SPbPU strengthens cooperation with Al-Farabi Kazakh National University

In November, Almaty hosted the first international scientific conference «New Way of Decarbonization of Economy (KZGT-2023)» organized jointly by Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University.

Al-Farabi KazNu is a long-standing partner of SPbPU. As leading universities of our countries, we find many points of shared interest to develop mutually beneficial cooperation. Recently we have signed an agreement on opening of the Russian-Kazakhstani center of engineering, partnership on the line of postgraduate studies and dissertations is developing. The joint conference is an example of serious scientific cooperation on one of the most demanded today topics — decarbonization of the economy. Scientists from our universities, together with colleagues from other countries, held comprehensive discussions to find solutions to this global challenge. I am confident that this scientific discussion will be continued in future joint research, noted Dmitry Arseniev, Vice-Rector for International Affairs of SPbPU.

The purpose of the conference is to discuss current economic and technological issues and problems in the field of energy transition.

The SPbPU delegation included specialists from the «Interdisciplinary Research and Education on Technological and Economic Problems of Energy Transition (CIRETEC-GT)» laboratory created within the framework of the «Technological Challenges and Socio-Economic Transformation in Energy Transitions» mega grant: the head of the laboratory Igor Ilyin, Doctor of Economics, Askar Akaev, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics, Askar Sarygulov, Doctor of Economics, Anastasia Lyovina, Doctor of Engineering, Natalia Politayeva, Candidate of Economics, Alisa Dubgorn, Candidate of Economics, and Konstantin Frolov, Candidate of Engineering.

The plenary session of the conference was opened by Mr. Zhanseit Tuimebayev, Chairman of the Board — Rector of Al-Farabi KazNU. He noted on the importance and timeliness of the event both in the context of cooperation between Russian and Kazakh scientific schools, and in the relevance of the agenda of decarbonization of the economy.

Professor Akayev in his report «Overcoming the Limits to Growth or Energy of the Near Future» also emphasized the exceptional role of the conference in view of the recent decision to establish in Kazakhstan a regional hub on UN SDGs for Central Asian countries, as well as the launch in Kazakhstan of the Fair Energy Transition Partnership Program for CAR countries.

At the plenary session, Russian, Kazakhstani and scientists from other countries spoke, sharing the results of scientific research and proposing for discussion a number of practical tasks in the field of decarbonization of the economy.

The second day of the conference was devoted to breakout sessions on various topics related to the transition to a low-carbon economy: mathematical models and scenarios of energy transition, technologies and materials, coal industry and coal-fired power generation, information technology and digital support model system, prospects for nuclear and hydrogen energy in low-carbon economic systems, environmental sustainability, social responsibility of society and decarbonization of the economy.

Igor Ilyin, Head of the CIRETEC-GT Laboratory of SPbPU, who moderated the section «Information Technologies and Digital Support Model System for Energy Transition Management», noted: It is enjoyable to see that the topic of energy transition arouses such great interest among scientists and business representatives of various countries. I would like to especially emphasize the inter-disciplinarity of both the topic in general and the conference in particular. According to the reports, we can conclude that the problem of energy transition should be considered in a complex. This large-scale, systemic task, which is on the agenda of the leadership of our countries, should be supported by the scientific community. The event allowed scientists and practitioners dealing with various aspects of energy transition to hear each other, to look at the problems being solved from a different angle, and also to start new effective cooperation. I am very grateful to the management of Al-Farabi KazNU for joint work in preparing this conference, as well as for the special warm welcome in Almaty.