President Putin Meets Nobel Prize Winner Zhores Alferov

Russian President Vladimir Putin has met well-known scientist and Nobel Prize winner Zhores Alferov.

We addressed issues of scientific and educational development, the scientist said. According to him, the president "agreed that the development of today's economy must be based on high technology, particularly in the spheres with maximum "intellectual rent" /such as biotechnology, information technology and environmentally friendly power engineering/." We maintain a fairly high potential in these fields, assuming leadership in some of them, the scientist continued.

But it is impossible to put these scientific research projects into practice without government investment. Private investment will come when it will be possible to get large dividends in a short time, Alferov believes.

The meeting also addressed the interrelation between science and education. Alferov believes there is no dividing them. According to him, modern science can and must work in education, set up its own educational institutions, "which is what we are doing now," while universities must revive their scientific departments.

According to Alferov, the president agreed that government investment was needed. The scientist expressed hope that his meeting with the president would have far-reaching consequences.