JINR’s new initiative to support R&D projects discussed at MLIT On 11 February, a meeting for discussing the JINR Directorate’s initiative to select applications for the implementation of applied research and developments in the direction of applied and innovative activities (R&D activities) took place at the Meshcheryakov Laboratory of Information Technologies. At the meeting, with the participation of the MLIT Directorate and the JINR Laboratories’ representatives, Head of the Innovations and Intellectual Property Department Igor Lensky and Chairman of the JINR AYSS Council Vladislav Rozhkov spoke about the initiative, the principles of selecting projects and the formation of the required documents. The initiative aroused keen interest among the audience and resulted in a lively discussion covering various aspects, including issues of the most effective protection of developers’ interests, difficulties that may arise during the approval of projects within the Laboratories, criteria for selecting projects, as well as legal and practical subtleties using the Laboratories’ infrastructure and resources. The issue of retaining talented personnel within the Institute is also of great importance. R&D activities should help to take the next step from an idea to products, the prospects of which will become more obvious to scientific and industrial partners in various fields. As Igor Lensky noted, it is significant not only to obtain the planned result, but also to protect the Institute’s rights to it. The Innovations and Intellectual Property Department is ready to provide support to participants both in terms of planning and implementing the intellectual property protection, and in general in preparing applications. R&D activities are also intended to give young leaders the opportunity to prove themselves in project work “a little earlier”, to demonstrate their ability to implement large-scale projects and manage a team. This initiative is aimed at teams of young developers: the leader and the majority of team members must be no older than 39 at the time of application submission. The assigned planning horizon can be up to 3 years. Project teams including scientists, specialists, postgraduates, and students from JINR Member States are invited to participate. R&D activities proposed for implementation must align with one or more of the following areas: radiation technology; accelerator technology; equipment and technologies for medicine and laboratory diagnostics; information technology and artificial intelligence; automation, robotics, and control systems in technical fields; scientific instrument design; nuclear medicine; ecology, sustainable development, and climate change; new materials; chemical technology; biotechnology and food safety; energy storage and future energy systems. The selection of applications is expected to start in February and will continue until the end of March. More details about the initiative can be found in the attached presentation. For any questions, please contact Igor Lensky or Vladislav Rozhkov.
