An Important Milestone in Cyprus-Russia Scientific Collaboration

A high-level delegation from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology “SkolTech” (see: http://www.skoltech.ru/en), led by the Vice President for Academic Development, Dr. Alexander Safonov, visited the Cyprus Institute this week, and both institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding in the presence of the Russian Ambassador to Cyprus, His Excellency Mr. Stanislav V. Osadchiy, the Chair of the Cyprus Institute’s Board of Trustees Prof. Dan-Olor Riska and Trustees and Dr Erato Kozakou Marcoullis.

In the words of the President of the Cyprus Institute, Prof. Costas N. Papanicolas “The opportunities in cutting edge research and graduate education for international excellence are awesome. I believe that this partnership will become the cornerstone of Russia-Cyprus scientific cooperation”. “The Cyprus Institute is a dynamic vector that is important to the long-term strategic success of fundamental research in Cyprus.” Said in a message Prof. Alexander Kuleshov, President of the Skoltech Institute for Technology of Russia. He added: “We are pleased to sign this MoU with President Papanicolas and his team in order to explore possible areas of innovative cooperation between our nascent technical institutes.”

The Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology is a private non-profit research university located in Skolkovo near Moscow. It was founded in 2011 as a project led by the Skolkovo Foundation, to be part of the wider, ambitious SKOLKOVO project which aims to develop Russia’s major technopolis; SkolTech is developed in partnership with MIT, following a new ambitious multidisciplinary model for a Research University in Russia, with emphasis on technology and innovation.

The three-day visit of the delegation included in-depth discussions for potential collaboration between the two institutes on issues of common interest and exchange of best practices and experiences. The research, innovation, educational and operational agendas of both institutions was presented and discussed in detail in several workshops. The Skoltech officials also had the opportunity to visit the research facilities of CyI.

The Memorandum of Understanding between the two institutions covers collaboration in a broad range of research areas of common interest. In addition it includes the possibility for joint degrees, cross-registration of students, student exchanges, joint summer schools and exchange of knowhow on operational and research commercialization issues.

Joint task forces will commence work for intensifying the collaboration between the two parties by advancing concrete actions in areas such as High Performance Computing and Data Science, Energy, Biology and Agroscience. The President of Skoltech, Prof. Alexander Kuleshov, has extended an invitation to the CyI leadership for a follow up visit in the near future.