Life sciences of St. Petersburg: strength in unity

The Success Matrix
The united life sciences cluster has a chance to become an example
qualitative development of cluster initiatives in St. PetersburgNatalia Andreeva, "Expert North-West" No. 34-2012

The task of the projects that have become winners of the competition of innovative territorial clusters is to provide a modernization breakthrough in those areas and in those territories where initiative and self–organization are high, the development potential is objectively high and there is a prospect for entering world markets. At the moment, a list of pilot programs for the development of innovative territorial clusters has already been formed, which will be submitted to the Russian government for a decision on financing.

St. Petersburg took an active part in the competition and made several proposals, among which were selected as priority clusters: pharmaceutical and medical industry (previously – pharmaceutical cluster and cluster of medical, environmental instrumentation and biotechnology), radiation technologies, information technologies, radio electronics, instrumentation, communications and infotelecommunications. All these applications were included in the general list of pilot ones, which, of course, indicates both the high level of preparedness of the St. Petersburg participants of the competition and the significant economic potential of the projects included in the cluster development programs.

But only a few clusters that saw prospects in the joint implementation of some research, development and infrastructure projects were shortlisted for initiatives applying for federal subsidies. These are a cluster of radiation technologies, a pharmaceutical cluster and a cluster of medical, environmental instrumentation and biotechnologies that have decided to unite within the framework of life sciences (a concept that includes all areas of knowledge that are relevant to the study of living organisms, from biology to bioethics).

An excursion into historyThe St. Petersburg Radiation Technology Cluster is one of the first domestic clusters in the field of nuclear technologies.

Back in 2010, a group of key institutes and manufacturing companies working in the relevant field signed an agreement on the organization of a cluster (at that time – radiological, that is, related to nuclear medicine). The cluster became one of the initiators of the creation of the Radiation Technologies technology platform, formed jointly with Rosatom and the administration of the Ulyanovsk Region (the region where another oldest cluster associated with the nuclear industry is based, the Dimitrovgrad Nuclear Innovation Cluster). Over the past year and a half, the membership of the cluster has significantly expanded, the audit of the nuclear non-energy industry of St. Petersburg has been conducted. One of the consequences of a detailed analysis of the competencies and technologies concentrated in the cluster was a significant expansion of its topics – from nuclear medicine to radiation technologies in general.

The cluster of radiation technologies is a classic cluster associated with the need for organizational consolidation of participants. In addition, as the competition of the Ministry of Economic Development showed, the uniqueness of this cluster is that it was created "from below" – on the initiative of participants who managed to find points of intersection and formulate common development goals.

According to a similar logic, the cluster of medical, environmental instrumentation and biotechnologies developed – one of the first clusters in St. Petersburg: it emerged in 2005 as an association of small enterprises working in the relevant field. Since its creation, the number of its participants has doubled. The cluster actively participates in the implementation of a number of regional targeted programs and the technology platform "Medicine of the Future", which is included in the list of priority technical platforms (as well as "Radiation Technologies"). In addition, the cluster of medical, environmental instrumentation and biotechnology has advanced further than other St. Petersburg clusters in international cooperation and networking, having signed cooperation agreements with a number of innovation clusters of the European Union.

Another member of the life sciences cluster, the pharmaceutical cluster of St. Petersburg, is fundamentally different from the two preceding ones: unlike the cluster of radiation technologies and the cluster of medical instrumentation, it was initiated by the city government and, therefore, was initially implemented in the logic of regional development. The project was launched in 2010. Currently, the cluster includes ten large companies (Geropharm, Biocad, Samson-med, etc.) investing heavily in the development of their production facilities in the city.

Why Petersburg?The intensity of cluster formation in St. Petersburg is due to the fact that in many respects it is an ideal breeding ground for the formation of innovative clusters of both country and world level.

Firstly, the Northern capital is a global city, which means a high level of development of business services (the presence of business centers of all classes, production sites, a significant concentration of financial services) and the ability to accept highly qualified personnel (the presence of a high-quality urban environment, the ability to ensure adequate wages). The geographical location of St. Petersburg greatly facilitates the process of establishing links with possible partners, in particular with large medical and pharmaceutical research centers and clusters of Scandinavia (Oslo Cancer Cluster, Medicon Valley, BioTurku, GoteborgBIO, etc.). In other words, being the second most important megacity in Russia, the city on the Neva is an attractive platform for all possible activities.

Secondly, an important feature of St. Petersburg is the concentration of a huge number of research centers of various fields of knowledge directly related to the topic of life sciences. There are about 30 research institutes in the field of medicine in the city (and about 50 clinical departments related to oncodiagnostics and oncotherapy), at least ten research centers engaged in the development of new materials (including the parent organization of the national nanotechnology network, which oversees the direction of structural materials – FSUE Central Research Institute of Structural Materials "Prometheus"), more than 70 enterprises working in the field of nanotechnology, and eight large collective use centers (CCPs) of relevant topics. In addition, a significant number of research institutes and design bureaus with competencies in complex engineering are concentrated in the Northern Capital: in Soviet times, Leningrad was actually one of the design centers of the country. Finally, enterprises belonging to large companies of the all-Russian level and state corporations (Rosatom, United Shipbuilding Corporation, Rostechnologies, etc.) are located in the city. This complex of manufacturing enterprises associated with innovative industries is capable of generating a significant order for new technologies.

Thirdly, it is important that St. Petersburg has accumulated considerable experience in creating all formats of supporting infrastructures for innovative development. There are a significant number of production zones in the city with approved planning projects and characteristics that meet a wide range of requirements (for infrastructure support, localization, connectivity to transport highways and ports). It is planned to create modern industrial parks, there is a special economic zone, there are technoparks, including the largest IT park "Ingria".

Finally, St. Petersburg hosts strong specialized higher education institutions that provide training and develop special research competencies. Medicine, pharmacology, radiochemistry, nuclear physics, medical radiology, engineering personnel – in fact, the entire range of educational and scientific activities of the cluster is closed by the participating universities and partners of the cluster.

Unification: strong prerequisitesConsolidation of the three St. Petersburg clusters (consolidation of applications) is natural.

This process takes place in the logic of convergence, intensive network construction and exchange of competencies and is based on several grounds.

The first of them is the need for organizational consolidation of participants, which is important for a number of processes. Currently, the life sciences cluster includes about 150 companies. Together with the participants of the cluster of radiation technologies (the St. Petersburg Institute of Nuclear Physics (PIAF), the D.V. Efremov Research Institute, the Electron Company, the V.G. Khlopin Radium Institute, etc.), it included a number of large pharmaceutical companies (Geropharm, Novartis, etc.) and a pool of medium and small companies related to pharmaceutical production, biotechnology and the manufacture of medical equipment. Organizational consolidation will significantly accelerate the negotiation process and facilitate the adjustment of strategies of each of the cluster participants in accordance with long-term priorities.

The second reason is the directions of research and development, technological development in general, common to the cluster participants. The life sciences cluster is in the process of searching for a unified logic of technological development, a unified concept and long-term plans have yet to be developed. Nevertheless, some points are already clear. In particular, one of the key areas of scientific and technical cooperation within the cluster may be the development of life science, the improvement of relevant technologies and the transfer of basic competencies of participants to the widest possible range of industries. Areas of common technological interests include several areas: materials science and the study of the effects of various substances and types of radiation on all types of matter (chemistry and ionizing radiation), the design of materials for the task, bioengineering and bioconstruction (including new means of delivery of pharmaceuticals and radiopharmaceuticals).

The third significant reason for combining clusters is the possibility of using a common infrastructure for R&D, a unique research complex of St. Petersburg research organizations (the PIK reactor, accelerator installations of various types, equipment of the Central Research Center and specialized laboratories). Finally, one of the common areas of interest of the life sciences cluster participants is joint PR and GR, as well as the positioning and promotion of St. Petersburg as one of the most significant points on the subject of life sciences in the post–Soviet space, and in the future – in Europe.

A bright futureIn the near future, the united cluster will have to solve several tasks, including determining priority projects that will receive federal subsidies from the Ministry of Economic Development.

At the moment, the overall project line planned for implementation within the framework of the life sciences cluster program includes all links in the creation of innovative products – from basic research to the organization of mass production.

Thus, the block of projects related to fundamental science and R&D involves the active use of existing and planned research infrastructures, including within the framework of megascience class initiatives implemented in Gatchina by the Kurchatov Institute Research Center (the high-current PIK beam research reactor and the world's first synchrotron with a sixth-generation synchrotron radiation source).

The block of production projects will include the organization of serial production of equipment for various purposes (including cyclotrons for the development of medical isotopes on the basis of NIIEF), pharmaceuticals (on the basis of the SEZ, where a number of pharmaceutical cluster enterprises are already located), radiopharmaceuticals (Radium Institute), etc. In addition, it is planned to implement a number of projects directly related to the provision of medical services.

The block of infrastructure projects involves the creation of specialized innovative infrastructure facilities. Projects of the accelerator engineering center, the materials science center (sensor materials for medical and other equipment), a specialized technopark on the territory of Gatchina, Life Sciences Park, an innovative park of medical equipment, several certification centers (for all technological areas existing in the cluster) are considered as possible – and this is not a complete list of initiatives.

It should be understood that in the life sciences cluster, both general projects for the clusters included in it (megascience projects, other infrastructure projects) and a whole list of specialized ones related exclusively to the topics of each of the sectors will be implemented.

Cluster participants have yet to make a choice of priority projects, but it is already clear that the Ministry of Economic Development is interested in several aspects: the understandable economics of projects (including the willingness of cluster participants and the regional administration to act as co-investors), innovation and contribution to scientific and technological development, as well as their role in the development of the entire cluster. In addition, a high degree of elaboration of projects will be a prerequisite for the allocation of subsidies. In other words, the combined cluster needs to determine long-term development priorities and select flagship projects in accordance with the designated priorities.

In addition to substantive issues, a number of others have to be solved, in particular with organizational design: currently, the coordination of the activities of the joint cluster is carried out through complex interaction between all non-profit partnerships and associations created at the previous stage by the pharmaceutical cluster, the cluster of medical equipment and the cluster of radiation technologies.

Another important organizational task, however, which lies outside the scope of the cluster's activities, is the interaction of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region in terms of joint development of one of the largest innovation and technology clusters in the country (some of its most important projects are concentrated in Gatchina, located in the Leningrad Region). Cooperation between the city and the region is especially important, since federal subsidies for cluster development programs involve co-financing projects with regional budgets.

Finally, the issue of admitting new members to the cluster has matured. In particular, the desire to enter the life sciences cluster (in the radiation technology sector) was announced by the LNPP (one of the key producers of medical and industrial isotopes in the Northwest), the A.F. Ioffe Institute of Physics and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Electrotechnical University (LETI) and a number of other universities, research institutes and enterprises.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru27.08.2012