The Memorandum of Cooperation between Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and the Sikorsky Challenge Innovation Holding with Sonata Holding LLC (USA) was signed on September 29 by the rector of the university, academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Mykhailo Zgurovsky, the president of the company Andrew Knight Bain and the director of the Innovation Holding Oleksiy Strutsynsky.
As Inna Maliukova, head of the Sikorsky Challenge Ukraine All-Ukrainian Innovation Ecosystem, noted during a preliminary discussion of this trilateral document, the signing was preceded by extensive preparatory work to determine the purpose, directions, and organizational forms of further cooperation. The Memorandum declares the intention of its participants to develop joint activities in the areas of organizing joint innovation activities for the development of Ukraine's defense and security, supporting training for the implementation of global security technologies, providing advanced training for engineers of relevant specialties, and implementing projects on various topics. In other words, the document deals with the organization of cooperation between the signatories in a number of areas, including in the form of events and programs with the participation of international partners.
One of the important aspects of cooperation should be the work to ensure humanitarian demining of our country's territories after the Victory. Yuriy Yekhanurov, Director of the Institute of Advanced Defense Technologies, spoke in detail about this work to the university media. "Such contacts and agreements with various foreign organizations are extremely important for us. Especially after the World Bank and the United Nations determined that Ukraine needs $37 billion to clear 174,000 square kilometers of mined land. Of course, Ukraine will not be able to find such sums on its own. We need serious help. In addition, demining technologies should be changed, because with the current ones, it will take hundreds of years to clear the land, not even tens of years," he said. "We are currently working with the scientific community, scientists and business representatives on new standards and changes to the current legislation on humanitarian demining. And it is possible that next year we will enroll a course in Environmental Protection with a specialization in Mine Action. It is worth adding that 27 countries have appealed to the UN to organize humanitarian demining. This means that those who will study in this specialty will be working not only in Ukraine but also abroad. But the most important thing now is to organize this work, and to do it together with foreigners. So that they can help us with their experience." So, according to him, we have to accumulate this experience accumulated by specialists from Japan, the United States, the Middle East, Africa, and the former Yugoslavia at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and use the services of their instructors. And, of course, we can hope for real financial intervention from our partners and assistance in organizing this work in Ukraine. That is why it is important that these contacts are now being strengthened and expanded.