On December 12, the Supervisory Board of the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” met.
Participating in it were the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the University, President of Ukraine (1994-2005) Leonid Kuchma, rector of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, academician of NAS of Ukraine Michael Zgurovskyi, members of the Supervisory Board – the president of the Small Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Stanislav Dovgyi, Chairman of the Board of OJSC “Meridian” Vyacheslav Protsenko, director of the Institute for Strategic Studies Pavel Gaiduckyi, Director of Polyteko Science City Bogdan Andriytsev, as well as vice-rectors and representatives of the university administration and acting Head of the Trade Union of the University's staff Myhailo Bezuglyi and others.
The meeting began with the awarding of the youngest winners of the Sikorsky Challenge 2018 Startup Project. Throughout the years of the “Sikorsky Challenge” Festival, within which a competition for start-up projects is held, Leonid Kuchma's Presidential Fund “Ukraine” is one of its sponsors and partners. The Foundation celebrates the best practices of young researchers participating in this competition. Moreover, each year the number of projects supported by it grows: in 2012 there were four such, in 2015 six, this year – ten. According to the tradition, the prize and diplomas of the Foundation were presented to the laureates by Leonid Kuchma himself. This year among the winners there are projects on a wide range of topics, from those devoted to solving environmental problems and raising the level of security in transport to those with a clear defensive orientation.
The winners of the Ukraine 2018 Foundation are:
- Maria Truhan (Polytechnic Lyceum of the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”) with the project "Heat-resistant paint";
- Elizaveta Stolyarchuk (Polytechnic Lyceum of the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”) with the project "Plastic waste recycling with the help of solar energy";
- Sergey Lisin (Polytechnic Lyceum of the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”) with the project "Autonomous work assistant”;
- Elizaveta Lazarova (Polytechnic Lyceum of of the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”) with the project “Improvement of the design of a solar battery to increase its efficiency”;
- Danylo Kovalenko (Polytechnic Lyceum of the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”) with the project “Tire utilization by cryoacoustic method”;
- Maxim Ivanov (Zaporizhzhya Technical Lyceum) with the project “Z-Scooter” (design of light personal electric transport)”;
- Anastasia Kononenko (Zaporizhia Technical Lyceum) with the project “Car: Safety for a Child”;
- Viktor Skornyakov (Lyceum №171 “Leader”, Kyiv) with the project “Emergency sealing system”;
- Myhailo Ivashchenko (Polytechnic Lyceum of the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”) with the project “Shot Analazyer”;
- Artem Kavara (National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”) with the project “Processing of grinding slimes”.
After the awarding ceremony, Michael Zgurovskyi addressed the members of the Supervisory Board and participants of the meeting with a report entitled “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute as a model for the future high-tech economy of Ukraine”. The main emphasis was made on the research and innovation activities of the university. At the beginning of the speech the rector noticed that this is only one of the components of the university's activities, and a general report on the University's work in 2018 will be made after the year-end summing up. So, Michael Zgurovskyi told about the structure of the Innovative Environment “Sikorsky Challenge”, the work of the Startup School of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and the creation of an entire network of Startup Schools in regional universities on the activities, partners and directions of the Science Park “Kyivska Politekhnica” , as well as the successful innovative projects implemented in this environment in recent years. He also informed the participants of the meeting about some of the conclusions of Forsight Ukraine made in 2018 and about the key areas that could become drivers of the country's economic development. Among them, in particular, Michael Zgurovskyi noted the agrarian sector, the military-industrial complex, information and telecommunication technologies, the production of new materials and nanotechnology, new energy, high-tech engineering, and some others, and said that now university researchers work in most of these areas. “Our goal is to create for Ukraine a model of high-tech economy,” he said, concluding his statement. - And, of course, as engineers, we have to increase the country's defense capability. So today, more than 25% of all our startups have a double or defensive purpose”.
The report discussed ways to revive the Ukrainian economy and the need to create a strategy for its development based on the wider introduction of innovations using domestic science and business opportunities, as well as attracting foreign investment and powerful foreign partners. In addition, the high evaluation of the meeting participants received the unique experience of introducing a cross-cutting education system – from kindergarten to high school – developed by the Minor Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in partnership with leading Ukrainian universities, including Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. By the way, it turned out that the overwhelming majority of winners of the Presidential Fund Leonid Kuchma “Ukraine”, which were marked this year, are also pupils of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
Summing up the meeting, Leonid Kuchma offered to familiarize the representatives of the Ukrainian government with the Innovative Activity Model, developed by Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, to invite them to the next Supervisory Board meeting, where a full report on the University's work will be announced.
In the photo: Leonid Kuchma, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, President of Ukraine (1994-2005), and Michael Zgurovskyi, Rector of the University, with the winners of the “Ukraine” Foundation