“What is Singularity University?”
Sergei Musienko: The number of innovative and scientific discoveries is growing in a geometric progression every year, and it is increasingly difficult to keep up to date with events even in your own field of knowledge, not to mention related fields. Singularity University was set up for this reason, and also to accelerate the application of these innovations to everyway life. It trains specialists to address the global issues that humankind is currently encountering. The students take various interdisciplinary courses which touch on topics in the most varied fields of human knowledge: medicine, nanotechnologies, artificial intelligence, futurology, entrepreneurship and much more besides.
Anna Trunina: This is a project of the American aerospace agency (NASA) to create a new interdisciplinary university of the future, implemented with support from Google. The university’s mission is to bring together, educate and inspire leaders who strive to facilitate the exponential development of technologies for the purpose of responding to the new challenges humankind is facing.
“How did you get into the university?”
Anna Trunina: I received a letter through the Skolkovo distribution with an invitation to take part in the “My Idea for Russia” competition. A Skype conference with a representative of Singularity University was organised for participants who got through to the final, after which they announced three winners. About a hundred people in all took part in the competition.
“Tell us, is studying in Silicon Valley different from studying in Russia?”
Sergei Musienko: The teaching at the university is by global stars: Nobel Prize winners in astrophysics, astronauts, people who’ve set up private companies to study the genome. They include the founder of eBay; Ralph Merkle, inventor of the standard for public key encryption and chief nanotechnologist with the Zyvex corporation; Peter Norvig, author of the most famous textbook on Artificial Intelligence; Bob Metcalfe, inventor of the Ethernet and founder of 3Com, and others. The objective of the course was simple – to bring together talented people from various fields and provide all possible resources for carrying out R&D and securing venture capital in the future.
Anna Trunina: It’s very different. First, the teaching at Singularity University doesn’t involve receiving a degree: it’s a short-term course focused on informing people about the leading and most up-to-date innovative technologies and issues which might arise in the future. The Singularity University programme assumes that students already have the basic education and this course is an addition to it.
Second, there are no final exams here, unlike a classical school. The decision is up to you. If you need to, you can study, build your understanding and ask questions. Here they don’t write lecture notes in an exercise book, they use Google Docs, and instead of writing with a marker on a board they use video presentations. There are 80 of us here from 35 countries, and the average age of those taking part is 32.
Third, studies go on all day here, from 9 am to 9 pm. In all my six years of study at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University I never had such an intense timetable. There’s an enormous flow of information and very little time.
Fourth, what makes it especially different from education in Russia is the fact that the course is not only theoretical but also practical in nature. When we finish studying we’ll have to develop an idea which could have the potential to improve the lives of 1 billion people over 10 years, and present it at the concluding event in the tenth week of the course. It is planned that the work on the project should continue, and when we’ve finished studying it should ultimately be turned into a fully fledged business project. The university already has a history of launching such projects, although some of them have closed after a while. It’s difficult for me to imagine now how you can organise a team to work on such a project when we’re all living in different parts of the planet.
In any case, it’s a good opportunity. It seems to me that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to bring this kind of practice into Russian higher educational establishments, so that the students can not just do course and degree projects on the “hand it in and forget about it” principle but get the opportunity to implement them and subsequently develop them.
“What’s the distinguishing feature of this study? What impressions have you formed after the first few weeks in the university?”
Sergei Musienko: In order to better understand the processes that are happening in the world, of course we need to study with the best people – those who are working with the technologies of tomorrow. That’s exactly the opportunity that the Singularity University provides. Our mentors are leading world specialists, pioneers in their fields. These people are already actively, and most importantly successfully, engaged in modernisation and the application of innovations in various fields.
“What is the global difference from the Russian education system?”
Anna Trunina: The teaching process is divided into six areas, each of which is covered one of the founding figures in the science in this sector (for example, Daniel Kraft, executive director of the FutureMed programme in Silicon Valley and chair of the medicine track at Singularity University). These areas are scientific and innovative development foresight with an exponential picture of growth in the near future: education, energy, health management, security and space.
“Would it be possible to develop a singularity in Russia? What prospects await us?”
Anna Trunina: The processes taking place in the world, the exponential growth of technologies and their simultaneous decline in costs cannot bypass any country. It is very important to note that Russian scientists too can boast of significant successes in the fields we’ve mentioned. Thus last December the first operation in Russia to transplant a trachea grown from the patient’s stem cells took place, with organisational and financial support from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology High Technologies Center. In-depth research into the potential embedded in the stem cells of each one of us could give humankind incredible tools for regeneration our organs and tissues.
“What advice can you give to young scientists and innovators?”
Sergei Musienko: Today Russia’s young scientists and innovators need discussion forums where they can get together and discuss the results of scientific work, exchange opinions on the main areas of modern science and make direct scientific contacts. This is the opportunity which our Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology High Technologies Center is currently providing.
Also, a conference on the issue of training specialists in the field of singular technologies for the economy of the future will take place in September at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. It is currently being planned as a national arena for transferring experience and exchanging opinions, geared towards young researchers.
Anna Trunina: The main recommendation from me is to study the English language. And not simply for everyday conversation, but to learn it in such a way that you’ll be able to study in it. The people here are always open to talking, and moreover it’s not important whether the person sitting next to you is a student or a top manager from the Forbes list, for example Steve Wozniak, who looked in on us recently. Today all the global issues are resolved in English, and our innovators and scientists also have something to share. Connections and communications are the answer to everything now.