Head of the Plastics Welding Department at the E.O. Paton Electric Welding Institute of the NAS of Ukraine, Corresponding Member of the NAS of Ukraine Maksym Yurzhyenko participated in the panel discussion "Universities and Defense Tech: How to Jointly Build an Ecosystem for Talent Development," held within the framework of the student engineering challenge Brave1 – Brave Students.
The discussion also included Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine for Science and Innovation Denys Kurbatov, President of Kyiv Aviation University Kseniya Semenova, Vice President of Kyiv School of Economics for Education Yehor Stadnyi, and representatives of technology-defense companies.
The focus of the discussion was on the integration of education, science, and business to create innovative solutions in the interests of defense, as well as the training of a new generation of engineering personnel.
During the conversation, issues of transforming engineering education in wartime conditions, developing dual education, involving students in real engineering projects, and creating effective cooperation mechanisms between universities, research institutions, and defense product manufacturers were raised.
Speaking on the panel, Maksym Yurzhyenko emphasized the important role of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in developing innovations for defense interests and training personnel. He stressed that the Academy’s research institutions must become full-fledged R&D centers for defense tech, ensuring the creation of new technologies on order from manufacturers and their implementation in practice.
According to the scientist, it is necessary to strengthen the interaction between science and business, create competitive financial conditions for researchers, and form an environment in which universities and research institutions are integrated into the modern technological ecosystem.
Participants in the discussion paid special attention to the development of science parks, startup accelerators, joint laboratories, and new models of cooperation with industry.
During the panel, examples of successful interaction between education, science, and the defense sector were given, including the creation of joint laboratories, performing applied developments on order from manufacturers, and involving students in working on real technological solutions.
The participants emphasized the need to form a holistic ecosystem in which students are engaged in engineering activities during their studies, and science and education become an integral part of the development of defense technologies and strengthening of the state’s security.
Photo: Brave1