NOVO-OGARYOVO, February 8. /TASS/. It is very important to create a national supercomputer infrastructure in Russia, Moscow State University Rector Viktor Sadovnichy said at a meeting of the Presidential Council for Science and Education Monday, adding that a working group had already developed the concept for such infrastructure, as approved by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

"In terms of total [supercomputer] performance Russia is in 18th place in the world. This is not high. Only two our supercomputers remain in the annual Top 500 list. […] Therefore, it is very important to implement this concept of the supercomputer infrastructure development," Sadovnichy said.

He pointed out that the development of this concept is based on the April 2020 presidential order on working out proposals for improvement of Russian supercomputer capabilities, including those in the regions. In particular, the working group outlined 700 tasks that require the use of a supercomputer.

Commenting on development of interdisciplinary studies, the rector mentioned the COVID-19 situation. "[We must] not only evaluate social and economic losses, but, of course, develop models for prevention of similar catastrophes. […] We must improve our skills of working with big data and boost interdisciplinary studies in humanitarian sciences, employing mathematical modeling methods. It is needed, among other, for […] coordination of all national scientific projects," he said.

Sadovnichy also disclosed that Moscow State University plans to open its branch in Sarov, in order to prepare qualified staff for fundamental research.