AVTOVAZ and TSU launch HybridTech

“The frontline task of the HybridTech AES is to develop a set of hybrid and combined technologies with the necessary equipment in the interests of the automotive industry and related industries, as well as to train innovative-thinking engineers capable of ensuring the further development of AVTOVAZ and the industry as a whole,” said Alexander Selivanov, Director of the TSU Institute of Mechanical Engineering, head of the HybridTech AES.

He pointed out the fact that the industry employs almost 3 million people and generates a turnover of over 3 trillion rubles. AVTOVAZ, as the backbone of the industry, links one and a half thousand suppliers and over 300 dealers. The market share of AVTOVAZ in Russia has already reached 37%.

President of AVTOVAZ Maksim Sokolov said that today AVTOVAZ faces a large-scale task to achieve technological sovereignty in the model range production that Volga Automobile Plant has today, as well as to create new models. Such as the Lada Aura, new crossover models, and a number of electric cars that will also be produced in the AVTOVAZ product line.

“Of course, we are targeting Togliatti State University and the joint project on creation of advanced engineering school, HybridTech, to re-engineer the existing model range, and to develop new models, fundamentally new designs, including power plants and everything that makes up a car,” commented Maksim Sokolov.

AES' research and development programme includes four interrelated scientific and technological programmes and 39 projects oriented towards creating materials with unique properties, increasing productivity and energy efficiency of manufacturing processes, processing difficult-to-machine materials, and improving tool durability. 

General partner AVTOVAZ and seven other companies have confirmed their participation in the implementation. An engineering centre is being set up at TSU to develop “blocked” components and equipment. TSU competence centres are being transformed into a world-class Centre of Excellence in hybrid and combined technologies. All this will become a base for training highly qualified engineers.

“To give students time for project work with mentors, we are converting some of the lectures into eLearning format. We are using a new scheme of division of labour to quickly get professional content from subject-matter experts and transform it into actual online courses,” said TSU Rector Mikhail Krishtal about the changes in educational policy. “The students will have practice with absolutely real cases received from industrial partners. This will lead to a zero adaptation period for their employment. We distinguish three engineering positions: researcher, developer, and systems engineer (or integrator). For each position, we have developed a competence matrix, input, and output requirements.

AVTOVAZ, as a general partner, has guaranteed co-financing of the HybridTech AES programme in the amount of 1.383 billion rubles, including 1.244 billion rubles for R&D. Another 230.4 million rubles per year is co-financing from the federal budget. This amount corresponds to the second of three groups, which includes all 20 winners of the 2023 competitive selection process.

Leading scientists and engineers, including those from the Russian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, have been recruited to lead the engineering school. The engineering and re-engineering programme will be headed by the Chief Designer of AVTOVAZ, Sergey Amanov, who will also provide scientific guidance to the AES as a whole. The AES Coordination Council is responsible for strategic management. It will be headed by the President of AVTOVAZ, Maksim Sokolov, or one of the Vice-Presidents, members of the AVTOVAZ Board of Directors. From TSU, the Rector of TSU, Mikhail Krishtal, will supervise the AES.

The goal of the federal project Advanced Engineering Schools is to provide advanced, qualified personnel for high-performance export-oriented sectors of the country's economy and support universities in training engineers to achieve technological independence. The project was launched by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation with the support of the Russian Government in 2022.

In 2023, 57 Russian universities were allowed to apply for AES status, and only 20 were authorised to open an advanced engineering school. The number of schools in the country will, therefore, increase from 30 to 50. The competitive selection was conducted by the Council headed by Valery Falkov, head of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia.

Each of the 20 higher education institutions — winners of the 2023 selection — is assigned to one of three groups depending on the federal budget funding. In the first group with co-financing of 340.4 million rubles per year, there are only 5 universities, including Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow) and St. Petersburg University (St. Petersburg). The second group is opened by Togliatti State University with co-financing of 230.4 million rubles. There are 9 universities in the group. There are 6 universities in the third group with co-financing of 120.4 million rubles.