Youth Creativity and Innovation Center

The Youth Creativity and Innovation Center (YCIC) was founded in Lipetsk in 2013. The Center operates under the auspices of the Novator Youth Scientific and Technical Innovation Center that has developed and implemented regional programs encouraging the youth creativity in scientific and technical spheres. These programs develop technical creativity of schoolchildren, encourage creative thinking of middle-school students and invention activities, engage higher education students in solving of SME issues in the Lipetsk Region, and promote technical conferences, contests, exhibitions, etc.

The Novator Center students are the winners of various international invention and innovation exhibitions held in Taiwan, Croatia, Ukraine, Russia, took the second place in the Generating Ideas for Russia TV contest for inventors, participated in the Russian HTTM creative exhibition (2007–2012) in Moscow, etc.

The YCIC has considerably expanded the creative opportunities for the Lipetsk students providing them with access to the necessary industrial technologies. The Center was equipped with the high tech equipment allowing the students to produce industrial samples of their innovations.

The YCIC spurs the young generation's interest to industrial technologies and innovations, and cooperates with scientific innovation organizations of the regional universities, engaged in the priority areas of the science and technology development.

In the first quarter of 2014 the Center was visited by 58 students and 185 schoolchildren against 72 and 250 persons respectively in 2013.

The Center hosts a variety of events for development of scientific and technical creativity of schoolchildren, including seminars, trainings, master-classes, and provides consultations and information to small and medium-sized companies. The Center also plans to exchange its experience, knowledge and technologies with other Russian centers and foreign partners.

Such events help the rising generation to experience new technologies and innovations, and choose their future path. The efficiency of the YCIC is proved by the growing numbers of the Centers' customers, students of higher and professional institutions, and new patent applications.

Scierntific researches are crucial for innovative production that is why it is so important to involve the younger generations in R&D activities. It is necessary to develop the youth creativity, engage the schoolchildren and students on promising projects. Such activities contribute a lot to the training of skilled and qualified staff required for the development of the regional economy.