists from XTF, IMZ, FEA.
In 2014, TEF scientists led by Volodymyr Kravets developed a thermal stabilization system for the MASCOT landing module of the Hayabusa-2 interplanetary station. In July 2018, the probe took soil samples from the asteroid Ryuga, and in December 2020 they were delivered to Earth.
The achievements of the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute generally consist of the personal achievements of our scientists
In 2020, our staff defended 19 doctoral and 54 PhD and candidate theses. Among the leaders in the total number of defences - FEL, PBF, FL.
KPI scientists have published 184 scientific monographs, the leaders are PBF, IEE, FMM.
According to publications indexed by the Scopus database, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute ranks first among Ukrainian technical universities, but is inferior to three classical universities.
The number of publications of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute scientists in the Scopus and Web of Science databases is growing, but the numbers of the divisions are extremely uneven.
The number of scientific publications in OECD languages is increasing. In 2020, the amount of cited publications in Scopus / Web of Science and the OECD exceeded the corresponding number of professional publications for the first time.
Dynamics of growth in the number of publications, the number of citations and the h-index of our scientists have a steady upward trend. The most important thing for us at this stage is a significant increase in citations, but not due to self-citation and artificial self-promotion, but by publishing in publications included in the 1st and 2nd quartiles.
The largest number of publications by Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute scientists in Scopus is in engineering, computer science and materials science.
In 2020, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute awarded its scientists who were published in journals indexed in Scopus and Web of Science with an impact factor of at least 0.5. A total of 345 scientific and pedagogical workers and 17 scientists were awarded, and the total fund of prizes is 700 thousand UAH.
Innovative activity
The innovative activity of our university is significantly rethought. The Department of Innovation and Technology Transfer, as part of the Sikorsky Challenge Innovation Ecosystem, provides a link between scientists and the market. An important element of the ecosystem is the Science Park "Kyiv Polytechnic", the capabilities of which are not fully used. The "Virtual Technology Transfer Office" is designed to strengthen the connection with the business.
The system of commercialization of intellectual property rights (IPR) has been launched, with seven steps towards making a profit from the use of immaterial assets. Scientific groups are audited. A rating system for submitted applications for IPR has been introduced, which takes into account the commercial attractiveness, as well as the priority of the invention in relation to the utility model. As a result, the patenting of utility models has decreased, and the patenting of inventions has increased. We have positive trends in increasing the number of IPRs that have a higher potential for commercialization.
In cooperation with the Institute for Advanced Training, a new advanced training course was prepared, and the TISC (Technology Innovation Support Center) was opened - an international project to support invention, innovation and startup projects, launched by the World Intellectual Property Organization.
In 2020, the IX Festival of Innovative Projects "Sikorsky Challenge" was held. Compared to last year, the number of KPI projects submitted to the competition has increased.
The Forum "Development of Innovative Economy in Regional, National and International Aspects" was held online and included several panel discussions. Our scientific developments were presented for the first time at the online exhibition "Ukraine in Washington".
In November 2020, together with the DSA, the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute exposition was presented at the International Industrial Forum, decorated in the style of a new brand book. Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute became the only one among the HEI of Ukraine that took part in the forum.
TechnoHAB KPI should become an important element of our innovation infrastructure. Last year, an order was signed defining the structure and principle of activity of interested participants.
Scientific and innovative activity of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute is not possible without youth
For them, the first steps in science are often participation in the All-Ukrainian competition of scientific works. FEA and FMM were among the leaders in the number of winners last year . Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, as the organizer, held in 2020 the 2nd round of the competition in three specialties.
Among the works of young scientists completed in 2020, the completed state budget research work performed at the HTF under the leadership of Tatiana Zhuk should be noted. Last year, young scientists won two new projects in this competition, completed four works, and continue to implement three.
In 2020, the Council of Young Scientists developed a video course on the procedure for publishing research results in journals indexed in scientometric databases. The video course is posted on the website of the Council of Young Scientists.
Informatization of document circulation, activity of the Scientific and Technical Library and the State Polytechnic Museum
Support of scientific and innovative activity of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute is provided by informatization of document circulation, library and museum affairs.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding restrictive measures forced us to temporarily go online. Google forms have been developed for collecting and analyzing data of departments, telegram channels have been developed for informing departments, the website and social networks have been updated, Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams are used for meetings.
To simplify the procedure for concluding agreements with enterprises, a model agreement has been developed and the route of its approval in the Megapolis has been worked out. An information system has been created on the basis of Google spreadsheets for accounting and analysis of economic contract issues.
The activities of the Scientific and Technical Library are aimed at integrating into the world scientific and educational space, creating and developing an environment conducive to research for university researchers, teaching and learning through quality information support, service and comfortable physical and virtual space.
An important task of the library is the development of its own information resources, in particular ELA.KPI, and ensuring access of scientists to leading electronic databases.
The transfer of scientific conferences to the open OCS platform is almost complete. Among the strategic tasks is a massive transition to the Scopus platform, where so far only three of our conferences are present.
For several years in a row, we are in a state where only one of the scientific publications of the university is included in the Scopus database, three - in the Web of Science database. We have one and a half to two years to get into the leading scientometric databases. Those publications that fail to accomplish this task are likely to turn into local publications with sad prospects.
In 2020, the State Polytechnic Museum carried out work in research, exhibition, scientific fund, scientific and educational areas. An interesting new project is Kyiv on maps with a change in time.
We thank all scientists for their effective work last year and wish them new scientific achievements in 2021.