The World-Class Research Center for Advanced Digital Technologies SPbPU

ST.PETERSBURG, Russia, Nov. 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In August 2020, a consortium of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU), St. Petersburg State Marine Technical University, Smorodintsev Research Institute of Influenza, and University of Tyumen obtained the status of the World-Class Research Center for Advanced Digital Technologies.

The World-Class Research Center for Advanced Digital Technologies was created as a result of the contest conducted by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation within the framework of the Russian national project "Science". According to the federal program "Development of scientific and R&D cooperation", at least 9 scientific centers of the world level should be created in Russia, carrying out research and development in the priority areas of the Strategy of scientific and technological development of the Russian Federation. The volume of financial support for all the centers for the period 2020–2024 is 15.46 billion rubles.

St. Petersburg Polytechnic University became the coordinator of the World-Class Research Center for Advanced Digital Technologies. The main goal of the Center's program is to ensure a scientific and technological breakthrough based on world-class fundamental and applied research, to create conditions for the transition to a fundamentally new level of application of science-intensive technologies and the effectiveness of the modern digital manufacturing.

According to Andrei I. Rudskoi, the rector of SPbPU, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in the nearest future, not the technologies but the ecosystem of its development will become the basis of the competition in the high-tech market: "The organizations participating in the consortium have accumulated thirty years of experience in the area of the research and implementation of digital solutions in high-tech sectors of the economy both in Russia and abroad. Such association as the World-Class Research Center is an opportunity to significantly increase the scale of such activities."

Key areas of the World-Class Research Center for Advanced Digital Technologies:

• Advanced digital technologies: digital design, mathematical, supercomputer modeling, product lifecycle management (Smart Design), smart manufacturing technologies
• Artificial Intelligence
• Robotic systems
• Materials and additive technologies of the new generation

Each scientific area includes not only research but also the training of young scientists and engineers. The development of human resources and cross-sectoral transfer of competencies are mentioned  among the goals of creating the World-Class Research Center for Advanced Digital Technologies, therefore the results of the Center's activities will be promptly reflected in the materials of the curriculum of SPbPU and the universities of the consortium. 880 researchers will be involved in the activities of the World-Class Research Center, 51% of them will be young researchers.

The Center's program provides  cooperation with leading world universities: University College London, Munich University of Applied Sciences, Technical University of Berlin, Polytechnic University of Milan, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and others. This cooperation also involves the transfer of competencies, the exchange of experience and joint project work, which means that future specialists will have a unique opportunity to become a students of the world's leading universities.

There is no doubt that the vast experience, competencies, and resources of the formed ecosystem of SPbPU  allow the solving of the assigned tasks. Currently, St. Petersburg Polytechnic University has dozens of unique projects from a wide range of industries: automotive, engine-building, nuclear and oil and gas power engineering, aircraft and aerospace industries, railway transport, and shipbuilding ... The scale and significance of this work may be estimated by mentioning only a few of the implemented and current projects of SPbPU:

• digital design and development of the carcass for the Aurus premium car family for leaders of the state;
• development of a small-sized city electric vehicle with the ADAS system of the 3-4 levels;
• digital modeling and optimization of the design of the Angel weather-vane on the spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral;
• a cycle of studies to assess the performance of the main circulation pump of the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant;
• participation in the ITER tokamak project (international experimental thermonuclear reactor);
• participation in the project "Northern Maritime Transit Corridor" to create an integrated transport and logistics system for international transit shipping on the route Asia - Europe via the Northern Sea Route;
• participation in the federal project to create a system of integrated water resources management of the largest in Russia and the third-largest in the world - the Ob-Irtysh River Basin, etc.

The project work of the World-Class Research Center for Advanced Digital Technologies has included the projects of global importance. The development of digital modeling and forecasting technologies in biomedical systems is already underway, which means establishment of the groundwork for modeling and forecasting the spread of COVID-19. Researchers of the Center are using bioinformatics approaches to create an innovative vaccine platform based on self-replicating RNA technology. A candidate vaccine against COVID-19 is currently being developed. The project is conducted within the framework of international partnership with the University of Maryland (USA) and Smorodintsev Research Institute of Influenza.

Another large-scale project involving the World-Class Research Center for Advanced Digital Technologies is the Northern Sea Transit Corridor. The project aims to create an integrated transport and logistics system for international transit shipping along the Asia - Europe Route through the Northern Sea Route.

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