Sirius Education Center

The Sirius Educational Center in Sochi was created by the Talent and Success Educational Foundation on the basis of the Olympic infrastructure at the initiative of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin. The fund was established on December 24, 2014 by outstanding Russian figures in science, sports and art.

The center is designed not only to create conditions for young talents, but also to support the viability of the Olympic city of Sochi and its facilities. The center invites the winners of competitions that have their own scientific projects, children spend 24 days in the center, studying with the best minds of Russia.

The center conducts its activities on the basis of the charter of the Fund and a license for educational activities with the support and coordination of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.

The purpose of the Sirius Educational Center is to early identify, develop and further professional support gifted children who have shown outstanding abilities in the field of arts, sports, natural sciences, as well as have achieved success in technical creativity.

The center operates year-round. Travel and stay at the Center for Children is free. 600 children aged 10-17 from several dozen regions of Russia come to Sirius every month. They are accompanied by more than 100 faculty and coaches who upgrade their qualifications at the Center. The training is conducted by leading teachers of sports, physical and mathematical, chemical and biological schools, as well as outstanding figures of Russian art in the field of academic music, classical ballet and fine arts. The educational program is designed for 24 days and includes both classes in the specialty and developing leisure, master classes, creative meetings with professionals recognized in their fields, a complex of health procedures, and general education classes during the school year.

The main tasks of the Center

• Coverage of the maximum number of gifted Russian schoolchildren and their teachers, assistance in improving the level of professional training in priority areas for the Center in all constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
• Development of conditions for realization of intellectual and personal potential, professional self-determination and formation of children regardless of their place of residence, social position and financial capabilities of their families.
• The development of new forms of inclusion of gifted children in intellectual, cognitive, artistic, physical culture, sports and social-useful activities using the potential of the Olympic infrastructure of Sochi and the partners of the Center.
• The creation of a system of "social elevators" for talented young Russians, uniting career guidance, educational, sports, creative, research and other resources for the development and professional formation of children.
• Creating incentives for partnership between various stakeholders, involving new participants, teachers, experts, partners.

History

2024: Center development strategy to 2035 adopted

The Board of Trustees of the Sirius Innovative Scientific and Technological Center in November 2024 approved a development strategy until 2035, providing for a fivefold increase in the volume of innovative goods and services, as well as a threefold increase in investment in research work.

According to the press service of Sirius, the priority areas of development will be the development of drugs, medical materials science, genetic technologies in agriculture, environmental projects, green power and intelligent transport systems.

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Chairman of the Council of the Federal Territory "Sirius" Elena Shmeleva said that the strategic goal of the center is aimed at creating new products, their commercialization and scaling to strengthen the technological sovereignty of Russia.

In February 2024, the center celebrated its fifth anniversary. During this period, more than 80 companies that received access to Sirius University equipment, tax incentives and venture financing became residents of the INTC.

According to the press service, resident companies will be able to implement projects of a complete innovation cycle in the field of microelectronics, instrument making, robotics, digital technologies and artificial intelligence. An infrastructure is being created on the territory of the center to attract highly qualified specialists.

Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Chernyshenko noted the transition of the center from the stage of resource concentration to a full-fledged launch, which includes the creation of infrastructure and active work with residents.

The experimental legal regime of the federal territory allows residents to test scientific solutions in unique conditions not available in other regions of Russia.^[1]

2022: Science School in Physics opens for gifted teens

On August 3, 2022, the Sirius educational center announced the launch of the August Scientific School of Physics. The program will last until August 24 and will be aimed at teaching talented schoolchildren key aspects of quantum physics and the basics of quantum technologies. Along with educational lectures, scientists will hold laboratory workshops in the field of laser physics, quantum optics, photovoltaics.

The main curators of the program were Professor of Southampton University and head of the scientific group "Quantum Polaritonics" of the RCC Alexei Kavokin, director of the Physical Institute named after P.N. Lebedeva and head of the scientific group "Precision Quantum Measurements" of the RCC Nikolai Kolachevsky and deputy head of the Educational and Methodological Laboratory for working with gifted children of the Moscow Institute of Physics, head coach of the Russian national physics team VitAly Shevchenko. Students from 11 regions of the country were enrolled in the program: 39 ninth grade students, 34 tenth grade students.

The educational initiative was developed with the participation of the Central Subject and Methodological Commission on Physics, the Educational and Methodological Laboratory for Working with Gifted Children (MIPT), the National Quantum Laboratory, the Russian Quantum Center (RCC), MISIS, FIAN and St. Petersburg State University.

Our task is to turn school physics into a lively and exciting activity. The mysteries of quantum mechanics will help us in this. The program itself is built as a bridge from the XIX to the XXI century: we start from the classical physics created by Newton, Maxwell, Boltzman, and show how from several seemingly insignificant paradoxes, a new science was born at the beginning of the XX century: quantum mechanics. We will trace the path of its development - from the Planck hypothesis to the quantum computer of Feynman and Deutsch. Schoolchildren will be offered practical and laboratory work in which they explore the quantum nature of light. In our free time from lessons, we will talk about the life and work of modern scientists, "said Alexei Kavokin, professor at the University of Southampton, head of the Quantum Polaritonics scientific group at the Russian Quantum Center.

2021: Receiving a subsidy in the amount of 3 billion rubles for the purchase of equipment and software

At the end of June 2021, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree on the provision of subsidies to the Sirius Scientific and Technological University. About 3 billion rubles will be spent on supporting the university from the federal budget in the period from 2021 to 2023.

According to the document published on the website of the Government of the Russian Federation, the allocated funds will be used to pay for educational and research activities, purchase equipment, software and consumables, and publish scientific collections and articles.

Mikhail Mishustin allocated 3 billion rubles to Sirius University for the purchase of equipment and software

The press service of the Cabinet noted that subsidies should stimulate the development of the university as one of the leading educational institutions in the country.

The same report says that from 2021, the university will start recruiting for full-time studies in graduate and postgraduate studies. In the future, it is also planned to launch undergraduate programs. By the end of June 2021, a mathematical center, scientific units for genetics, artificial intelligence, and cognitive research are already operating within the framework of Sirius.

It is assumed that the platform of the Sirius University of Science and Technology will become a platform for a network partnership between universities, this will expand students' access to leading education programs, regardless of their location.

According to Elena Shmeleva, head of the Talent and Success Foundation, a single educational space will make resources and infrastructure equally accessible, and will also help develop monitoring of the quality of education.

The network form of education implementation involves the inclusion of scientific and industrial organizations in the process in order to expand the capabilities of universities in the formation of current programs. We want, entering any university, every student can be on such a program: undergo practical training in laboratories on the basis of research centers and companies that introduce Russian technologies in the regions of presence, "she said.[2]

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