A new educational space has been opened at KNRTU — the “Vacuum Pumps and Units” laboratory. It is located at the Department of Vacuum Technology of Electrophysical Installations of the Institute of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering and is fully equipped with modern equipment and measuring instruments. This is where bachelor’s and master’s students will take classes on all types of vacuum pumps — piston, oil‑free, jet, sorption, and others. In total, the laboratory has 16 stands for conducting more than 30 types of laboratory work.

The university was helped to create a new space by its industrial partner — the company “Vakuummash”. The “Vladimir Mechanical Processing Center” and the NPO “Gelikon” (Saint Petersburg) also took part in equipping the laboratory.

All of the above‑mentioned enterprises are members of the Business Association of Clusters of Russia, which coordinates the interaction of business, government, and science to develop industry and ensure the country’s technological sovereignty. Therefore, the opening of the vacuum engineering laboratory at KNRTU coincided with the regular meeting of the industry committee “Vacuum Engineering”, which was held directly in the laboratory premises.

The meeting was attended by Igor Savelyev, Deputy Head of the Administration of the Rais of the Republic of Tatarstan and Head of the Expert Department of the Rais of the Republic of Tatarstan, and Oleg Korobchenko, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan and Minister of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Business Association of Clusters of Russia. Some committee members joined the meeting online. The meeting was chaired by Sergey Mayorov, Chairman of the Board of the Business Association of Clusters of Russia and Chairman of the Board of the Industrial Cluster of the Republic of Tatarstan.

Before the meeting began, a solemn laboratory opening ceremony took place, featuring the traditional ribbon‑cutting. The head of the Department of Vacuum Technology and Electrophysical Installations, Professor Alexey Burmistrov, gave the guests a tour of the educational space and told them about the equipment on display. Despite the fact that the laboratory had been completely re‑equipped, it was still possible to see several Soviet‑era instruments on the stands. As Alexey Burmistrov explained, they had been installed deliberately so that students would have an idea of the equipment from different periods.

The meeting was opened by the rector of KNRTU, Yuri Kazakov. He noted the integral role played by JSC “Vakuummash” and its CEO, Evgeny Kapustin, head of the industry committee “Vacuum Engineering,” in the arrangement of the laboratory, including its design. According to the university’s head, it is especially important for the university that the enterprise, with which it has decades of close partnership, is as deeply involved as possible in training vacuum engineers — it participates in developing the content of the educational programs at the Institute of High Vacuum Materials, organizes internships for teachers, and ensures that students at KNRTU complete their practical training.

In his response, Evgeny Kapustin emphasized that most of the employees at Vakuummash, especially those who have joined the company recently, are graduates of KNRTU, so the partnership benefits both the university and the company.

Oleg Korobchenko also thanked the head of Vakuummash.

“You have invested not only material resources, but also time and a creative approach.” And this is a contribution not only to the development of KNRTU, but also to the development of our own plant, our industry, and to our youth — our future. “We,” the Deputy Prime Minister said, “will do everything on our part to ensure that the domestic vacuum industry develops, and that new projects are implemented in Russia and Tatarstan together with the vacuum specialists at KNRTU.”

Another distinguished guest at the meeting, Igor Savelyev, a graduate of the vacuum department of our university in 1993, also had reason to count himself among the vacuum specialists at KNRTU. For me, he said, it has been a great pleasure to be here, at my alma mater and at my home department, to see how the university is changing and developing. The department remains an authoritative scientific and pedagogical center for training vacuum engineers and developing vacuum technology in the country, and, in Igor Savelyev’s opinion, it could well become a focal point for creating a vacuum center on a scale of the entire Russia, if not the entire CIS.

Commenting on the opening of the new, well‑equipped laboratory, Igor Savelyev said:

— Updating the department is not only a joyful event for students and faculty; it is a tribute to our mentors, to those who created the department and the field.

He thanked his vacuum engineering faculty by name (some of whom, by the way, were present at the event) and called for the memory of those KNRTU‑KHTI scientists who made a significant contribution to the development of the vacuum engineering specialty to be preserved within the university’s facilities.

Sergei Mayorov, moving on to the meeting agenda, gave the floor to Professor Alexey Burmistrov for a report. Burmistrov spoke about the history and current state of the Department of Vacuum Technology for Electrophysical Installations, where they currently train bachelors, masters, and highly qualified scientific and pedagogical personnel. He also reminded the audience of the universal importance of the vacuum industry: vacuum technologies are now used literally everywhere — from the nuclear industry to the food industry; the production of modern electronics is impossible without vacuum.

Igor Savelyev supported the topic of vacuum in food technology, proposing that it is essential to take into account the need to set up a vacuum processing section for food products in Building K, which is slated for extensive renovation and houses classrooms, laboratories, and workshops of the Institute of Food Production and Biotechnology of KNRTU.

The presentation by Iaroslav Zhelonkin, CEO of Ferry Watt LLC (note that he is a graduate of KNRTU) on the state of the vacuum equipment and technology market in Russia also aroused great interest. The main problems identified by the businessman are the still relatively small share of the global market accounted for by domestic products and the significant fragmentation of the industry. To address the latter problem, he called for the creation of an association of vacuum technology manufacturers, within which it would be possible to organize the building of connections within the industry.

During the discussion of this and subsequent reports, the meeting participants exchanged views on current issues related to the development of the industry, examples of new products, and also discussed the results of the work and outlined the industry committee’s plans for the near future.

“We need to be a large association and work in this format across all regions of the country,” Oleg Korobchenko shared his vision, referring to the joint work of enterprises, universities, and government bodies. “There are many areas where we can demonstrate our capabilities; we need to look for new niches for the application of vacuum technologies.”

“Such off‑site meetings are a good format; we need to develop it,” Igor Savelyev summed up the meeting.