Winners of the III Aerospace Innovative Projects Competition
13 December 2018
The final part of the III annual Aerospace projects competition took place at the beginning of December at the opening of the TsAGI Technopark. The organizers of the event consider the science to be for young. And indeed this year more than half of the innovative finalists’ projects were presented by young teams, including two universities with strong links with industry.
Kirill Sypalo, TsAGI Director General and the member of the Russian Academy of Science opened the scientific competition. “Let us greet you at the opening of the third and traditional for us aerospace innovative projects competition,” he said. “The event has got a national status since last year. Three Ministers have come together to arrange it: the Ministry of industry and trade of Russia, Ministry of education and science of Russia and the Ministry of investment and innovation of Moscow Region. 49 applications were applied and 45 of them were admitted to the examination of the Skolkovo Foundation and the Fund for the promotion of innovation. 6 finalists were elected. The geography of participants is rather wide: it is Moscow and Moscow Region; Leningrad, Sverdlovsk, Samara, Rostov and other regions. The finale of the contest is timed to coincide with the opening of the TsAGI Technopark and completes the celebration of the Institute’s centenary.”
The finalists presented their reports and demonstrated not only courageous scientific ideas and creative initiatives, but also practical steps for their implementation. They spoke about the production aircraft modernization, the development of aeronautical equipment’s fairings made of modern materials, the development of machine tools for machining of aerospace technology, neutral gas system to downgrade the oxygen in fuel tanks up to 2%, and many others.
The experts evaluated the projects in real time. The main criteria were the scientific and technical level of the project, its novelty; commercial potential and the project team’s qualified participants, the ability of the team to continue working on the idea to get the result.
The winner of the competition became the project of Perm National Research Polytechnic University “Domestic equipment manufacturing and technology of finish precision machining of the aerospace engineering components.” “The novelty of this work is in the unique kinematics of lapping and polishing machines and honing machines,” said Aleksey Shafronov, assistant professor of the Department “Materials, technology and construction machinery” of the University. “It can significantly reduce their production, reduce the mass, energy and metal. These machines are designed by a team of our University, and they have no analogues in the world. 5 dissertations have been defended on the topic; one of them is a doctorial dissertation.”
The research-and-production association “Centroteh” (Sverdlovsk oblast) won the second place with the project, devoted to the development of composite radiotransparent radome of aeronautical equipment for civil and military aviation. The third place won JSC “Tehnodinamika”, which presented the project “The aircraft inerting gas system.”
In a special nomination of the National Research Center “Zhukovsky Institut” won the PJSC “IL” and its project “The special cargo ramp freight IL-96-500T based on the Il-96-400T for transportation of promising aerospace and unique oversized cargo.” The Ulyanovsk State Technical University’ s project “A concept of unmanned vertical take-off and landing complex” won a special prize of Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology and money reward of the “Inconsult K” consulting company.
The Innovative Project Competition is an annual event, organized by TsAGI. The Competition is focused on the search, support and promotion of innovative projects, which are the results of successful scientific and technological research and developments. It is held among universities, research organizations and industry players, with the potential for commercialization. This year the event was supported by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Fund for Infrastructure and Educational programs, the Fund for the Promotion of Innovation, the Skolkovo Foundation, and the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, NRC “Zhukovsky Institute”, UAC, Russian Helicopters. The first place winner gets a money reward of 100 thousand rubles, the second place — 75 thousand roubles, the third place — 50 thousand rubles.