Abstract:

The global trend in the development of regional systems of science and education is the emergence of “ecosystems”, which are characterized by active interactions between universities, research institutes, business companies, infrastructure organizations, and government bodies. Currently, “intellectual ecosystems” are being formed on the basis of multi-level communication, including reflection and coordination of interests, goals and activities of agents and key stakeholders. Based on digital technologies, platform solutions will be created to support the development of such intellectual ecosystems.

A digital platform is currently being created for the intellectual ecosystem of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, which is one of the largest industrial regions of Russia. A structural model is developed; user groups and the main functions of the platform are defined.
The objective of this study is to detect the interests of users and their requests for functions, services and content of the digital platform.
The research method is a survey of experts (participants in the emerging ecosystem of science and education which are potential users of the digital platform). The experts are the representatives of business, government, academia, students (a total of 295 respondents).
According to respondents, the key items of the digital platform should be representations of:
1) universities and other educational organizations;
2) scientific institutes;
3) institutions and funds supporting science, education, innovation;
4) leading scientific schools of the region;
5) business organizations and engineering companies.

Representations of leading research projects, online educational programs and courses will also be in demand.

The most popular information is announcements of events (conferences, seminars, discussions, master classes, etc.); information on competitive selections of scientific and educational projects; online discussions on topical scientific, social and cultural issues in a comprehensible language; information on ongoing scientific, educational projects and innovations in the region.

The needed platform functions are information proceeding (search, filters, ratings, subscriptions), communication with experts and other participants in the ecosystem, filing applications for competitions of the regional fund for the support of scientific activities, user self-organization (event reminders, personal organizer, etc.). Users are interested in services such as an “active library” (the bot that searches and offers new publications in the field of user's interest); publication services; tools for organizing teamwork on the project (invitation of participants to the project, maps and schedules of works, a shared library, etc.).

The results of the study can be used in the design of digital resources and communication platforms for scientific and educational ecosystems.

Keywords:

Intellectual ecosystem, ecosystem of science and education, digital platform, university.