On October 15, Skoltech hosted its annual Industry Day — an event that marks the completion of the second-year MSc students’ Industrial Immersion internship program and brings together representatives from science and industry to exchange experiences in technology and knowledge development and transfer, as well as to facilitate networking between students and companies. This year, the program included a discussion on university-business interaction with major companies, success stories from Institute graduates, the Best Industrial Immersion Project Awards ceremony, a poster session, a career fair, as well as lectures and career consultations.

Interaction with industrial companies and bringing scientific developments to real market products are among Skoltech’s key goals. After their first year of MSc studies, all students undergo Immersion in Industry — a mandatory part of the educational track where MSc students complete internships at companies and present their results in the form of projects. Traditionally, the internship program culminates in a large-scale Industry Day. This year, 242 students, based on their internships at 109 companies, prepared 201 projects — all of them were presented at the event’s poster session.

Industry Day participants were welcomed by Skoltech President, RAS Academician Alexander Kuleshov, and Head of Skoltech Industrial Studies Zhanna Turubarova. In his speech, the president highlighted Skoltech’s role as a technology factory and emphasized the importance for the Institute of forming a close alliance between students and PhD candidates with industry.

“We are very closely connected with industry. For example, over eight years we developed base stations for 4G and 5G communication technologies, and now they are mass-produced and have already been delivered to 37 regions of Russia. We have also opened a factory for producing very high-quality cathode materials with a capacity of 100 tons per year. Our task is to bring developments to mass production. For this very reason, we run ‘Industrial Immersion’: Students get an idea of how a prototype turns into real serial products. Over the past 30 years, this connection was lost, and our goal is to restore it. We are doing everything possible for this,” shared Alexander Kuleshov.

The establishment of dialogue was further discussed in a panel featuring Sibur’s Director of R&D and Innovation Sergei Tutov and Director of Science Mars Khasanov from Gazprom Neft. The discussion was moderated by Skoltech Vice President for Technological Partnerships Shamkhal Dzhabrailov, who emphasized that Gazprom Neft and Sibur are among Skoltech’s key industrial partners. In collaboration with these companies, researchers, including MSc and PhD students, have already implemented several applied projects.

The participants began the discussion by addressing the current stage of establishing interaction between companies and scientific organizations. According to Mars Khasanov, the oil industry needs specialists with a high level of knowledge in chemistry, physics, and materials science, as the industry is changing and exploration is becoming more complex: “We create scientific and technological centers, but we cannot create fully functional institutes. Therefore, we consciously build cooperation with universities that would work not only on the initial stages of projects but would also participate in their implementation.” Sergei Tutov stated that Sibur has increased funding for its R&D direction fivefold since 2020, and among the company’s 50 projects, not one has proceeded without the participation of a scientific organization.

Continuing the discussion, Mars Khasanov shared that Gazprom Neft supports critical fundamental research in areas that could help solve technological challenges of the next 10-15 years. Sibur, according to Sergei Tutov, is focused on supporting exploratory research: “Scaling and piloting — this is a lost layer of Soviet science, for which sectoral institutes were responsible. Now this falls on the shoulders of business — early-stage engineering and bringing products to industry. We want to get qualified teams with a set of competencies.”

Alexander Kuleshov helped find a compromise and summarize the discussion, noting that in the 1990s, business practically did not invest in science, but now the situation is changing, and large companies are investing in development, including fundamental research. Moderator Shamkhal Dzhabrailov supported the president: “Business must be ready to listen to science. This should become part of business processes.”

The event continued with a presentation by German Moiseev, a PhD student in Skoltech’s Agrobiotechnologies and Engineering program, who shared his experience of studying on the Industrial PhD track. It provides an opportunity to work on a Skoltech research project with an industrial partner during PhD studies, and these industrial developments can be used for dissertation research. German noted that by studying on the industrial track, he is growing as a scientist while working on real-world tasks at a company.

Dmitry Ermachenkov, a Skoltech graduate and senior ml project manager at T-Bank, shared his career success story. He noted that during his studies and work in Dmitry Tsetserukou’s team at the Skoltech Intelligent Space Robotics Laboratory, he acquired many skills that he uses in his work every day. Dmitry talked about his work at Yandex, 2GIS, and other leading companies, advised students to participate more in hackathons and competitions, and inspired them with his personal example.

At the awards ceremony for the best projects, certificates and commemorative gifts were presented to students by Skoltech Dean of Education Clement Fortin. This year, the award celebrated 18 students, who presented 13 projects in collaboration with companies including Belenergoprom, Sber, Tekvel, Ligand Pro, Rosatom Khimiya, and others.

In the second part of the day, students attended lectures. Vitaly Sidorenko, Head of the Service Robotics Development Centre for Logistics at Gazpromneft-Snabzhenie, spoke about how humanoid robots are defining the future of logistics. Alexandra Filkova, Research Scientist and Associate Professor at MISIS, Associate Professor at MEPhI, and Marketing Director at Blastim, provided an overview of the labor market, trends, and salaries in biotech. Skoltech graduate and Executive Director for Data Research at Sber, Mile Mitrovich, delivered a lecture on software that writes itself. Anastasia Sharapkova, Assistant Professor at Lomonosov Moscow State University, discussed how academic writing is changing in the era of artificial intelligence.

The development of cooperation between academic science and industry also occurs at the level of educational programs through Education Programs Industrial Committees. This year, 10 committees, spanning BSc, MSc, and PhD levels, successfully held consultations with the participation of over 100 representatives from Skoltech and company executives. As a result of this dialogue, industrial partners gain a detailed understanding of the structure and advantages of educational programs, graduate competencies, and opportunities for interaction with the programs. Recommendations received from industry leaders are used by the educational programs to update curricula and improve the quality of education.

The career fair featured leading companies, including Sber, Sibur-Polylab, Kamaz, Biocad, T-Bank, Technopolis Moscow, and others. Students learned about employment opportunities and internships from company representatives. Career consultants from 10 companies held 66 personal consultations with students about the job market and potential career paths after graduation.