Greeting the participators of the forum, Chairman of the RAS Siberian branch Academician Alexander Aseev noted that the meeting is being held in the wake of the Summit of the Heads of the SCO member states that took place in Yekaterinburg on June 15, and realizes the principles of the Declaration of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states Academies of Sciences. Reportedly to the Public Relations Centre of the RAS Siberian branch, Alexander Aseev singled out 14 priorities of joint scientific researches: nano-, biotechnologies, geological prospecting of energy carriers, heat power engineering, laser technologies, ecology, education and research programs.
Deputy Plenipotentiary of the President of Russia in the Siberian Federal District Vladimir Psarev designated SCO as “one of the most influential and powerful international structures” and underlined that principal directions of its activity “have objectively regional orientation.” The President of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan Murat Zhurinov called the Novosibirsk Academic city “Mecca of the Russian science” and characterized joint work as continuation of traditions of the single soviet scientific school.
Vice-President the Chinese Academy of Sciences Academician Li Chiayang told of numerous programs of China’s and the SCO countries’ scientific institutions, such as preservation of biodiversity in Central Asia, round-the-clock global weather monitoring (jointly with the Russian Academy of Sciences). Summer schools of the Chinese Academy of Sciences look an interesting undertaking, where 4 or 5 young scientists from the SCO countries annually come. The RAS Siberian branch research people jointly with colleagues from China and Mongolia study tendencies of environmental conditions and processes of desertification in Central and North Asia.
Academician Aseev, speaking on the Russian part, also singled out a number of areas being worked out by scientists from different countries under the SCO programs. Particularly, these are joint exploration works, creation of a system of satellite data analysis, Russian-Mongolian-Chinese program of fluctuation in climate study in deep retrospection. A number of Siberian scientists adhere to an opinion that so called “global warming” we are going through, is not irreversible. Alexander Aseev also noted that the SCO science programs are also open for scientists from other countries and exemplified a successful Germany, Russia and Mongolia archeological expedition on the siunnu culture study.
Within the Forum, heads of key directions of the RAS Siberian branch formulated concrete proposals on intergovernmental science projects.
Vice-Chairman of the RAS Siberian branch Academician Vasily Fomin called a number of Siberian scientists’ developments close to innovative implementation – 360, which could be of interest for the SCO partners. Among them are nanopowders on basis of tungsten and titanium carbides, high-frequency surfaces intermittent tempering, plazmo-thermal processing of harmful and medical waste products.
Academician Nikolai Dobretsov told of an international program of desertification process study, under which some stereotype views on global climate tendencies are being revised. “Siberia needs an idea equivalent to its uniqueness,” Deputy Director of the Institute of Economy and Industrial Production of the RAS Siberian Branch Viacheslav Seliverstov underlined, speaking about a regional strategy planning with an increasing intergovernmental factor. Economists suggest a projected approach instead of the sectoral one, full-fledged reconstruction of the Northern Sea Route, and in terms of international cooperation - “5 conditions of mutually advantageous energy cooperation.”
Director of the Institute of Catalysis of the RAS Siberian branch Valentin Parmon suggested, on the lines of the European Community, to create SCO joint laboratories in the priority scientific areas. Chief Executive officer of the Center of closed system of the Institute of Biophysics of the RAS Siberian branch (the city of Krasnoyarsk) Alexander Tikhomirov informed of the course of negotiations with the Chinese scientists on future experiments on imitation of human vital activity on a planetary station, lunar or martian one.
In accordance with the results of the Forum a Joint Appeal of heads of academic science to the SCO countries governments was signed.
The Appeal states that its goals are practical implementation of the mutually advantageous cooperation between the Shanghai Cooperation Organization countries scientific institutions and promotion of actual innovative projects in the territory of the SCO countries in the current economic context.
It was highlighted that one of the major tasks of this cooperation was ensuring conditions for joint researches conducting, engineering developments and their manufacturing application in the territory of the SCO countries, using in the first place possibilities of the Chinese-Russian industrial park in Changchun and platforms of high technologies development in the Novosibirsk and Tomsk Academic cities.
The Appeal’s authors singled out 15 priority directions of researches and developments, as well as underlying mechanisms of cooperation: formation in the territory of the SCO countries of joint laboratories, educational, manufacturing centers and industrial parks, organization of training courses for teachers and undergraduates and graduate students training within the SCO university that is being established.
The Appeal contains a proposal to the SCO states governments to create a Single Fund for SCO’s science and technologies, above all, in order to work out joint programs of regional development and cross-border co-operation, providing a rationale and preparation of practical recommendations for the most comprehensive and complete use of the SCO economies' potential.
The Appeal was signed by Chairman of the RAS Siberian branch Academician Alexander Aseev, Vice-President the Chinese Academy of Sciences Academician Li Chiayang, President of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan Murat Zhurinov, the Vice President of the National Academy of Sciences, correspondent member Turatbek Omorov and Vice President of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan Khurshed Karimov.
In the course of the Forum the Confucian Class openings ceremony also took place in Novosibirsk State University. According to the NSU chancellor, Professor Vladimir Sobianin, the University is performing 17 contracts with the SCO countries and in 2008, 305 students were admitted from there. In 2009 NSU won in an open contest for the right to become a resident of the SCO Network University in the field of IT technologies. Confucian Class, Vladimir Sobianin believes, first must become interesting for researchers of the RAS Siberian branch collaborating with Chinese colleagues.
NSU partner in the Confucian Class openings is Xinjiang University (Urumqi), where a similar structure will be established – a Russian Center.