Rector's Column

30 Сентября

THE ROLE OF NORTH-EASTERN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY IN STAFFING OF INNOVATIVE MUNICIPAL INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT IN YAKUTSK

E.I. Mikhailova, Rector of North-Eastern Federal University
A speech at the International Conference of the International Assembly of Capitals and Cities "Interaction Between Business and Government in the Modernization and Development of Municipal Infrastructure of the Northern Territories" on September 12, 2013, Yakutsk

It is known that any modern city creates a demand for innovation in the development of municipal infrastructure, in at least six ways:

1. Self-organizing system of housing and communal services users

2. Energy efficiency and resource saving

3. Modernization and reconstruction of infrastructure

4. Tariff regulation system

5. Private-public partnership

6. Staff potential of public utilities.

In our opinion, universities can participate quite actively in the implementation of four directions. Last year, at the initiative of A. S. Nikolayev, the mayor of Yakutsk, a competition was held on policy design for the socio-economic development of Yakutsk until 2032.NEFU won the competition and developed a draft strategy, which I hope will be approved by the new members of the City Council. In addition, comprehensive development programs will be developed, including ones for municipal infrastructure development. We conducted several social surveys of citizens, which, along with community meetings, show that the problems of municipal infrastructure are the most acute and urgent among all others. It is not a secret that these problems, hindering socio-economic development of the territory, bring an element of instability into social life of any city and region. We proposed a comprehensive approach to the development of public utilities and their infrastructure considering their high social and economic importance. For example, we proposed a technical state survey of concrete buildings, technology audits, developing of solutions in order to improve the comfort of housing with the use of new materials, designs and technologies, normative financing of minor and major repairs to housing, modernization of infrastructure, creation of small innovative enterprises (SIE) based on the introduction of innovations, high technologies and scientific achievements.

NEFU is a regional center of the North-East for training and innovation (for municipal infrastructure of the republic included); it trains professionals and offers specific innovative projects to solve pressing municipal issues, which are particularly acute in the severe conditions of the North.

Today, our university, established in 2010 with the support of V. V. Putin as a federal university on the basis of 3 higher education institutions and 4 scientific research institutes, covers over a quarter of the entire country with its scientific and educational activities. We train 20,000 students from 27 regions of Russia and 22 foreign countries, representing every continent except Australia and Antarctica; we conduct scientific research in 17 directions. The university has 21 training units, 6 scientif ic research institutes, and 3 branches.

At year-end 2012, NEFU took a worthy 35th place among 456 universities in the National Universities ranking of the country owing to the educational programs, research projects and implementation of practice-oriented learning. Specialist training at our university has been historically influenced by the industrial development of the North, the need to develop life-support industries in the region. The project designed with “ALROSA” is economically effective.

NEFU has more than 700 cooperation agreements with large manufacturing and infrastructure enterprises. Joint projects promote the establishment of NEFU as a center of engineering education and innovation development of macro-region. Today about 40 % of the annual intake in NEFU, and 100 % in our branches in the cities Mirny, Neryungri, and Anadyr are devoted to the engineering fields of study.

In order to attract the best graduates to enter the university, we created the "North-Eastern University Education District" Association which consists of the best educational institutions of Yakutia, Chukotka, Kamchatka and Magadan regions. In 2013 11 winners of the All-Russian academic competition entered NEFU, and the highest number of them (six) entered the Institute of Engineering and Technology, and one – the Institute of Physics and Technologies. 753 out of 1686 high school graduates of Yakutsk (45%) became the students of NEFU.

Among the top 212 universities in the country, our university took 24th place in the ranking of universities chosen by best school graduates.

Arctic Innovation Center has been working for 3 years; it shows the effect of full innovation chain from basic research to serial production. It consists of the Center of Collective Use, Center of Computational Technologies (with a unique supercomputer), Development Center of SIE, a business incubator, Center of Intellectual Property, Commercialization Center, and others. Nineteen SIE (more than 100 new permanent workplaces) started to reach the design capacity and receive income. The number of received protection titles for intellectual property is five times as much as in 2010.

Training of municipal infrastructure personnel in NEFU is conducted in over 17 fields: higher vocational education – 10, vocational secondary education - 3, elementary vocational education - 4. In the main university - in the Institute of Physics and Technologies, Institute of Engineering and Technology, Technological Institute, Faculty of Road Construction. Moreover, at the Polytechnic Institute in Mirny there is training for Electricity specialists (higher vocational education). At the Institute of Technology in Neryungri there are four fields of higher vocational education in Power and Heat Power Engineering. In Chukotka filial in Anadyr, there are two fields of higher vocational education in Power and Electrical Engineering.

The Institute of Physics and Technologies (PTI) trains engineers in the field of higher vocational education: Electric Power Supply, Power and Electrical Engineering, Power Supply of Companies, Heat Power Engineering and Heat Technology. Admission in the last 3 years was 230 students (budget of the RF - 177, the state order of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) -21, commercial - 32).

The Institute of Engineering and Technology (ETI) trains students in four Bachelor's program specializations "Heat and gas supply and ventilation" and "Water and sanitation". The Institute has trained 803 specialists for municipal infrastructure from 1997 to 2013. Admission in the last 3 years - 252 students (budget of the RF - 202, the state order of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) – 0, commercial - 50).

Technological Institute (TI), which became a part of NEFU in 2011, is the only one institute in the republic that conducts training for municipal infrastructure, taking into account regional conditions in three levels of vocational education:

Higher Vocational Education: Equipment and Technology of Welding. In pursuance of the agreement with the Ministry of Housing and Utilities and Energy of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), specialists and heads of sections for local units of utilities in regions and Yakutsk are trained. Admission in the last 3 years - 129 students (budget of the RF - 100, the state order of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) - 5 commercial - 24)

Vocational Secondary Education: Welding engineering, Engineering and operation of buildings and structures, Water and sanitation.

Elementary Vocational Education: Welder (electric welding and gas welding work), Fitter of sanitary engineering and ventilation systems, Wireman of power systems and electric equipment.

Graduate of TI EVE has 2-3 professions. In pursuance of the agreement with the Ministry of Housing and Utilities of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), in 2013 training for EVE new profession "Master of Municipal Affairs and Housing" was started. TI with the participation of teachers and students carries out research in analysis of plumbing product destruction and failure of heating systems with specific recommendations, development of optimal assembly technology and pipeline welding using steel pipes in the Far North, welding of plastic pipes, and others. These technologies were studied and implemented with the participation of students during their traineeship at the enterprises of Municipal Affairs and Housing and institutes.

PTI maintains a close relationshipwith the companies in Yakutsk - Yakutsk Combined Heat and Power Plant, Yakutsk State District Power Plant, Yakutsk Hydroelectric Power Plant, Power and Electricity Supply, Municipal Unitary Enterprise “Teploenergiya” (Heat Energy), Managing Company Municipal Affairs and Housing of Gubinskoe, State Unitary Enterprise “Municipal Affairs and Housing” of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), “Yakutskenergo” JSC, “Sakhaenergo” JSC, “Sakhaneftegazsbyt”. JSC Enterprise managers coordinate educational programs, organize practice for students, participate as members of the State Attestation Commission, as supervisors of graduation projects, and reviewers. In the student design-engineering bureau of PTI, there are graduation projects on the development of energy-saving measures in organizations, on improving the energy efficiency in specific heat and electricity supplying companies, on modernization and development of new energy-saving power supply systems. Students perform real-world projects, which can reduce electricity losses to 20%, projects on introducing new energy-saving technologies.

"Center of 3D Modeling and Virtual Reality" Laboratory of PTI and SIE "Multidimensional Technology" use a method of a laser scanning that allows the construction of digital models of complex engineering objects and components (pipes, cables, tanks, supporting structures, facades of buildings), both of the entire objects as well as their individual parts. Possibility of obtaining data about hard-to-get, potentially dangerous objects in situations where the direct access to them is difficult is being researched. In addition monitoring of object state when in operation and deformation control when there is a load on the structure are conducted;

PTI in conjunction with “Optogan” CJSC (St. Petersburg) is the executor of a federal complex project "Intelligent Systems of Energy-Efficient Agricultural Production in Protected Ground with the Use of LED Lighting". The project costs 350 million rubles. It aims to develop an energy-saving technology (two times the efficiency) of intelligent greenhouse systems based on LED light sources of high power for use in environments with limited natural light sources. According to its results an automated control of LED lighting technology will be established, the experience of which can be extended to urban facilities.

ETI cooperates with such large organizations as the Ministry of Housing and Utilities of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Ministry of Architecture and Construction of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), State Unitary Enterprise “Housing and Utilities” of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Yakutsk Combined Heat and Power Plant, “Vodokanal” JSC, Municipal Unitary Enterprise “Teploenergiya”, “Sakhatransneftegaz” JSC, “Lenagaz” LLC, etc., as well as design institutes. Students undergo practical training in enterprises and organizations engaged in the design, installation and operation of systems of heat and water in order to consolidate their theoretical knowledge and practical skills. The Institute in conjunction with the State Unitary Enterprise Housing and Utilities of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) organizes an annual student construction team to conduct energy audits of heating systems in the settlements of the republic. Collected data forms the basis of electronic passports of boilers and heating systems (there are eight SIE in ETI).

Teplokomfort LLC SIE performs:

1. Comprehensive energy audit of buildings and constructions, vital infrastructure, and industry. Forty-two agreements were concluded with the organizations of the republic to carry out thermal imaging surveys, energy certificates development, and thermal performance surveys of buildings. Thermal imaging surveys of residential houses of 464, 112 series are made. Some of their results show low thermal protection of houses, condensation and mold due to inadequate ventilation, heat loss through joints of building structures due to poor heat insulation. As a result, recommendations were provided on overcoming the existing issues.

2. In the field of community redevelopment:

- Design and manufacture of block modules with autonomous energy supply for engineering support of local buildings. Three-layer tanks made of polymer materials were designed for private individual housing water and sanitation. Using of polyurethane foam and polyethylene as an insulation material increases product life by 50 years and provides high heat resistance, durability, and integrity .

- Technology and production of frame block modules with sanitary facilities (WC) were developed for the improvement of low-rise apartment buildings in Yakutsk, which do not have central water supply and sanitation system. Block modules are easy to transport, install and are simple to operate.

In a year and a half the SIE carried out work on the improvement and installation of engineering water supply and water disposal systems on sites: "The complex of energy-efficient houses in the village Appany of Namsky region", the house with 12 apartments in the village Appany, 23 houses in the village Hara of Megino-Kangalassky region, a number of private houses and public buildings in Yakutsk.

Currently, the company has all the resources and equipment for conducting development activities and producing innovative products. In 2014-2017, the total sales of innovative products should be no less than 40 million rubles, and the market share in the republic should be no less than 5 %.

Employment of graduates. A high level of training in NEFU is confirmed by the successful employment of graduates. In 2012, we achieved 100% employment of graduates, 72.8% of graduates had a job in their field of study, and 98% in the engineering profession. Two hundred and ten agreements for training were concluded with ministries, municipal entities, institutions, and companies of the region, including the Governments of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) and the Jewish Autonomous Region.

Every year at the university there is a meeting of graduate students and representatives of the Ministry of Housing and Utilities and Energy of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), the Department of Housing and Utilities of Yakutsk, State Unitary Enterprise “Housing and Utilities”, “Yakutskenergo” JSC, “Sakhaenergo” JSC, “Energosbyt” JSC, “Transnab” JSC, “Teploenergoservis” JSC, Yakut Energy Repair Company JSC, “Vodokanal” JSC, “Housing and utilities” JSC of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), “Elektromontazh” LLC, “Yakut heating networks” LLC, etc. for the presentation of enterprises, establishment of direct contacts between graduates and employers, information sharing about vacancies in companies, discussing the requirements of employers and employment issues.

However, I would like to emphasize the need for the establishment of a reward system by the Government of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) to attract more young people into housing engineering, both of students and of young engineers and technicians. We see this as the only way to produce new technologies, improve productivity, and develop.

NEFU Institute of continuing vocational education trains employees for municipal infrastructure, municipal and domestic water supply (“Vodokanal” JSC) under the President's program of advanced vocational training for 2012-2014 on “Nanotechnology in the context of advanced development of the Northern territories", under the program of professional retraining "Heat and ventilation", and on the requests of the Ministry of Housing and Utilities of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). The Institute developed a retraining program for engineers in the field of housing and utilities who do not have any special education for technical posts in specific sites of work. There are plans to train welders in a training service center with modern "Kemppi" equipment; this equipment passed environmental tests in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). The training service center will be established in October 2013 and it is assumed that it will encompass most of the enterprises in Yakutsk and the Republic.

A comprehensive training center in the field of energy efficiency and saving was established in 2012 for specialist training in the field of energy efficiency in enterprises and organizations.

In September 2013, five SIE will be set up including three in the sphere of housing and utilities as part of NEFU Arctic Innovation Center:

SIE "TAGS" plans to implement the following services:

1. The company will provide services for high-quality cleaning of solid surfaces of corrosion products, oxygenated coat, organic and other contaminants, as well as of previously applied paint, sealing and other protective composite coating followed by the application of protective metallic and composite coatings with the help of supersonic high temperature thermal shock stream on the basis of a developed know-how. Construction and installation contractors, companies that operate the housing and utilities system, repair shops, and the like are the potential customers.

2. SIE will conduct excavation work at low temperatures based on know-how "Digging work in frozen ground". Contents of the service consist of the impact of supersonic thermal shock and thermal abrasive stream on water-rich and ice-rich permafrost in order to defrost them. The technology is unique in the Republic’s territory, and is designed for excavating (development) of frozen soil and water-flooded rocks. It improves productivity by 4-8 times, reduces the cost of operations by 3 times compared to obsolete sand-blast machines, blast and hydrodynamic surface preparation, which are used in Yakutsk now. Average projected sales of products and services are 16 million rubles a year. SIE plans to create seventeen new workplaces. Engineers and technical specialists of “Yakutskenergo” JSC, “Sakhaenergo” JSC, State Unitary Enterprise “Housing and Utilities”, “Vodocanal” JSC, and “LORP” JSC expressed a preliminary interest.

SIE "EKOREZINA" in the framework of a joint patent with SB RAS Oil and Gas Institute created an eco-oriented technology of automobile tires recycling and manufacturing of activated crumb rubber for modification of road and engineering materials (paving slabs, rubber floor coatings and coatings for the improvement of the surrounding areas). An opening of a mini-factory for rubber slabs production is in the planning stage. Engineering companies, manufacturers of sports and road coatings (“Rosavtodor” and regional manufacturers), manufacturers of rubber technical goods, and companies serving the oil industry can join the rank of consumers. In the next five years the amount of tires accepted for recycling will be no less than one thousand and five hundred tires a year. The expected profit (per year) is more than 21 million rubles. The SIE plans to create 25 new workplaces.

In addition, the SIE plans to produce paper products from recycled paper with a variety of natural fillers (silicate of alumina, bulrush, onion peel, larch bark, etc.) - garden cups, containers for vegetables, paper bags with anti-bacterial coating, and other products. Production is planned to be practically wasteless - products can fully «dissolve» in soil without causing harm, and even enrich it with mineral supplements. In comparison, plastic bags can lie in the soil without decomposing for 1000 years. In this regard, we suggest to authorities to consider the possibility of adopting a special statutory act controlling the procedure of collection, sorting and recycling of waste in Yakutsk.

As you know, one of the major problems of our city is the poor condition of roads, streets and block courtyards. Due to underfunding, repairs are primarily done to roads, streets and block courtyards in the center of the city while suburbs gradually lose their normal form, becoming difficult-to-navigate, uncomfortable zones. Training, research and production center “Avtodormost”, created at the Faculty of Road Construction, together with "ROSDORNII" is testing new, non-rigid road materials - modified asphalt concrete developed jointly with SB RAS Institute of Oil and Gas. These materials can be used in construction of low intensity of use roads and streets, and most streets and roads on the outskirts of our city are like that. Modified asphalt concretes were applied in experimental plots of Pokrovsky and Viliuisk tracts in 2012-2013. The cost of installing and repairing such streets and roads is significantly less than asphalt – by 20 %, and a service life, a time between overhauls increases by 20 %.

Training, research and production center "Avtodormost" could test new materials, technologies, techniques, and equipment in the experimental sites provided by "Yakutdorstroy" and its industrial base.

In addition, "Avtodormost" masters cold recycling technology that ensures the alignment of unsurfaced roads. This technology can significantly improve productivity and reduce the time of constructing and maintaining unsurfaced roads, which are numerous on the outskirts and in the suburbs of Yakutsk. Joint venture formation of "Avtodormost" and "Yakutdorstroy" will be instrumental in the introduction of new technologies and the organization of practice-oriented training.

OFFERS:

1. It is necessary to develop a long-term program for the sector, synchronized with the long-term plans of the Republic and the macro-region with the participation of NEFU, in order to determine the scientific and resource-based possibilities of the municipal infrastructure of Yakutsk, which includes qualified labor supply, innovations after the approval of the development Strategy of the urban district “Yakutsk” until 2030, including:

- Staffing demand forecast by levels of vocational education, profession and profiles.

- The plan of training and retraining employees of municipal engineering.

2. To develop a mechanism of annual municipal order for retraining and advanced vocational training of municipal engineering workers of Yakutsk in NEFU.

3. From the point of view of introducing innovations, Yakutsk can be considered in two key lights:

Firstly, Yakutsk is the capital of science and education, and the center of innovative solutions and technologies.

Secondly, Yakutsk is one of the key consumers of innovative technologies and solutions. This refers to the innovative town planning, technology and management solutions in the field of housing and utilities and engineering needed to solve the most pressing problems of the city.

In this regard, it is necessary:

- To develop regulatory mechanisms that would motivate the contractor and the customer to introduce innovative technologies;

- To provide funding for scientific research.