Published on: 2026-06-09
Source: Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University of Peter the Great –
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Politicians actively participated in the work of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Rector Andrey Rudskoy signednew cooperation agreementsand participated inkey events of the forum. The main event wassigning of the agreement with PJSC Gazprom. Polytechnic also participated in the panel discussion “SKB: from ideas to industrial implementation,” represented by Vice-Rector for Research Yuri Fomin. In addition, students and staff communicated with foreign colleagues and presented Polytechnic at the youth day of the forum.
At PMEPh-2026, there was a panel discussion “SKB: from idea to industrial implementation,” where the role of student design bureaus (SKB) in training engineering personnel, developing applied projects, and bringing university developments into the real economic sector was discussed. The moderator was the Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Afanasyev.The topics of the conversation were supporting SKB projects, the participation of universities and industrial companies in accompanying student developments, as well as the inclusion of SKB solutions in the tasks of regional development, technological sovereignty and national projects.
The discussion covered the experience of the Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University of Peter the Great. According to Polite: SKB is not a one-time initiative, but an important link in a comprehensive engineering ecosystem. Here, school and student projects gradually grow into applied engineering solutions for industrial customers. The university at the discussion was represented by Vice-Rector for Research Yuri Fomin.
Participants discussed how SKB can become a sustainable tool for training engineering personnel and accelerating the implementation of developments in industry. They talked about supporting student projects at all stages, about a partnership model between the university and companies that provides the best effect, and about how to scale successful practices to the regional and federal levels.
Yuriy Fomin noted that in the Politecha SKB model, they become the connecting link between education and the real sector. The work begins in the school and engineering classes, where students are given synthetic but engineering in content tasks that form the basic culture of design thinking. In the junior years, these skills are developed through prototyping their own ideas, and in the senior years, students are connected to real projects upon requests from industrial partners.
SKB in Politekh — this is a key link where engineering ideas are transformed into solutions for specific industrial customers. Here students work for the first time “for real” — with business tasks, deadlines, and personal responsibility for the result, emphasized Yuri Fomin.
According to him, a person gets acquainted with the profession when faced with real working conditions: clear requirements for results, deadlines, project budget, payment for completed work, and participation in handing over the work to the customer.
SCB sets a working contour between the auditorium and the real sector: educational skills are transformed into NIOKR and paid work, and the track from the first engineering tasks leads to participation in real projects and team formation, he added.
Discussion participants noted that this form of SKB work helps to close the shortage of engineering personnel. It is not only about training specialists, but also about introducing them to the profession through participation in real projects during their studies. They separately emphasized that such a model builds the chain “school — university — industry,” which enhances the sustainability of personnel training and the quality of engineering education.
The potential of SKB as an environment for forming new technological teams was also considered. Some participants of SKB continue to work with qualified customers and strengthen university laboratories, scientific-educational and scientific-industrial centers. Another part chooses the direction of their own technological projects and bringing developments to the market. In this context, SKB is viewed not only as a mechanism for personnel training but also as a point for assembling future technological leaders.
According to the results of the discussion, the participants expressed support for the development and scaling of successful CBC practices, the creation of clear and stable mechanisms to support student engineering projects, and the strengthening of ties between educational organizations, industry, and government customers. The proposals voiced on the platform are planned to be taken into account in the further work on developing the CBC network as one of the tools to ensure the country’s technological leadership.
In addition, teachers and students of the Institute of Industrial Management, Economics and Trade and the Humanities Institute of SPbPU took an active part in the youth day of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
This year, there is an increased interest from our students in participating in the Youth Day of the PME Forum. We have not been participating in the sections, held on Saturday, for the first year — it shows how motivated the youth is to participate, trying to attend as many events as possible. For them, this is indeed a significant day, which provides good opportunities for career prospects, professional contacts, and finding new development trajectories, — comments Olga Kalinina, director of the Higher School of Industrial Management.
On Saturday, a discussion was also held, organized by the Analytical Center VCIOM, with participants of the expert group aimed at gathering feedback from participants in the SPIEF-2026 on the main substantive and organizational aspects of conducting the forum. From the Polytechnic University, the discussion was attended by the Director of the Higher School of Production Management of IPEMEIT Olga Kalinina and the Director of the Higher School of Media Communications and Public Relations GI Marina Arkannikova.
This discussion concluded the results of the examinations conducted by the professional community. Throughout the entire forum, employees of SPbPU worked as accredited experts of the Roscongress Foundation. Eleven lecturers conducted professional expertise of sessions and sections. The obtained data will become part of the analytical materials of PMEF-2026 with applied recommendations.
Representatives of the Higher Engineering and Economic School of IPMEIT also held a meeting with colleagues from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
From the VIISH side, the meeting was attended by the director of the Higher Engineering and Economic School Dmitry Rodionov, associate professor of VIISH Darya Krasnova, and assistant of VIISH Nikita Blagoy.
At the meeting, the parties discussed issues of economic development, cultural features of interstate interaction, as well as possible areas of cooperation. Special attention was paid to the prospects of joint scientific and applied activities, the exchange of expert opinions, and the development of contacts between the educational community, the research community, and practitioners.
Dmitry Rodionov noted: For us, the dialogue with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not just an episode at the forum, but a strategic vector. We see great potential in joint research projects, especially in the field of engineering economics and digital transformation of industry. I am confident that the exchange of competencies with Saudi colleagues will allow us to reach a fundamentally new level of applied solutions and personnel training for high-tech industries.
Such meetings have special significance for expanding international activities. They allow building professional connections, better understanding the economic development features of different countries, and forming a basis for future joint projects, research, and educational initiatives.
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