On September 19-20, Skoltech hosted the First International Workshop on Technological Sustainability of BRICS: University-Industry Partnerships organized in collaboration with the Human Capital Multidisciplinary Research Center of the Higher School of Economics. The meeting was held as part of the BRICS working group on technology foresight and science and technology studies.

Striving for technological sovereignty and strengthening production potential is one of the key tasks of both Russia and other member countries of BRICS. In 2024, the year of Russia’s BRICS chairmanship, researchers and experts from Russia, India, China, South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt and other countries gathered at Skoltech to discuss how to establish cooperation between education, science, and industry effectively and what technological areas can give rise to international cooperation.

“Today, when we face new political, cultural, and economic threats, we invited colleagues to discuss cooperation between science and industry, which aims to increase the technological sustainability of countries and ensure their technological sovereignty. One of the issues that we propose to discuss today is how we can build cooperation to bring our competencies and expertise together to achieve equality in the technology sector in the future. We propose Skoltech as a platform to design practical solutions to advance technology policy across the BRICS countries. I hope that the exchange of ideas will be useful,” greeted the participants Skoltech’s Senior Vice President for Industrial Cooperation Alexey Ponomarev.

Timur Gareev, the head of the Analytical Department of Science and Technology Development at Skoltech, gave welcoming remarks. He highlighted Skoltech’s contribution to such key scientific and technological initiatives as the Technological Development Concept for the period up to 2030, the Unmanned Aircraft Systems national project, the Roadmap for the development of production and use of electric motor transport in the Russian Federation for the period up to 2030, and many others. Timur also presented a new analytical report, “Countries invited to join BRICS: Promising areas of scientific and technological cooperation with Russia” (released by Skoltech in 2024).

Deputy Director of the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge of the HSE University (ISSEK HSE), Professor Alexander Sokolov, and Head of the ISSEK HSE Laboratory for Science and Technology Studies Liliana Proskuryakova made presentations on futures studies and promising areas of science and technology development in different industries and sectors of economy. Alexander noted, “Science and technology play a vital role in ensuring social and technological development in all countries. Technology foresight is the key instrument for assessing science, technology, and innovation (STI) prospects, STI priority setting, designing effective science and technology policies. Nearly all BRICS countries already apply this instrument for achieving technological sovereignty and searching for technological solutions that increase global competitiveness. HSE University has for many years closely interacted with all BRICS countries in advancing technology foresight. Today’s seminar is another step to strengthening this cooperation with a focus on involving new members in technology forecasting activities.”

At the workshop, representatives of research organizations from BRICS countries, among other topics, spoke at the workshop about South African science and technology agenda, science and technology cooperation between Russia and the Middle East countries, science and technology ecosystems encompassing Egypt and its regional and international partners, and university-industry cooperation on sustainable energy in Ethiopia. At the session on new risks for technological sustainability, representatives from China, India, and Brazil discussed competitiveness of the BRICS countries in addressing science and technology issues, as well as the need for their own research and development in the era of technological protectionism.

At the workshop sessions, the participants jointly sought answers to questions about how the BRICS countries position themselves in the global technological landscape, how to develop advanced technologies when the international technological transfer is limited, and where we can achieve technological sustainability.