Has Skoltech cost Russia too much?
"Skoltech is more transparent than the State Duma, the Ministry of Defense or Moscow State University"
Pavel Kotlyar, Nikolay Podorvanyuk, Newspaper.RuThe question is how much money went to the United States to create the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, and what results it will give for the country, the science department of the Newspaper.
Ru" tried to figure it out together with scientists, foundation staff and independent experts.
The Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, established a year and a half ago, sums up the results of the first academic year and has already recruited second-year students. At the same time, there was a discussion in the media and the scientific community about the expediency of this undertaking, the effectiveness of the funds spent and the transparency of funding. In particular, the publication of the report of the Accounting Chamber added fuel to the fire, which cites an amount of $ 302 million, according to which half of this amount was allocated to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for personal use, and the other half goes to the creation of the institute itself with its participation.
"Newspaper.Ru" tried to figure out what the participation of Americans in the training of domestic specialists is, whether the Skolkovo Foundation (that is, Russia, since the fund is funded from the state budget) has overpaid, and how widespread is the practice of attracting foreign universities in building national educational projects.
At the request of "Gazeta.En" in Skolkovo, they replied that they could not name the exact amount of the agreement between the Foundation and MIT, because there was a secret agreement. Sources in Skolkovo made it clear that the amount that was held in the media ($ 302 million) can be taken as a guideline. Skoltech also says that if in the future the need to disclose the financial side of the contract is approved by all three parties (the foundation, MIT and the institute), this will be done.
"At the moment, we do not comment on financial issues, because they relate to the confidential part of the contract. This is a cooperation agreement that outlines joint efforts to build Skoltech. Since the agreement is trilateral, it is necessary to obtain the consent of all three parties – MIT, the Skolkovo Foundation and Skoltech. But for all participants, all issues related to finance are transparent and understandable, – the press service of Skoltech quotes at the request of "Gazeta.En" words of Alexey Sitnikov, Vice President for Management and Development of Skoltech. – The implementation of the contract takes place in accordance with the best international management practices. There is a committee that constantly issues reports, they are discussed and supplemented by all parties. MIT provides semi-annual and annual reports on time. There is a consistent form of reporting, both substantive and financial.
The brand of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the best guarantor of the transparency of the agreement. Reputation for MIT is not in the last place. It was not Skolkovo that chose MIT for cooperation at the time, but the Americans themselves settled on the Russian project, having several profitable offers on their hands, for example from Kazakhstan and China," said the vice president of Skoltech.
Graduates of technical universities come to Skoltech, who can have everything perfectly with fundamental training, industry, technical and professional horizons. But in terms of using this knowledge in an applied format, commercializing it and using modern technologies to attract funds for research (receiving grants, presentation experience, selling to corporations, forming your own startup) – a complete disaster, the institute is confident. There is no training in these skills in Russia, and MIT cooperation is aimed at correcting the situation.
Among the critics of the Skolkovo Foundation and the Institute there are those who fear the lack of transparency of spending and those who believe that building an innovative economy should not begin with this. And it's not even the foundation and the institute themselves that are to blame for this.
"I am critical of Skolkovo. It is fundamentally critical, because if we want to build an innovative economy, we had to start with something else. It is necessary to create a demand for innovation. And there is no demand, because the level of competition is not sufficient. And if there is no competition, then innovations are not an argument in competition," says Igor Nikolaev, Director of the Strategic Analysis Department of the FBK audit group.
According to him, in the current situation, even if the created institute achieves any success and "depicts something", then in conditions of immunity and lack of demand in the Russian economy, it will not be used, and at best, it will find application in the economies of other countries. "Skoltech in this case risks being a stillborn link, it will exist for some time, but if this process turns out to be incomplete, it will remain out of business.
In such cases, Israel is often cited as an example. There public money is spent on innovative money… But they forget about one thing – that the economy should be different, it is important to remember about the institutional market environment in which such a mechanism may or may not work," the analyst believes.
Boris Saltykov, Head of the Department of Science and Innovation Management at the Higher School of Economics, President of the non-profit association "Russian House of International Scientific and Technical Cooperation", Director of the Polytechnic Museum, is more optimistic about the prospects of Innograd and Skoltech. "Skolkovo is a replica of Silicon Valley, allegedly. This is an attempt to create everything on a very limited territory – a university (which is right), a kind of Caltech and a business. After all, in a market economy, it is necessary not to derive knowledge, but to create startups and business structures right here," he believes. Therefore, Saltykov is sure, an extraterritorial regime has been created in Skolkovo, familiar to Western, American thought – both in terms of customs issues, and in terms of laws, tax exemption – so that a person leaving the apartment feels "like in the West." At the same time, Saltykov emphasizes, all work on such international projects should be as open and financially transparent as possible.
"At least in general terms, it is necessary to outline what this money is used for. If 150 million goes to consulting, it raises a question. Everything should be absolutely transparent, only some super-secret defense spending can not be disclosed, and then what are the interests of the state? In order for Skoltech to work faster, so that the MIT experience could be instilled faster on Russian soil.
And if the money went to MIT directly, for example, for consulting, how to make startups, that's fine – why do we have to do everything ourselves with a mustache?", Saltykov asks, additionally noting that MIT has a huge experience in converting scientific results into a market product.
At the same time, the expert agrees that the economy itself should be prepared to perceive the success of such projects. "If everyone sees monopolism, squeezed competition, corruption and so on, then it is difficult to bring a real investor here on one faith, especially a foreign one," the expert added.
It is not the first time for MIT to create joint innovative projects with different countries. The implementation of a large-scale joint project between MIT and Skoltech became possible, in particular, thanks to MIT's extensive experience in the field of international cooperation. So, back in the sixties of the last century, MIT participated in the founding of several universities, including the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, as well as the Birla Institute of Science and Technology. Later, MIT helped to create and improve institutes in Singapore, Portugal and Abu Dhabi. In all cases, the Governments of the cooperating countries decided to extend the project agreements, which confirms the importance of the international role of MIT. For example, the cooperation between Singapore and MIT, which began in 1998, led to the creation of an innovative technical and biological educational association of three leading research institutes: National Singapore University, Nanyang Technical University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MIT annually receives $28.9 million from Singapore for 5 training programs (100-120 students per year).
What is the current participation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the creation and management of Skoltech, "Gazeta.Ru" was told by the famous biologist Konstantin Severinov, head of the laboratories of the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Gene Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor at Rutgers University (USA). Severinov worked as a consultant at the Skolkovo Foundation at the stage of negotiations with MIT on the structure of the future university, the development of the concept of research centers, which are currently called "Centers of Research, Education and Entrepreneurship".
"Now for more than a year I have been working in a ridiculous position, which according to the employment agreement is called "founding professor". There are twenty of us like that," the scientist said. – I was directly involved in the preparation of the Institute's foresight on biomedical topics, in the selection of students, and now I am involved in the development of educational programs. According to the contract signed in 2011, MIT should assist Skoltech in attracting and selecting professors, in planning educational programs and transferring educational courses to Moscow, in organizing innovative programs, in particular, entrepreneurship centers, in attracting students, in developing internal procedures of the institute and campus planning.
In February 2012, the first 20 master students with a specialization in information technology and energy were recruited. During the year, 9 of them studied at MIT, and the rest at other leading universities that entered into partnership with Skoltech. They are due to return to Russia in May. "These guys are very lucky. For example, those who study at MIT are insanely happy, they have received a unique opportunity to plunge into an environment similar to which does not exist in Russia," Severinov believes.
The first thing that the students admitted to Skoltech will have to do is an August trip to MIT to participate in the so-called innovation workshop. The training includes programs in mathematics, electronics, innovation and entrepreneurship. The guys are gathered in groups together with MIT students, and they have to solve various practical problems, for example, to create prototypes of new devices. 47 more Skoltech students have recently been recruited (as part of the second set), who will begin their studies in the fall of 2013. There are quite a lot of foreigners among these students. Moreover, biomedicine was added to the master's programs.
"In fact, a lot has been done, especially considering that everything is being done from scratch. Unfortunately, many things are very difficult to do. Everything is very clumsy with us. These are the mechanisms for allocating funds, and the issues of Skoltech accreditation, which is necessary to obtain a deferral for the guys from the army, and much more. Unfortunately, the fact of being in Skoltech by itself does not solve various Russian bureaucratic problems, and sometimes, on the contrary, creates new ones," the biologist said.
According to the scientist, it is too early to talk about the effectiveness of Skoltech in achieving its stated goals. "You know, in English there is such a phrase – I know it when I see it. If Skoltech works, it will be visible to the naked eye, without any KPIs (key performance indicators). For example, the same MIT is famous not only for its professors and graduates, but also for those who did not graduate from it. A lot depends on the quality of the professors that we will be able to hire in the market. We have good students right now. Apparently, the formal criterion for success will be the demand for graduates by Russian business," Severinov believes. Agreeing that this demand depends on the degree of competitiveness of Russian business, the scientist emphasizes that at present both public and private companies are experiencing a "personnel shortage".
The creators of Skoltech planned to create 15 research centers. Currently, three centers have already been approved. The documents on the launch of one of them – stem cells – were signed two weeks ago in the presence of the president, the other two centers – biomedical and chemical – should be launched in the near future. According to the idea, in these centers, students will be able to receive high-quality interdisciplinary education, interact with business and at the same time receive a decent scholarship. "The problem is that when they leave us, someone will have to pick them up. Some of them may go to universities, some may stay with us, because by 2020 we need to hire 200-300 professors, and someone will probably be picked up by business, and not necessarily Russian," the scientist believes.
As for the accusations of the lack of transparency of Skoltech's financing, the scientist is confident that the institute's budget is more transparent than the budgets of many Russian structures, such as the State Duma, the Ministry of Defense or Moscow State University. "I'm not sure that this is the amount that MIT had to pay, and for sure it was possible to pay less, but the best thing that Skoltech has now and the only guarantee that something will work out is the presence of MIT," the scientist believes.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru23.04.2013