PetrSU Opens First Study Room Together with the Kurchatov Institute

The opening was attended by the President of the Research Center "Kurchatov Institute" Mikhail Valentinovich Kovalchuk and the Head of the Republic of Karelia Artur Parfenchikov.

Petrozavodsk State University has been cooperating with the national research center for more than 10 years.

The study room is equipped with controllers produced in Russia - a unique product of scientists from the Kurchatov Institute, which will be used in the educational programs of Petrozavodsk University.

As Mikhail Valentinovich Kovalchuk noted, the task of creating Russian controllers was initially set for use in defense technologies. Today, the key issue is their implementation (instead of the foreign ones used) in civilian infrastructure: industry, energy, housing and communal services and other sectors of the economy.

“We should not be vulnerable and dependent on Western software products,

Mikhail Kovalchuk emphasized.

Sergey Vlasov, Deputy Head of the Center for Advanced Microelectronics at the Kurchatov Institute, spoke about the work of the study room.

A total of 10 workplaces with controllers have been created at Petrozavodsk State University: six in the IT Park of PetrSU and four at the Institute of Physics and Technology of PetrSU. In the future, their number is planned to increase.

“Karelia has been implementing automated control systems at industrial enterprises for several years now - Petrozavodskmash, the Foundry Plant, and others. Now, students from PetrSU will be improving them and creating new ones (and, I am sure, better ones),

- commented the Head of Karelia Artur Parfenchikov.

The first industrial automation study room in Russia will begin operating in September 2025. The equipment will be used in higher education programs implemented at PetrSU and in additional professional education programs.

Today, an agreement on strategic cooperation was signed between the National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute" and Petrozavodsk State University.

The agreement provides for cooperation between the parties in the development and implementation of joint projects and initiatives aimed at ensuring a scientific and technological breakthrough in the implementation of priority areas of science and technology development and improving the personnel training system to ensure technological leadership of the Russian Federation.

In the afternoon, Mikhail Kovalchuk gave a lecture "Nature-like technologies - new opportunities and new challenges" to students, postgraduates, and teachers.

“The agreement is the result of our work over many years. We will do everything for our part to ensure that our cooperation develops in the future. We thank Mikhail Valentinovich for his interesting lecture. We all enjoyed meeting such an interesting, erudite person. We will be glad to meet again,

- Anatoly Viktorovich Voronin, Rector of PetrSU, summed up the meeting.