The Vice Speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation was introduced to the advanced developments of the university in the field of new materials, chemistry and bioengineering of soils, and also met with young scientists of the university.

"Southern Federal University demonstrates exactly the model of organizing the research process that is in demand by the state today – a seamless transition from a fundamental idea to a finished industrial product. Special attention should be paid to the work of the Center for Low-Tonnage Chemistry, where the use of artificial intelligence technologies makes it possible to shorten the cycle of bringing new materials to market to several months. To achieve technological sovereignty, it is necessary to replicate such practices, in which science functions in close conjunction with the real sector of the economy," Victoria Abramchenko emphasized.

The visit began with a tour of the Center for Micro- and Low-Tonnage Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, created as part of the national project "New Materials and Chemistry". Victoria Abramchenko was introduced to three joint sectors working in partnership with leading industrial companies: the silica reverse engineering sector with GC "Titan" (projects on import substitution of functional materials), the polyurethane compositions development sector with RT-Epaflex and the microfluidic technologies sector with SIBUR, where they clearly demonstrated how fundamental research is turning into products in demand by the industry..

"Without a serious fundamental basis, none of the developments presented today could have been implemented. The key advantage of the country lies in the availability of scientific expertise based on fundamental research. Federal universities were created precisely to integrate the potential of scientific schools, to overcome disciplinary boundaries, and an interdisciplinary approach is our main competitive advantage today," said Inna Shevchenko, Rector of SFedU.

The Chemistry Center was created to dramatically accelerate the development cycle of new materials. The key innovation is an intelligent microfluidic platform controlled by artificial intelligence, which makes it possible to move from laboratory techniques to production without a lengthy pilot stage, reducing the time to bring a product to market to 8-12 weeks. In 2025, as part of a federal project, SFedU received a subsidy of 125 million rubles for the purchase of equipment for the center.

"We have proposed an original approach to creating single photon sources for quantum communication systems. The method consists in special processing of the plate, which makes it possible to accurately determine the localization of the sources being formed. This approach provides a significant reduction in cost and creates the prerequisites for scaling up production. Currently, the cost of one plate for creating such sources is about five million rubles, and subsequent processing increases costs many times over. The technology we are developing makes it possible to form sources over the entire plate area, which opens up prospects for industrial production. The level of our research meets international standards, which is confirmed by independent expertise. Currently, a team of young scientists is working to bring the development to the stage of the finished product. In parallel, the field of digital agents for managing experimental processes is developing. Back in 2017, we published an article on the application of big data methods for synchrotron research, and currently the center has a specialized group working on the development of digital agents for process control. This allows us to validate experimental data and solve scaling problems," explained Alexander Soldatov, head of the Materials Science and Synchrotron–Neutron Research department.

Young SFedU scientists also demonstrated to Victoria Abramchenko their developments, which they are currently working on - interdisciplinary projects at the junction of biology, medicine, physics and IT at the Faculty of Chemistry, the Faculty of Physics, NITC Neurotechnology and other departments of SFedU.

Then the delegation went to the Competence Center "Bioengineering of Soils" of the D.I. Ivanovsky Academy of Biology and Medicine. The Center was established in 2025 to implement the strategic project "Technologies of Soil Bioengineering" of the Priority 2030 program. Its task is to accelerate the transfer of breakthrough achievements in the field of soil bioengineering into the practice of agriculture and environmental management. The Center unites more than 160 scientists – soil scientists, microbiologists, biotechnologists, geneticists, physicists and engineers. Six employees are in the top‑2% of the most cited scientists in the world. The laboratories employ postdocs from India, China, Iran, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Egypt. Key partners include the Kurchatov Institute Research Center, ASI, agricultural sector enterprises, and scientific organizations of the BRICS+ countries.

"We are faced with the task of forming a joint competence center – the federal center for Soil Engineering and Land Use. We are currently designing this center together with the Don State Agrarian University. A meeting of the Ministry of Agriculture's working group will be held next week to consider this initiative. There is no research of this scale in the world practice: we face an extensive set of scientific tasks related to the study and preservation of soil fertility. By now, the Kursk and Belgorod regions, four historical territories, and the Donetsk Botanical Garden have already joined the cooperation. In the course of studying the composition of soils, we identify fundamental problems, such as the transformation of the humus base and other processes that require urgent scientific understanding and practical solutions. The strategic goal of our work is to achieve yields of 100 quintals per hectare," said Tatiana Minkina.

In addition, Victoria Abramchenko was shown the developments of youth laboratories: carbon sorbents and biofertilizers for soil restoration, metagenomic maps, an automated system "Farmer's Personal Assistant" based on big data, neural network platforms for predicting the properties of microbial consortia. Of particular interest was the microbial consortium project, which was successfully tested on board the Bion-M spacecraft No. 2.

The visit of the Vice Speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation ended with a conversation with young scientists of SFedU - leaders of youth laboratories, students of the School of Leadership Researchers, etc. During the meeting, the role of young researchers in achieving the country's technological leadership, resource support tools, opportunities for participation in national projects "New Materials and Chemistry", "Bioeconomics", "Unmanned Aircraft Systems" and others were discussed.