Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University –
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The International Multimedia Press Center of the Rossiya Segodnya Media Group hosted a press conference titled "Engineers of the Future: Research by Scientists Changing the World Today." The event focused on the developments of scientists at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. Participants presented to the general public for the first time specific solutions developed with the support of the Priority 2030 program and outlined the key scientific and technological areas (KNTDs) on which the Polytechnic University is focusing its efforts to achieve national technological leadership. The press conference also discussed current challenges facing Russian higher education.
At the beginning of the event, Yuri Fomin, SPbPU Vice-Rector for Research, explained why the Polytechnic University has focused on three key scientific and technological areas: "Systems Digital Engineering," "Materials, Technologies, and Production," and "Artificial Intelligence for Cross-Industry Problem Solving."
Peter the Great Polytechnic University is a large organization with nearly 37,000 employees, including 4,500 researchers and faculty, and over 200 research departments. We carefully and retrospectively assessed the research teams that possess, firstly, the scientific, technical, and technological foundation necessary to bring their products to market, and secondly, significant experience interacting with industrial partners and qualified customers. We structured these teams and realized that they fit into three key areas: fundamental and applied research, strategic products we plan to bring to market, and the educational framework that supports these areas in terms of higher education and postgraduate studies.
Yuri Fomin emphasized that when deciding on the projects to be included in the key areas, Polytechnic University experts consulted with representatives of the business community, with whom the university has extensive, historical ties. Therefore, the projects selected were based on specific needs.
Alexey Borovkov, chief designer of the key scientific and technological area, "System Digital Engineering," discussed the goals of the program: "In scientific terms, the Polytechnic University is multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary, and in technical and technological terms, it produces high-tech products for the entire industry, where the primary tools are digital technologies and digital engineering. Given that the center of gravity in the competitive struggle has shifted to the development stage of high-tech products, the strategic goal of ensuring technological leadership is divided into two tasks. The first is the development, development, application, and implementation of technologies. The most advanced technology here is digital twins, which have the highest market growth rate—over 40 percent per year. The second task is the development, production, and operation of competitive products. The global engineering market is quite large: in 2024, it was worth over two trillion dollars, and by 2030, it is expected to reach approximately seven trillion dollars. This essentially covers everything related to engineering.
Alexey Borovkov presented 11 projects included in the "System Digital Engineering" scientific and technical conference, highlighting the industrial partners supporting them. The speaker clarified that the projects are expected to attract approximately 700 million rubles in extra-budgetary funds this year. By implementing research and development projects for the real sector of the economy, the university will attract four times more extra-budgetary funds for every ruble of budgetary funds.
Alexey Borovkov presented the results expected by the end of the year: the development of a digital platform for the development and application of CML-Bench digital twins, which ensures effective work with many high-tech industries and the digital transformation of engineering education based on a new knowledge and competency management system; the refinement of a small aircraft, where this year PISh engineers won the Russian championship in the light aviation class, which is intended to be later converted into an unmanned aircraft for agricultural engineering work; a next-generation burner device for the oil and gas industry; a new design of a mixing grid for nuclear power; a promising line of dental implants and exoprostheses; developments in the field of thermonuclear reactors, etc.
Arsenty Klyuev, a research fellow at the Laboratory of Hydromechanical Engineering at the Institute of Power Engineering at SPbPU, spoke at a press conference about one of the unique solutions within the framework of the KNTN-1 "System Digital Engineering" project related to the import substitution of foreign pumping equipment. This involves the development of innovative dewatering pumps to improve the energy efficiency and reliability of industrial and municipal water supply systems. The Polytechnic University has developed the flow geometry for a line of innovative free-vortex dewatering pumps optimized for handling contaminated liquids. The efficiency of these pumps already exceeds the best foreign analogues, and the validation of the mathematical flow model resulting from experimental studies of one of the pump prototypes will enable future virtual testing of similar pumps based on the digital platform being developed at the Polytechnic University as part of the KNTN-1 project. The implementation of this equipment will improve the energy efficiency and reliability of industrial and municipal water supply and wastewater systems, reducing operating costs and resource consumption. This domestic development will also help replace popular foreign brands. Such pumps are essential for various industries, including chemicals, housing and utilities, agriculture, and others.
Chief Designer Anatoly Popovich spoke about the challenges being addressed within the key scientific and technological area of "Materials, Technologies, and Production."
We've created a triad that links the development of new materials, manufacturing technology, and product manufacturing. We focus on the real needs of the country's industry. For example, 80% of gas turbines used in gas pipelines are currently imported, and they suffer from high wear and tear. Polytechnic University has signed a contract with Gazprom and proposes using additive technologies to solve this problem. For example, we're the first in the Russian Federation to create a gas turbine blade using 3D printing," noted Anatoly Popovich.
The next task is small-scale additive manufacturing of hot gas tract components. Polytechnic University has established small-scale production of T32 gas turbine combustion chamber injector swirl rings using selective laser melting technology. Finally, the repair and restoration of worn parts is also being carried out using 3D printing technology, but this time using direct laser deposition. The speaker demonstrated samples of finished components created at Polytechnic University to journalists.
Evgeniy Borisov, associate professor at the scientific and educational center “Structural and Functional Materials” of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Materials and Transport of St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, spoke about another unique technology developed in this key area – multimaterial 3D metal printing of complex-profile products. For the first time, the engineer demonstrated to the general public unique samples of parts created using a new technology for manufacturing complex-profile metal products from several materials using additive technologies. Traditional technologies (surfacing, welding, etc.) do not allow making products with complex geometries, in contrast to selective laser melting technology. However, it is limited to only one material. For more complex products involving several materials, it is necessary to divide the part into parts, process it in several cycles, and then connect it. This adds additional technological steps, increases the weight of the part and increases overall labor costs. The technology developed at Polytech allows the creation of complex-profile products for the high-tech industry within the framework of one technological cycle. Moreover, using this method, it is possible to increase, in particular, heat resistance, wear resistance, strength in specified areas while maintaining properties in the rest of the product. In addition, the new method of manufacturing metal parts from multiple materials can be used to create products in which some of the zones have special properties, such as a strength gradient. In the medical field, this can be used to create biocompatible implants from titanium and cobalt chromium.
Concluding his presentation on the work under the KNTN-2 "Materials, Technologies, and Production" conference, Anatoly Popovich added that Polytechnic University has already begun implementing Russian President Vladimir Putin's directive to establish research and production associations based at universities in collaboration with industrial enterprises. This will accelerate the introduction of breakthrough advanced manufacturing technologies into industry, which is essential for the country's technological leadership. Gas turbine engines represent the pinnacle of engineering and the driving force of modern mechanical engineering, so the implementation of low-tonnage production of critical components and parts for gas pumping units at Polytechnic University is an extremely important and pressing task for Russia.
SPbPU's chief designer, Yuri Fomin, spoke about its newest key scientific and technological area, "Artificial Intelligence for Cross-Industry Problem Solving."
The department's main strategic project addresses the challenges faced by vertically integrated oil and gas companies (VIOCs), which have two of the most expensive stages: exploration and production. Each of these stages is quite complex and generates a huge amount of heterogeneous and unstructured data. Our goal is to develop a tool, preferably based on machine learning methods, that could reduce these costs. To address this, Polytechnic University has created a digital platform for multimodal data analysis to generate predictive and prescriptive analytics, and has patented and registered the "Polanis" trademark," noted Yuri Fomin.
The speaker reported that this platform is currently being used to work on five projects. Alexander Timin, head of the Laboratory of Nano- and Microencapsulation of Biologically Active Substances at the Institute of Biomedical Systems and Biotechnology at SPbPU, first spoke to journalists about one of them—the search for new antitumor compounds using artificial intelligence.
The Polytechnic University has created a database containing information on the interactions of 100,000 potential anticancer chemical compounds with target proteins in cancer tumors. This is essential for accelerating one of the most labor-intensive processes: the search for compounds that could form the basis for drug therapy for malignant tumors. A mechanism has been developed for the rapid identification of molecular descriptors that statistically significantly correlate with antitumor activity. The use of machine learning methods reduces costs in the initial stages of development by up to 40% and shortens the time to market for a drug. The database is especially important for the development of cancer drugs whose active ingredients selectively target pathological cells directly within the tumor and do not have a systemic effect on surrounding tissues. This allows for a faster and more effective therapeutic effect, while reducing the adverse effects of chemotherapy.
The press conference concluded with a lively discussion. One of the journalists noted that scientific developments are often not implemented in industry due to a lack of necessary production capacity and a gap between science and industry, and he clarified plans for replicating the developments presented at the press conference. In response to a question, Anatoly Popovich invited journalists on a tour of the Polytechnic University, noting that the university not only develops unique technologies and facilitates their implementation in the real economy, but in some areas also provides the full cycle of creating finished high-tech products within the university walls.
Photo: © RIA Novosti/Anastasia Petrova
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