Continuing the story about the main directions of the university's development, we present an interview with the Rector of NCFU, Professor Tatiana Alexandrovna Shebzukhova, about the bioagrotechnology cluster:

"At the Future Technologies Forum, our President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin identified the development of bioeconomics as one of the main projects of Russia's technological leadership.

At NCFU, we are solving this problem by forming a bio- and agrotechnological cluster, which has become the mainstay in our Priority 2030 program.

We have built a comprehensive system: we form a portfolio of scientific research for the requests of industrial partners, students prepare theses on their orders, retrofit laboratories for these tasks and, of course, update educational programs. Moreover, we begin to train personnel in advance – within the framework of the project "Basic Schools of the Russian Academy of Sciences" we create agroclasses and chemical classes for schoolchildren.

Currently, more than 800 (eight hundred) future specialists are studying at our university in 15 educational programs in the field of bio- and agrotechnologies. They are the ones who will develop the industry in a few years.

It is important to note that out of 46 NCFU basic departments, 8 work closely with leading enterprises and scientific centers in the region in the field of bioagrotechnology: from classical areas of raw material processing to high–tech fields such as genetics and breeding.

For example, we have been conducting research with the North Caucasus Federal Scientific Agrarian Center for more than five years, including three grants from the Russian Science Foundation. We have jointly created a unique database of complete genomes of 21 domestic sheep breeds, including 450 samples. Today, 120 bachelors and 15 undergraduates are studying under the program "Genetics and Breeding". Each of them will be particularly in demand: the industry is currently experiencing a shortage of almost 10,000 specialists at all levels.

All conditions have been created for scientific work in the cluster: 7 research laboratories and 3 educational and laboratory complexes have been opened. It is worth mentioning the Vivarium, the Genomic Center and the Center for Biotechnological Engineering, where scientific ideas are already being transformed into working technologies and ready-made solutions.

It is the innovativeness of the cluster approach, which unites university, business, government and science, that makes it possible to solve complex problems in a comprehensive manner.

Thanks to this, together with the Stavropol dairy plant, we have developed a technology for the production of lactose and lactulose for the first time in Russia. Both projects were implemented in Russia for the first time and now 15% of the total lactose demand is produced in Stavropol.

As part of the bioagrotech cluster, we are now focusing our efforts on several areas:

· firstly, the creation of geographic information systems for precision farming, and we are actively cooperating with Stilsoft in this area;

· secondly, on projects of genetic breeding of plants and animals. Here, our genome Center is actively developing partnership projects with the North Caucasus Federal Scientific Agricultural Center and the Damate Group of Companies;

· Thirdly, we are continuing projects to create and implement new food technologies, including food products based on deep milk processing;

· and fourthly, our chemists, biologists, and geneticists are developing areas for the creation of veterinary drugs, plant protection products, and long-acting fertilizers in the interests of the region's largest agricultural holdings.

Bioeconomics is much more than a field of scientific knowledge and education. This depth was well conveyed in his open lecture at NCFU by the President of the Kurchatov Institute, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor Mikhail Valentinovich Kovalchuk, who elaborated on the strategy for the development of nature-like technologies in Russia. I can note that the projects that our scientists are working on today fit well into this logic and contribute to solving the tasks set.

Together with scientific partners, business representatives, and regional authorities, our cluster can become a real catalyst for change, with the ultimate goal of improving people's quality of life while respecting the natural potential of our country."