The Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology has signed a cooperation agreement with Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS). The signing ceremony took place March 19 at the TransRussia 28th International Exhibition of Transport and Logistics Services, Warehouse Equipment and Technologies. On the part of the register, the document was signed by Director General Sergey Kulikov, on the part of Skoltech, by President Alexander Kuleshov.

The subject of the agreement was the cooperation expansion regarding the field of research and education. The document provides for the possibility of joint research in the high-tech segments of the container industry, introducing innovative materials, including polymer composites, into container and shipbuilding production, as well as professional training and retraining of specialists for the industry.

RS works with all types of containers at all stages of their life cycle — from design to decommissioning; provides services for code registration for container owners, preparation of expert opinions on the transportation of dangerous goods in tank containers, participates in the work of the National (TC 246) and International (TC 104) technical committees on containers.

The organizations worked together to develop requirements for an innovative tank container with a vessel made of polymer composite materials. Within the framework of the project, Skoltech and Russian Maritime Register of Shipping specialists conducted research, worked on updating the requirements of the Register’s Rules, and actively promoted the position of the Russian Federation in the working bodies of the UN Subcommittee on the Transport of Dangerous Goods on amendments to the international regulatory and technical documents.

“Skoltech and RS have years of fruitful cooperation and successful projects behind them. Together with RS, we are advancing scientific and technological initiatives of the Russian Federation, including on international platforms — in the technical committees of the United Nations and the International Maritime Organization. In addition, RS entrusts us with the professional training of its specialists. The moment has come to expand the scope of our cooperation with the goal, among other things, to accelerate the practices of successful technology transfer and commercialization of developments: The Institute is ready to act as a platform for an engineering center under the auspices of RS,” said Alexander Kuleshov, the president of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology.

“RS has been working in the container industry since 1973. We understand the Russian and international markets well, we are guided by modern trends, and we help promote modern technical initiatives. Our cooperation with the university has brought excellent results: Tank containers with a vessel made of PCM [polymer composite materials] — a Russian development — are now approved for international sea transportation. I am convinced that continuing to combine our organizations’ intellectual potential will allow us to implement a lot of interesting and equally significant projects that will contribute to the development of the transport industry and strengthen the technological sovereignty of the country,” said Sergey Kulikov, Director General of Russian Maritime Register of Shipping.