Concept: Science and Technology Festival

The INSCIENCE conference in Kyiv was an opportunity for aspiring scientists, technologists and start-up entrepreneurs to exchange ideas and create new initiatives across Ukraine.

“And there are our penguins!” shouted the station commander, pointing away. These birds were black spots on the top, but they were really a small group of penguins.

Across the Internet, listeners were amazed and enthralled by this live broadcast from the Ukrainian Antarctic Akademik Vernadsky station in Antarctica, directly from Kyiv.

What followed was a guided tour of the facility, its science program and facilities, including a wooden homestead built when Vernadsky Station was once the British Faraday Station (Unknown that there is a long and friendly relationship between the Ukrainian and British efforts in Antarctica).

From penguins to cold sea creatures, the Vernadsky Station, named after the famous first President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, conducts an interdisciplinary research program to understand the continent this is amazing.

This polar trip was one of the highlights of the three-day conference called INSCIENCE, which is the largest known scientific conference in Ukraine. An inspiring women-run organization of the same name planned a conference that brings together scientists, technologists and entrepreneurs on the cusp of starting new businesses across Ukraine.

I was excited about this event and the wide variety of projects. The days went hard with artificial intelligence, medical advances, computer technology and software development.

Presented in the form of keynote speeches and panel discussions, we went into detail, but heard from the people themselves, panels that presented many personal aspects of the problems and personal decisions and commitment needed to create new business ventures.

Running side by side was the Science Kids area, a children’s forum, with talks and activities to inspire them.

In fact, it goes without saying that it is particularly remarkable that such enthusiasm and ideas are being kept under the shadow of a full-scale attack.

From that perspective, the conference itself was a remarkable success. Each day was in a different place. Anyone who has organized a conference knows the amount of work involved in organizing a one-day conference, let alone doing this in three different locations on three consecutive days.

INSCIENCE has developed many ways to encourage women to enter science and use science and technology to improve the well-being of Ukrainians. It has become an engine of energy and business in the Ukrainian tech scene.

My speech was followed by a tour of the Vernadsky station, and I must say, it was a tough act to follow. However, it was well planned by the organizers, as I was able to continue the talk about life in Antarctica with some ideas about how we might view extreme life on other planets and how why would we care to do this at all.

The science and technology behind the study of distant worlds can help us improve life on Earth, for example, by helping us find complex organisms that can help important industrial processes such as mining or using dirt.

The conference is a unique creature. I have attended many academic technology meetings in my career and occasionally attend business meetings focused on industrial technology. But I have never seen science and business added to the mixing bowl and wholeheartedly mixed into an inseparable dough.

It worked well, leaving the mind refreshed.

In small meetings during lunch breaks and on the sidelines, strategies flowed back and forth from technologists to entrepreneurs and from these discussions new inventions would emerge. .

These days, huge amounts of data are flowing from society and it is no wonder that there is a lot of work being done in design, data analysis, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and all fields of I can find ways to work, to understand. , and use this flood of information. Discussions and panels explored ways Ukrainian startups are taking advantage of these vistas and bringing them to bear on health, medical and agricultural advancements.

There are many correlations in the goals of people using large datasets. Bringing them together for a few days is an effective way to keep everyone updated on progress and encourage cross-examination. Perhaps entirely new companies will emerge from those discussions.

I’m a space enthusiast, so I was particularly interested in a Ukrainian startup called MySat that built a smart prototype of ‘cubesat’ – small square satellites that are being launched into space.

Their educational model allows the user to practice building such a satellite, giving it instructions and sensors as they would be on a real space-bound satellite. Perhaps from this first device may emerge the next generation of Ukrainian space scientists and engineers who will use their experience with this intelligent simulacrum of satellites to develop different types of real jobs in space.

What struck me most during the meeting was how young Ukrainians became pessimistic and optimistic in the face of such an attack. We were treated to a discussion where new medical techniques were being used on the front line to improve blood transfusions for hundreds of soldiers every day, and to ensure their effectiveness.

The group, who are doctors at the beginning of their careers, impressed me deeply with their complete expertise.

These were people who, a few years ago, would have been just another group of medical students like others around the world, studying, enjoying their university days, writing exams . But the situation called them to save the lives of their countrymen, they put themselves in danger at the front.

The way they described their work, the progress they had made and casually mentioned that one day they might have the opportunity to write scientific papers explaining how they who invented blood transfusion techniques on the battlefield left me humbled.

In fact, to expand the point, I was amazed by the quality, honesty, deep-mindedness, and yet the simplicity of the youth of Ukraine when faced with the current situation. Yet in all this, their creative abilities, bright ideas and passion for their businesses and the joy of creating companies were not obvious.

At the end of the first day, I’ll be honest, when I stood on the big stage called “the main stage,” I felt out of place against those who had stepped on the boards hours before. But I was also touched by the acceptance and interest in what I was talking about. And, of course, I managed to try some very poor Ukrainians, who studied evening classes in Edinburgh.

As a bonus, the folk band showed up at the end of the day and looked forward to participating.

I left the meeting with the unexpected benefits of not only interesting new information in science and technology, but also with some ancient dance skills of the Ukrainian people, which I may have to surprise and surprise my friends if I get a chance. .

Science and technology in Ukraine is safe for the next generation. If Ukraine will provide a strong scientific and technical backbone to its youth, they will do amazing things. Of that, there is no doubt.

The views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Kyiv Post.