Vol 89, No 2 (2019)

One of the priorities in Russia’s scientific and technological development is the transition to environmentally friendly and sustainable energy and increasing efficiency in the recovery and advanced processing of hydrocarbon raw materials. Realization of this aim will not only create a balanced, stably developing R&D sector in this field, but also ensure competitiveness among companies operating in the global gas market. This necessitates the close cooperation between PJSC Gazprom, the largest transnational energy corporation, and the Russian Academy of Sciences. Back in 2002, the company’s board and the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences adopted the Program of Fundamental and Applied Research of RAS Institutes, within which research teams of the Academy carried out a set of studies on the most important problems in the development of Russia’s gas production. In 2017, the Research and Development Program in the interests of Gazprom was updated and aimed at further development of Russia’s energy and industrial infrastructure, the creation of a fundamental basis for new technologies, and the elaboration and implementation of innovative products and services at gas recovery, transport, and processing facilities.

Gas plays an important role in the fuel-energy balance of the countries that are the largest consumers of energy, Russia, the United States, and Europe. Efficiency of energy resources is provided in many respects using gas—turbine technologies, which have reached a high level of development. Russia has experience in gas—turbine construction and scientific and industrial potential in this field, however, it has not yet created a relevant government program. To ensure energy security and scientific technological development of the Russian Federation and to solve long-term problems of the energy industry of the twenty-first century, the formation and implementation of a comprehensive investment scientific and technological program (a national project) on developing and mastering domestic gas-turbine energy technologies under the scientific methodological guidance of the Division of Energy, Machine Building, Mechanics, and Control Processes, Russian Academy of Sciences, are suggested.

Supercomputer technologies are used everywhere in the world today. They determine the competitiveness of science, industry, and states. The United States, Europe, China, and Japan are investing billions in their development, promoting national programs in this field, and forming the basis for the future. Russia underestimates the importance of supercomputer technologies. Not only has it not joined the global trend, but it also misses a unique chance to use a huge potential of Russian specialists in this field. Our country needs a comprehensive supercomputer program.

This article discusses the choice of priority areas, including in the social sciences and humanities, based on the needs of society and the so-called grand challenges, rather than in the traditional logic of development of basic science, which can evolve at its own pace, not always in accordance with the actual needs or effective demand. This approach fits into the new conceptual logic presented in the Strategy for the Scientific and Technological Development of the Russian Federation. Sociological surveys of two types—general public poll and expert assessment—are used to facilitate the choice of priorities.

This article discusses the main external economic and military and political factors for the national security of Russia. The existing and potential trends are analyzed in the development of the system of international relations, which are associated with the continuing growth of financial and economic interdependence and the increasing competition between nations. The nations that are former and new leaders on the global arena play new roles and face contradictions in these processes. Special attention is paid to the processes related to the disintegration of the arms control system and the related deterioration of the global and regional military and political situation, especially in Europe and the Asia–Pacific region. The main sources of risks for the national security of Russia are identified in the context of these changes.

The article identifies the main components of developing national identity in Russia as the foundation for building nationwide civilization on a civic basis. Those importantly include the study and preservation of the historical and cultural heritage, i.e., archival and archaeological materials, cultural monuments, places of memory, and historical and cultural landscape. In addition to the outlined findings of the projects already completed by researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences, some promising projects have been proposed, such as compiling the corpus of the Russian language and other languages of the peoples of Russia, comprehensive dictionaries and encyclopedias, and publishing of collected works of classical Russian writers, as well as preparation of multivolume publications on the history of Russia. The importance of humanitarian and scientific support for infrastructure development projects, mass housing construction, and creating large-scale facilities and transport communications aimed at preventing the loss of cultural and natural environment and values necessary for national identity is substantiated.

In this paper, we discuss promising systems for reducing the combustibility of polymeric materials taking the environmental safety of the polymer usage into account. Polymer nanocomposites containing nanocarbon fillers and layered silicates as additives that exhibit a synergistic effect on reducing the combustibility of traditional polymer thermoplastics are described. Particular attention is paid to a new direction in reducing combustibility due to the use of intumescent flame retardants based on oxidized renewable raw materials that can be successfully implemented in the manufacture of wood and polymeric structural materials of wide use.

At the present time, gene technologies play a key part in the development of new approaches to the diagnostics and therapy of diseases. Russian scientists have already successfully introduced efficient preparations based on multiclonal antibodies into practice and have advanced developments in the fields of CAR-T therapy and gene-therapy preparations on the basis of recombinant adenoassociated viruses. Some gene diagnostic tools, which essentially improve the efficiency of medical care due to the personalized approach to the therapy of diseases, are also put into practice. The successful introduction of innovative technologies and contemporary methods of diagnostics and therapy is impossible without cooperation between academic science and business. The companies providing the conditions for cooperation with academic science and engagement of specialists of different profiles have hastened the mass introduction of gene technologies and, therefore, the defeat over many earlier incurable socially significant diseases.

The main instrument for implementing the Strategy for the Scientific and Technological Development of the Russian Federation should be integrated scientific and technical programs and projects of the full innovation cycle, the selection and development of which are assigned to the councils on the priorities of scientific and technological development. The authors present an approach to designing such programs and projects worked out by the Council on the priority of scientific and technological development “Territorial Connectivity of the Russian Federation.” The concept of “territorial connectivity” is defined, and its main types and subtypes are identified, which are characterized by the presence of specific social, economic, control, and administrative functions. The proposed sequence of steps is a targeted movement from defining the main directions of the program implementation to identifying relevant complex socio-economic problems within each area, and then to developing research plans, scientific and technical projects, and systemic measures of the state policy that ensure their solution. The “gate approach” applied to the program design makes it possible at each stage of its development and implementation to make the necessary adjustments and to organize effective communication with potential customers and participants.

A description, the scientific and technical tasks, and the development projects of the system of objective remote monitoring of facilities and resources in Russia are presented. The main objective of such a system is to obtain objective operational information for assessing the current state of regions, their resource potential, planning directions for the development of the country, and objective monitoring of the implementation of infrastructure projects. The proposed system can be an integral part of complex scientific and technological projects and programs aimed at solving the problems of connectedness of the territory of Russia.

The project Digital Land Use formed on the platform of the Unified Federal Information System of Farmlands is evaluated. It should provide elaboration and application of an intelligent system of planning and optimization of agricultural landscapes. Factors slowing down the development of agricultural production, including imperfect land legislation and a lack of control of the land status and inventory of soil resources, are discussed.

The most important steps taken on the path of development of domestic animal husbandry and aquaculture are described. They include methods for accelerating the selection pace in livestock and aquaculture using cutting edge technologies and state-of-the-art intelligence systems. The transition to rationed feeding and productivity control systems is highlighted. It briefly touches upon mobilization of national animal husbandry export resources, the problem of preserving biological resources, and long-term preservation of reproductive material from livestock and their wild ancestors. The outlined aspects include urgency for advancing genome-based technologies and “biologization” of products for animals, birds, and aquaculture protection.

Food independence is a strategic component of the country’s security, which is enshrined in a number of regulatory documents. Within the framework of the set goals, the priority tasks of group and individual product identification, including biological and geographical features; unification of evaluation criteria and objective principles for expanding their field; transformation of traditional technologies, have been updated.

It is predicted that the growth of production volumes and optimization of processes and consumption systems will be based on the application of a number of basic principles: “lifetime” formation of the composition and properties of raw materials; development of highly efficient production technologies and deep processing of agricultural products; implementation of algorithms for structuring logistics, storage, and processing/disposal of food and waste; and increasing the energy efficiency of production processes. At the same time, the strategic vectors of technology development are specialized and personalized nutrition, cross-border cooperation, food quality and safety, minimization of negative impacts on the environment, traceability of the food chain “from field to consumer,” etc. To achieve all this, wide introduction of modern (digital) technologies will be required, as well as the modernization of traditional practices and the creation of new methodological and process solutions.