Involvement of young people in the research and science is not an easy task, but feasible. This is facilitated by the establishment of the Youth Innovation Creativity Centres (YICCs) in Russia.
The third republican YICC focused on FabLab model has been opened today on the basis of vocational school No. 90 in Drozhannoe rural area.
The YICC - a professional workshop which has much in common with a laboratory or an expert’s workshop and equipped with a wide range of instruments and equipment which can be used for both: educational and commercial purposes.
FabLab – a global network of unified laboratories throughout the world with a common data base and a function to share the experience and consult with the leading global experts using videoconference system. FabLab due to the principles of openness and accessibility has turned into a global network of digital fabrication laboratories throughout the world which share common principles, use similar equipment and technology, share ideas and resources.
Opening of the Centre will enable children and young people to study modern equipment, learn the basics of engineering thinking and unlock their creativity.
It should be noted that the involvement of young people in the research and science has been carrying out for one hundred years. The first attempts were made in the far 1917-1918, when the first public children’s out-of-school center - Station of young nature enthusiasts was opened in Sokolniki, Moscow.
A wide network of children’s specialized institutions, which included technical and agricultural stations (Moscow, 1926), children's railways (Tbilisi, 1934), children's water station (Arkhangelsk, 1935), children's highway (Moscow, 1937), children's sugar factory (Vinnitsa, 1937), children's ceramic factory (Kharkov, 1938), the science and technology department at the Palace of Pioneers was created in the period when the government adopted a policy of the economy industrialization, the agriculture collectivization and polytechnicalization of education. Advances in the domestic space, the development of electronic technology, the emergence of computers stimulated the students’ interest in the natural sciences and engineering. Study groups, workshops and courses were not only a form of entertainment, but also helped to choose an occupation. Moreover, the development of scientific societies of students was supported by the Academy of Sciences and the State. Thus, the Students’ Research System with about three thousand scientific societies was formed with the labor of hundreds of enthusiasts in the Soviet Union by the end of the 70's. The System had been operated for decades, but in the 90s the activity of such clubs was suspended. Thousands of children all over Russia lost the opportunity to develop their skills and fulfill their potential. Revival of schools, such as the department of science and technology at the Palace of Pioneers, had become of vital necessity. Exactly for this purpose the RF Ministry of Economic Development in collaboration with the Association of Innovative Regions of Russia (AIRR) and Organization of Youth Innovative Russia (YIR) made a decision to create Youth Innovation Creativity Centres.
The Republic of Tatasrtan has become one of the 13 regions of winners and will include over 30 Youth Innovation Creativity Centres, 9 of which will be located in the Republic of Tatarstan. Two centres will be located in Kazan, by one in Zelenodolsk, Chistopol, Leninogorsk, Bugulma, Naberezhnye Chelny, in Drozhannoe and Bogatye Saby rural areas.
Russia’s first official opening of the Youth Innovation Creativity Centre (YICC “Idea”) was held at Technopark “Idea”, Kazan, on February the 27th, 2013. This day the main targeted audience – children had been presented the opportunity to see the true functions of the Center’s equipment, test it in operating mode and see the results of their efforts.
The second republican YICC “Creative” on the basis of Bugulma Engineering College was opened after a couple of weeks, on March the 15th. The group of children and the Centre’s timetable are in progress now.
Another two YICCs will be opened in Naberezhnye Chelny and Zelenodolsk in the nearest future.
