Sevastopol State University and OSK-Technology have signed an agreement to create a prototype of a small-size research vessel ‘Pioneer-M’ for comprehensive research of the marine coastal water area on March 22 in Moscow. The hull will be built at the production facilities of the Sredne-Nevsky Shipbuilding Plant, the superstructure will be built at the facilities of its Crimean subsidiary, Sudocomposite and the final assembly will be carried out at Sevmorzavod. The project is being implemented with the support of the Ministry of Education, the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) and the Agency for Strategic Initiatives. Delivery of the project is scheduled for the summer of 2020. ‘Pioneer-M’ is the first ship in the country designed by a university with the participation of students, as well as the first ship of this type using new technologies for civil shipbuilding in Russia,” said Maxim Evstigneev, Vice-Rector for Development, Scientific and Innovative Activities . Financing of the construction of the Pioneer-M is carried out within the framework of the federal target program ‘Research and Development in Priority Areas of Development of the Scientific and Technological Complex of Russia for 2014–2020’. The industrial partner is the Ship-Building Centre ‘Zvezdochka’. At the signing of the contract, the President of USC, Alexei Rakhmanov, noted that the creation of research vessels is a vital task for the country, since the oceans are a key source of resources in the future. He also noted that the Pioneer-M project will implement new design and construction technologies that are important for the development of the civil shipbuilding sector in Russia.