The National Centre RUSSIA implements projects within the Decade of Science and Technology
The preliminary results of the 5th Congress of Young Scientists and its satellite events in 2025, as well as the outcomes of the Decade of Science and Technology action plan and proposals for the coming year, were discussed at a meeting of the Coordination Committee for the Decade of Science and Technology. The meeting was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko.
"The participants have probably already walked around the university campus. Those who attended previous congresses can clearly see how significantly it has improved. Both in terms of presenting results and in terms of what is shown in ‘Our Lab’ — new instruments, instruments of a completely different quality — and in terms of education: the presentations and round tables today are all substantive for young scientists. All sessions are fully attended. It is encouraging," said Presidential Aide of the Russian Federation, Andrei Fursenko.
Dmitry Chernyshenko noted that the 5th Congress of Young Scientists is the key event of the Decade of Science and Technology. A clear effect of the popularisation of science and support for young talent can already be seen.
"Each year, the Congress of Young Scientists continues to gain momentum and demonstrates increasingly impressive results, reaffirming its motto: ‘The Energy of Science: from the potential of knowledge to creating the future’. The task set by the President is to ensure Russia’s technological leadership so that it is indisputable. This year, the Congress brought together participants from more than 100 countries. Beyond the figures, it is vital to preserve the unique atmosphere the Congress is known for — the openness of Russian science, its scale and its value, above all for our country but also for the world," the Deputy Prime Minister stated.
He added that the events of the Decade offer an opportunity to engage talented young people, entrepreneurs and representatives of the real sector of the Russian economy in science.
"This is crucial so that, alongside the high-level concept of technological leadership, we can achieve the target set by the President — increasing national spending on science to 2% of GDP by 2030, including through increased investment from business. In 2025, as part of the Decade’s thematic initiatives, agreements were signed with new partners: Gazprom Neft, Rosselkhozbank, and Aeroflot. Under the ‘Science and Business’ initiative, more than 790,000 participants from nearly 500 universities took part in events of the federal programme ‘University Technological Entrepreneurship Platform’. The programme has created more than 35,000 university start-ups and attracted nearly 3 billion rubles," Dmitry Chernyshenko reported.
The action plan for the Decade of Science and Technology, approved by the Government, includes 12 initiatives, projects and events. Overall, this year’s results show increasing interest in the Decade’s activities.
At this year’s Congress of Young Scientists, every fifth candidate of sciences under 29 and every third doctor of sciences under 39 will be represented. In total, more than 3,000 participants hold academic degrees. The total number of candidates of sciences increased by 45% compared with 2024, reaching almost 2,500.
Following the meeting, Dmitry Chernyshenko issued a number of instructions, including requiring the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia to collect applications for holding the 2026 satellite events of the Congress of Young Scientists by 1 March.
President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Gennady Krasnikov, proposed using the platform of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences to involve RAS scientists more actively in discussing the events of the Decade of Science and Technology and in improving its instruments.
"For many years, many of our RAS members have been responsible for entire areas within the Fundamental Research Programme; they participate in the work of the Commission for Scientific and Technological Development. And they — more than anyone — understand where efforts to promote science are especially needed, which areas of fundamental research remain uncovered, and where staffing challenges are particularly acute. The development of fundamental science — where it is impossible to prioritise in advance or predict results — must move ‘on a broad front’. This means that strong scientific teams must exist across all fields," he said.
"The anniversary Congress of Young Scientists demonstrates the scale and steady growth of interest from the scientific and educational community. Over the past years, the number of participants and events of the business programme has more than doubled; the exhibition area and the number of exhibitors have also increased every year. This time, we placed special emphasis on new formats of interaction — new types of discussions, interactive displays and the launch of industry clusters. Participants have shown strong interest in expanding the sectoral agenda, and we plan to continue this work at future Congresses," said Anton Kobyakov, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation and Head of the interdepartmental working group for preparing and organising the Congress of Young Scientists and its satellite events.
At the meeting of the Coordination Committee for the Decade of Science and Technology, Director General of the National Centre RUSSIA Natalia Virtuozova said: "For the National Centre RUSSIA, it is a great honour to serve as a co-implementer of the Decade of Science and Technology under the initiative ‘Working with Experience and Designing the Future’. This year, we focused on several key areas: promoting scientific knowledge, working with young people and creating permanent exposition spaces for the Decade of Science and Technology — both at the National Centre itself and at the branches opening across our country. Over the past year, we have seen that information about science and technology is in demand in very different formats — accessible, engaging, bold and bright. We will continue to improve in this direction."
She spoke about the video essay contest "Dreams of the Future", in which children create short films inspired by science fiction; the authors of the best works took part in the International Symposium "Inventing the Future". Natalia Virtuozova also noted that the International Symposium "Inventing the Future" included an open lecture series — a "laboratory of bright ideas", where Russian and international visionaries presented their views on images and scenarios of the future. The same venue also hosted the recording of the podcast "Universe Plus", where the hosts and recognised experts from various fields turn each interview into a journey into the future.
In her remarks, Director General of ANO "National Priorities" Sofia Malyavina spoke about promoting the Decade of Science and Technology, scientists and their developments, and presented the latest sociological data: "Since 2022, the portal ‘nauka.rf’ — the main resource of the Decade of Science — has been visited more than 48 million times. Each month we see an increase in subscribers across our social media channels, as well as in visitors and views of materials on the website. In total, we have published around 9,000 materials."
The meeting was also attended by: Head of the Presidential Directorate for Public Relations and Communications Alexander Smirnov; Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education Denis Sekirinsky; Director General of ANO "Internet Development Institute" Alexei Goreslavsky; Director General of the Russian society Znanie Maxim Dreval; Head of the Talent and Success Educational Foundation Yelena Shmeleva; Chairman of the Board of the Russian Movement of Children and Youth Movement of the First Artur Orlov; and Rector of Lomonosov Moscow State University Viktor Sadovnichy.
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