Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Novosibirsk State University –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
From October 28 to 31, the international youth project laboratory BRICS Project Lab – Minsk was held in Minsk. It was organized by the Representative Office of Rossotrudnichestvo in the Republic of Belarus jointly with the NSO MGIMO and the Belarusian State University with the support of the A.M. Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund.
The laboratory brought together undergraduate and graduate students, and young scientists from Russia, Belarus, and the BRICS countries to develop practical projects aimed at advancing international cooperation. From over a thousand applications, the organizers selected approximately one hundred participants. The competition's difficulty is comparable to that of applying for a scholarship to MGIMO.
Mikhail Krikunov, a master's student at the Faculty of Information Technology and an assistant at the Department of Informatics Systems at NSU, was one of the Russian representatives among the finalists.
"I submitted my application in September, went through an interview, and received confirmation of my participation in early October. The lab isn't just a forum, but a platform where young researchers work on real projects at the request of government and international organizations," says Mikhail.
He and his teammates participated in the track "Current State of the Pharmaceutical, Medical Devices, and IT Markets in the Republic of Belarus," which was developed in partnership with the Trade Mission of the Russian Federation in Belarus. The work began online in October: the team analyzed the market, studied product certification and registration processes, and systematized data on preferences and growth opportunities in the pharmaceutical and IT sectors.
"The in-person stage in Minsk was a logical continuation of the project. We participated in consultations with experts, met with representatives of the Trade Mission and lawyers to clarify details and finalize the study. Ultimately, we prepared over a hundred pages of analytical materials, which we submitted to Yuri Vasilyevich Zolotarev, the Russian Trade Representative in Belarus. He highly praised our work and noted that the results would be forwarded to the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade," Mikhail shares.
According to the participant, the eventful program included lectures, meetings, discussion platforms, and a cultural component: students visited the Russian Embassy in Belarus, the Court of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Minsk City Technopark, and saw the city's landmarks.
"I'm happy to have seen the heroic city of Minsk, to have contributed to strengthening trade relations between Russia and Belarus, to have met a huge number of smart and kind people, professionals in their fields, ready to move forward no matter what, and to have made friends in my teammates. I hope this project lab will become a starting point for our team's future work on other projects," Mikhail concludes.
In the near future, the team plans to continue the research in the form of a scientific paper and publish its results.
The material was prepared by: Yulia Dankova, NSU press service
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