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The discussion participants are focusing on new materials and chemistry. This year marks the launch of a national technological leadership project titled New Materials and Chemistry. Its goal is to develop infrastructure and create conditions for the production of chemicals and biotechnological products, advanced composite materials, as well as rare and rare-earth metals.

Attending the plenary session were President of the Kurchatov Institute National Research Centre Mikhail Kovalchuk; Head of a laboratory at the Zelinsky Organic Chemistry Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences Valentin Ananikov (DSc Chemistry); Aide to the President of the Kurchatov Institute National Research Centre Vladislav Antipov; Head of the Laboratory for Materials Science and Studying the Properties of Materials at Luch Science and Production Association Nadezhda Potekhina (PhD Chemistry); and Head of a research group at the Russian Quantum Centre, Head of the Laboratory of Physical Properties of Hetero-Structures and Spintronics for Energy-Saving Information Technologies of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Alexander Chernov (DSc Physics and Mathematics).

Following the plenary meeting, Vladimir Putin met with Russian and foreign scientists. Prospects of cooperation in science and education were discussed.

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The President’s remarks at the Future Technologies Forum

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, friends,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to welcome the participants of the Third International Future Technologies Forum. As has become tradition, this platform sets the stage for groundbreaking scientific exploration, where emerging ideas – still taking shape in laboratories and research centres – are discussed and refined. I have no doubt that very soon, these ideas will not only take form but also transform the world.

This year’s forum focuses on chemistry and the application of new materials – vast and, as is often said today, cross-cutting fields that play a decisive role in humanity’s progress, enabling engineers and designers to realise their most ambitious visions.

These areas are undergoing rapid changes, which, in turn, lay the foundation for even more revolutionary breakthroughs in healthcare, industry, microelectronics, in the creation of autonomous systems, in virtually every sector.

It is absolutely clear that, in order to become a leader in key areas of scientific and technological development, and this is the task we have set for ourselves, we need to achieve excellence in chemistry and new materials development. This means that we must offer solutions and products that are competitive in terms of pricing and quality and, most importantly, innovative. We need to possess our own technological keys that will enable us to produce and export not just raw materials, but high-standard goods to global markets.

Let me also note that our history has shown that we can tackle such significant challenges. In the 1960s and 1970s, hundreds of advanced plants were established and specialised scientific institutes and design bureaus were created, largely due to the efforts of Leonid Kostandov. While few people may know his name today, specialists will certainly recognise it. He served as the Minister of Chemical Industry of the USSR. In terms of total production volume, the Soviet chemical industry ranked first in Europe and second in the world.

However, this heritage has been largely squandered and wasted. I am stating this with deep regret. To be honest, I feel ashamed of this when I think of the people who spent their entire lives building the Soviet Union’s chemical industry, working for the sake of future generations, stayed overnight in their offices, or working on the move, from wherever they were. They spent their lives in railway cars, moving across the vast territory of the Soviet Union, from one republic to another. They scarcely ate or slept, to establish the country’s chemical industry.

Unfortunately, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, its core facilities halted production, and some were destroyed, their equipment thrown out and cut as scrap metal. Along with the degradation of our own chemical industry, we became strongly dependent on imports, losing a significant part of our industrial and technological sovereignty. So we know from our own negative experience what system-wide problems vulnerability in the chemical domain can create.

We literally had to reassemble many technological and production chains, and build new processing facilities to manufacture products with added value. For example, new facilities have been built as part of the Tobolsk Petrochemical Plant in the Tyumen Region. In 2019, a modern petrochemical plant, ZapSibNeftekhim, was launched. The construction of the Amur Gas Chemical Complex and other enterprises is underway. They will enable Russia to significantly increase the production of polymers, a key product of oil and gas chemistry, in the coming years.

I would also like to add that after cleaning up and reclaiming territory in Usolye-Sibirskoye, Irkutsk Region, we plan to create a modern federal centre for small- and medium-scale chemical production there. For those of you who is not really aware of the industry’s specifics, I will explain that refers to the production of small volumes of indispensable chemical products – resins, solvents and others – which are critical for the development of microelectronics, pharmaceuticals and many other critical areas.

Catalysts also represent a cross-cutting priority. These are indeed the very foundation of chemistry – substances that determine reaction rates. It is imperative to ensure not only their development, but also subsequent testing, pilot production, and ultimately the broad industrial utilisation and scaling-up of domestic solutions.

To support such endeavours, a dedicated scientific and technological cluster is already being established at the renowned Boreskov Institute of Catalysis in Novosibirsk. This constitutes a significant stride in advancing the entire Siberian scientific agglomeration as one of the key centres for creating future technologies in the field of chemistry.

Colleagues,

To keep pace with the dynamics of progress and global competition, we must exponentially enhance the potential of our domestic chemical industry and adjacent sectors, establishing a full cycle – from the exploration and development of new deposits, including rare and rare-earth metals, to the extraction and deep processing of mineral resources, through to the production of high-tech goods with substantial added value.

There is much work to be done here. In principle, we possess all that is required. What is needed is purposeful focus: creating conditions for businesses, investing in infrastructure. We still do not extract lithium. But how can we manage without it? This is self-evident to specialists. Yet we are capable of doing so. And we could have begun doing it 10–15 years ago.

These tasks must be addressed at an entirely new technological level, leveraging advancements in artificial intelligence and robotics, alongside other tools aimed at enhancing labour productivity – including within research. A major competitive advantage will be our access to affordable energy from one of the world’s largest networks of atomic, hydro, and thermal power stations, enabling the establishment of production facilities across numerous regions of our nation. Naturally, this must be implemented in strict compliance with the most rigorous environmental standards, employing modern, ecologically safe solutions.

The areas I am talking about are complicated and essential. That is why a new national technological leadership project has been launched in the sphere of new materials and chemistry this year. We plan to allocate almost 170 billion rubles for its implementation in 2025–2030 from the federal budget alone. In addition, the total investment of companies in the real sector of the economy could amount to about one trillion rubles. I believe this is quite realistic. Sometimes I meet with CEOs and owners of companies, and they have pretty ambitious plans. I like their attitude: people’s eyes are shining. That is great! We will support and further fine-tune mechanisms of support for private investments, including in the research and development sector.

I have said many times that external problems, sanctions, and all the challenges and difficulties we are facing played an important stimulating role for us. Russian companies are now increasingly often seeking the advice of our scientists, and they receive assistance from them. Moreover, domestic solutions often turn out to be more effective than their foreign analogues.

In order to ensure a modern legal basis for cooperation between researchers and qualified customers, the law On Technology Policy was adopted. It comes into force this summer.

I have already said and set the task to increase the financing of science up to two percent of the GDP. This should be done together with the businesses. It is of paramount importance to forward all additional investments to support promising and breakthrough areas of scientific and technological development. Thus, in the field of chemistry and new materials, it would be short-sighted and wrong to be satisfied with simple substitution of technological processes, which have already been mastered somewhere abroad. This is important, of course – everything must be taken into account and all the achievements must be used, but it is critical to develop our own platforms. Colleagues promised to show me at a specialised exhibition the progress we are making and future prospects.

As we agreed at the meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects last December, plans must be developed in all the key areas in order to ensure the country’s superiority, including in chemistry and modern materials science. It is important to select leading scientific organisations that will take responsibility for conducting fundamental research and companies that will be implementing technologies of the future, as well as to organise the training of personnel in chemistry to be able to cope with the tasks of technological leadership, at all levels of education – from schools to universities.

Regretfully, the number of chemistry teachers in schools is decreasing. The number of children who choose chemistry as their main basic discipline is decreasing. The percentage of chemistry teachers over 65 years of age is increasing. We need to look most thoroughly at what is happening in universities.

I ask the Russian Academy of Sciences, representatives of business, professional, scientific and educational communities to be involved in the formation of such plans as much as they can.

It is important that they continue to act coherently, as true partners, and be aware of the responsibility for the results. The implementation of all the national technological leadership projects, our plans for the Far East, Siberia, the Arctic, the development of all regions of the Russian Federation, and, of course, the solution of security issues and the improvement of the quality of people’s lives depend on them.

I shouldn’t even mention security; I have already spoken out publicly about it. The whole world is talking about the Oreshnik missile system. Look at the materials it boasts! The temperature on the warheads equals that on the surface of the sun. We realise that since the 1980s, we have been developing systems for a gliding block. We called it Avangard. The temperatures there are comparable, slightly less than on the surface of the sun. At the end of the 1980s, we set the task making such systems. We couldn’t because we didn’t have the materials for that. That was the problem. It flies and melts like a popsicle, and the control signal goes through. These are the results of working on advance materials.

Just as our joint agreements on MC-21–300 were closed down completely for no reason. Many thanks go to Rosatom specialists – they made materials for both the wing and the fuselage.True, the project moved a little to the right but we did everything with our own hands, with our own heads, and everything went well. We need to work together in all other areas in the same active and creative way.

I ask the Government to think about ways to regulate the interaction between our enterprises and those of our competitors in order to provide national producers with certain advantages. Yes, within the framework of the WTO, but nevertheless certain difficulties have been created for us, and we can regulate accordingly the return to our market of those who want to return, while offering and preserving advantages for our own producers. We need to do it in a subtle, careful manner, but it must be done without fail.

Mr Manturov, who is present here, is nodding his head. We discussed this matter with him. I have already spoken about this: just as in agriculture, when agricultural producers begged us: “Just don’t let anyone else into our market, we will do everything ourselves.” Except for bananas, of course. But they started growing bananas, too. It’s a bit expensive, though, and it’s not necessary. But in the area of industrial production, it is absolutely necessary to think everything through, to give it the most careful consideration so as not to lose the potential that was created thanks to our ill-wishers who had imposed sanctions against us.

I have already mentioned this, but to provide several further examples: to advance our machine and aircraft manufacturing, rocket and space programmes, we will require composite materials and alloys with unique characteristics – I spoke about this just moments ago. New plant protection agents – from an entirely different domain – in order to address food security challenges. Durable, long-term, safe systems for energy transmission and storage – for unmanned aerial vehicles, for new modes of transport. More resilient and energy-efficient materials for the construction industry, to adapt to climate change. Novel compounds, biomaterials, and prototypes of human organs and tissues – for implementing advanced medical treatments in healthcare.

I reiterate, I have cited only isolated sectors here. Yet the absence of progress even in one of these areas – and I wish to emphasise this particularly – will, as the saying goes, pull down by the thread all other initiatives. Let me recall the example of the MC-21–300 aircraft: we lacked the materials for the wings and fuselage. Consequently, the entire project stalled, and progress in other directions likewise decelerated. We have witnessed this first-hand. This is the experience of our work over the last two to three years.

Across all critical technological vectors, we must establish comprehensive coordination and absolute interconnection between every step and measure. I propose instituting a supra-departmental mechanism for managing technological development and request that the Government submit corresponding structural proposals.

Colleagues,

All our plans to forge solutions of the future in chemistry and materials science rest upon the immense potential of our scientific and engineering schools. Their traditions were established as early as the Russian Empire – I referenced the Soviet Union earlier, but these foundations were laid in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, evolving further, as I noted, during the Soviet era.

I trust that Mr Mikhail Kovalchuk, who greeted me earlier – we exchanged a few words – and other participants of this plenary meeting will undoubtedly elaborate on how contemporary advancements in chemistry and materials science build upon achievements from space and atomic projects, as well as research into future energy systems of thermonuclear fusion spearheaded by Yevgeny Velikhov.

I consider it imperative to dedicate a new Russian Science Foundation competition for leading scientists to the memory of this eminent thinker and son of our Fatherland. The size of the five-year grant will range from 250 million rubles to half a billion rubles. Major domestic corporations will co-finance these grants and serve as direct customers for breakthrough technologies.

As for the areas of support, they will change every year. This year, I propose to announce such a competition for the creation of unique materials and products made of them for autonomous energy sources, power and energy plants, as well as for devices and information processing systems necessary for the development of artificial intelligence, among other things.

Quite obviously, this technology is already determining the development of all spheres, producing a real revolution, including in chemistry and materials science. Thanks to the introduction of artificial intelligence and computer modelling, our country needs – and it is quite realistic – to reduce the time of designing and introducing new materials to 5–10 years, and in the future to 2–3 years.

For this purpose, researchers and engineers should have a necessary array of data on existing materials and their components. I suggest we should build mechanisms of legal regulation of their circulation, including collection, storage, processing, transfer and use.

I would like to add that huge amounts of data and advanced knowledge about new elements and materials will be obtained in the course of research at domestic megascience facilities. They make it possible to study matter – experts know this – literally at the atomic level.

I would like to emphasise that some of the complexes in our country, such as NICA in Dubna or PIC in the Leningrad Region, are unique and have no analogues. In the near future we are planning the technological launch of another powerful facility – SCIF. It will significantly expand the functionality and the range of possibilities of the Russian research infrastructure. We certainly invite foreign scientists to collaborate. When I was in the Leningrad Region a few years ago, specialists from Europe were already working there, and from those countries where the use of nuclear energy was being phased out, and, accordingly, research in those areas was also being phased out, and they were happy to work with us. We hope that this practice will continue. Our doors are open and we are always happy to welcome our friends and colleagues.

I wish to emphasise that we fully recognise equitable and open international exchange in the scientific domain as one of the principal factors in fortifying a multipolar world. We will persist in advocating for the unification of efforts among researchers and engineers from Eastern and Southern nations to tackle large-scale experimental, theoretical, and, undoubtedly, practical challenges.

Thus, the BRICS group has effectively become a platform of global stature for social, economic, and technological development. Concurrently, we have no intention of establishing barriers to collaboration with Western scientists. We hope that Western politicians, too, will come to understand the detrimental effects of policies that constrain cooperation in the fields of science and education.

It is imperative that global development remains equitable and balanced. To this end, we must pursue further industrial and technological progress while simultaneously mitigating adverse environmental impacts, preserving the planet’s delicate ecosystem, and its flora and fauna. We will, of course, proceed from the necessity of applying precisely such technologies. It is no coincidence that advanced solutions in genetics, bio- and nature-like technologies, as well as the creation of materials replicating processes within living systems, now occupy a central focus of our attention.

In essence, we speak of the formation of an entirely novel phenomenon, a new reality – that of the bioeconomy. This subject is of paramount importance, a key determinant in the quality of global growth. I propose dedicating the next Future Technologies Forum to the bioeconomy, should our colleagues deem this feasible and worthwhile. We extend an invitation to representatives of science, education, and business from across the globe to participate. We remain open to cooperation.

Friends,

I am sincerely gratified that our nation is fostering candid and profound discussions among scientists, engineers, and business representatives. This testifies both to Russia’s openness and, unquestionably, to our steadfast commitment to issues of scientific and technological advancement.

It is safe to say that no expert would dare to predict the novel solutions that will emerge or be invented even in the near future. Yet there exists something we can assuredly accomplish: ensuring our substantive support for key technological avenues of critical importance and utility to citizens, society, and economic growth. It is precisely within this framework that we intend to proceed. I am confident that your discussions at today’s events are conducted in this spirit.

I thank you for your attention.

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