Six talented young scientists and specialists awarded the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee Prize

They received the award as winners of the open regional competition based on the results of 2013. All projects underwent a rigorous selection process, evaluated by independent experts. The main criteria were effectiveness, demand for the work, and its impact on the region's competitiveness.

The young scientists' competition is being held for the eighth time. Typically, about 25 nominees are selected in the region, whose work relates to fundamental and applied research.

This time, two representatives from VSTU became laureates among the first: Yulia Vailunova and Elena Korobova.

– I work at the Department of Economic Theory and Marketing and am pursuing postgraduate studies in "Production Management," – said Yulia Vailunova. – My competition work is directly related to my dissertation topic – the development of integration processes in the light industry. This topic is relevant because the development of partnerships between enterprises is one of the factors of their competitiveness. In my work, I used the Orsha Flax Mill and its interaction with garment enterprises, in particular OJSC "Znamya Industrializatsii," as an example.

The other laureates presented developments in the field of applied research. For example, Associate Professor Marina Avilkina from the Department of Finance at PSU proposed practical insights for improving accounting and cost analysis for the creation of innovative products in universities.

Associate Professor Arina Kabanova from the Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Maxillofacial Surgery at VSMU is working on improving diagnostic and treatment methods for purulent-inflammatory diseases of the maxillofacial region.

Senior Lecturer Konstantin Rakhanov from the Department of Programming Technologies at PSU proposed his innovative approach to assessing speech intelligibility in information leakage channels.

Victoria Zaitseva, a researcher at VSU named after P. Masherov, and a postgraduate student at the Institute of Experimental Veterinary Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus named after S. Vyshelesky, is studying the fungus Fusariumsambucinum. This fungus is grown in nutrient media and in the future may be used in the creation of a new generation drug to increase the productivity of farm animals and poultry.

Nevertheless, over the eight years of the competition, none of the laureates' works have yet been implemented in production.

— This cannot be called the fault of the scientists, — commented Konstantin Cherny, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Economy of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, who was present at the award ceremony. — In today's economic conditions, an enterprise is not always able to pick up and apply a useful scientific development, and it remains at the level of experimental material. The issue of bringing theory closer to practice is now actively discussed. The II Congress of Scientists of the Republic of Belarus, under the auspices of the head of state, was also dedicated to this. Without innovation, there will be no competitiveness, we understand this perfectly. In the absence of resource reserves, Belarus's main trump card is its human potential, specialists, кадры, developments. Therefore, it is important to overcome the gap that has formed between universities and production, to stimulate innovative activity in work collectives. About 32% of the region's industrial enterprises are already innovation-active. This is a good indicator for the republic.

The award ceremony for the winners took place within the framework of the International Scientific and Practical Seminar at the Vitebsk State Technological University, which was attended by representatives of the scientific communities of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine.

Ekaterina Knyazeva, "Vitebskiye vesti"