Russian-European biotechnologies
Yuri Medvedev, Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Federal Issue), June 18, 2008
The winners of joint scientific projects in which scientists from Russia and the European Union participated for the first time were named.
Many Russian scientists complain that only our specialists conduct expertise in Russian competitions of scientific projects. This gives rise to talk about bias in the distribution of large sums of money. It seemed that Russia's first joint contests with the European Union would suffer the same fate. (By the way, in the West, reputable foreign scientists, including from our country, are invited to evaluate projects.)
Recall that in 2005, the heads of the Ministry of Education and Science and the European Commission for Science and Research agreed on a fundamentally new form of cooperation. Only Russian and EU scientists should participate in joint projects, and on an absolutely parity basis. After all, the parties finance them on shares. After careful coordination, four such projects were selected. Everyone will receive two million euros from the EU budget for three years, and Rosnauka will allocate another two million euros.
Back at the end of 2007, there was little hope that foreign specialists would be admitted to our competitive "kitchen". And yet there was a breakthrough.
– For the first time, applications for competitions to the European Commission and Rosnauka were evaluated by both our and foreign scientists, – Alexander Klimenko, Deputy head of Rosnauka, Corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told the correspondent of "RG". – This is fundamentally important. One "team" will work on each joint project, only separated by state borders.
So, the Russian winners have already been named. For example, in the nomination "Energy Production from biomass" it is, in particular, the Research Automobile and Automotive Institute (NAMI) and the Institute of Catalysis SB RAS.
It is clear that the problem is extremely important for Europe, where there is a shortage of oil and gas, but who would be interested in a bio-installation in Russia? However, Klimenko believes that the demand will be substantial, since we have many areas where there is no centralized power supply. Offline installation is the solution to the problem.
Another joint project, "Development of equipment and control systems for large energy systems", will allow the Russian electric power industry to integrate into the European energy system and reduce the risks of severe accidents. The consortium that won this competition included, in particular, the Institute of Energy Systems SB RAS, FSUE VEI, etc.
Among those who will create a "biofactory" for obtaining vaccines with the help of plants are the Bioengineering Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Biofac of Moscow State University, the Research Institute of Influenza of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. The task is the most important: in fact, unlike current vaccines, which have many side effects, "herbal" drugs are completely safe.
Finally, the fourth joint project will focus on improving the properties of enzymes – universal biological catalysts. And these are new medicines, new food technologies, new products, etc. Among the winners of the competition are the Research Institute of Physico–Chemical Biology of Moscow State University, the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The sore question is: who will own the intellectual property created during the implementation of joint projects? According to the deputy head of Rosnauki Inna Bilenkina, everything depends on the scientists themselves.
"We are not going to impose any one solution," she explained. – As the participants of a particular project themselves agree, so it will be. Rosnauka proposes to assign intellectual property rights created within the framework of federal targeted programs mainly to performers for its further commercialization.
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru19.06.2008