Today during an official visit to Russia, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte attended a formal ceremony for the signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation Between the Skolkovo Foundation and the University of Groningen.
By affixing their signatures to the agreement, Oleg Alekseev, the Skolkovo Foundation Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer for Education and Research, and University of Groningen President Sibrand Poppema, expressed their willingness to cooperate. The signing of the Memorandum took place at the opening of the Russian-Dutch Conference, “Bioenergy in Russia: Development Trends and Russian-Dutch Cooperation,” in the presence of Dutch Prime Minister Mr Mark Rutte and the Russian Federation’s First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov.
According to Oleg Alekseev, the target of the signing is a partnership between the Foundation and the University in the academic and scientific field. It is expected that scientists from both countries will meet to share their experience and study research and development projects and technologies. Laboratories for collaborative research will be set up in both Russia and the Netherlands. There will also be a search for partners and potential investors. Skolkovo Open University will draw employees and partners from the University of Groningen to organise joint lectures and seminars.
Joint research projects are also planned in the following areas:
Background Information:
About the Skolkovo Foundation
The Skolkovo Foundation for Development of the Center of Research and Commercializing of New Technologies was created at the initiative of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in September 2010. Its goal is to mobilise Russia’s resources in modern applied research and create a favourable environment for academic pursuits in five key areas of technological development: energy and energy efficiency, space, biomedicine, nuclear technologies and IT. The project calls for establishing the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (SIST), research institutions, a business incubator, a technology transfer and commercialisation centre, representative offices of foreign companies and R&D centres, residential quarters and social infrastructure, as well as for eventually spreading the effective system to other innovation regions in Russia. Special laws governing Skolkovo give its residents special economic preferences.
Visit the Foundation's official web site at http://i-gorod.com.
About the University of Groningen
The University of Groningen (Dutch: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen), located in the city of Groningen, is one of the largest and oldest universities in the Netherlands. Founded in 1614, it has graduated more than 100,000 students since its inception.
The University of Groningen has nine faculties, nine graduate schools, 27 research centres and institutes, and more than 175 degree programs. It is a member of the Coimbra Group.
The University includes the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG).
The University of Groningen is ranked in the top three European research universities in the fields of Ecology, Material Sciences, Chemistry, and Astronomy. Other strong research groups are in Nanoscience, Physics, Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Medical Sciences, Neurosciences, Sociology, Philosophy, Theology, Archaeology and Art. Each year, more than 5,000 research publications go to print and an average of 260 graduate students are awarded doctoral degrees.
The University’s scientists have included Frits Zernike, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics; Johann Bernoulli, a pioneer in the field of Calculus; and Jacobus Kapteyn, the first discoverer of evidence for galactic rotation.
Notable students have included Aletta Jacobs, the first female university student in the Netherlands; Wubbo Ockels, the first Dutch astronaut; and Wim Duisenberg, the first president of the European Central Bank.
www.rug.nl
About Skolkovo Open University
Skolkovo Open University (SOU) is a system for disseminating modern scientific and technological knowledge and skills, as well as a mechanism for supporting a network of active and talented young people orbiting around Skolkovo Innovation Centre.
SOU invites leading researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs, and government officials who are determining the context for development in science and technology to show their students new horizons and give them a global vision of the world.
openu.posterous.com
Skolkovo Foundation Press Office
Roman Shcherbakov
Tel.: +7 495 967 0148, ext. 2260
Fax: +7 495 967 0196
E-mail: RSherbakov@corp.i-gorod.com
www.i-gorod.com