Nanotechnology is being reformed
Chubais' plansDmitry Krylov, OPEC.Ru
Rusnano State Corporation will be engaged not only in nanotechnology.
Anatoly Chubais will try to improve the innovation environment in the country.
Nanotechnology can do a lot. So, now they will participate in patching holes in the 2009 federal budget. Two years ago, state corporations were allocated 130 billion rubles from the treasury. to create a nanoindustry. "Today's capacities of the corporation allow us to master 50 billion rubles," said Anatoly Chubais, CEO of Rusnano, at a meeting at the Regional Journalism Club. – We were given almost three times more. And when the Ministry of Finance asked about the partial withdrawal of our funds, I quickly agreed. They were surprised." After amendments to the budget law and the special law on the state corporation, Rusnano will provide the government with 85 billion rubles until 2010. "If oil does not fall below $10, then the money will be returned," Chubais, who was the first deputy chairman of the government in 1997-1998, joked sadly.
So far, Rusnano has invested 10.044 billion rubles in 9 nanotechnology and educational projects. Unused funds were placed on bank deposits. "We will not immediately withdraw funds [from banks]," Chubais said, "but there will be no prolongation."
For the future"Money is being taken from you to the budget, there is a crisis in the country.
Why do we need investments in nanotechnology now?" – asked the head of the club Irina Yasina. Chubais assures that these investments will help both reduce costs and increase labor productivity. New technologies make it possible to create a number of products three to four times cheaper and of better quality compared to existing analogues (for example, nanocrete), he says. "It is unrealistic to find a co-investor for a nanoproject today. But in a year or two or three, these technologies will be in demand by the market, - Anatoly Chubais is sure. - When oil cost under $ 150, and the profitability of the construction business reached 900% per annum, no one was seriously interested in nanotechnology. But business, if it wants to survive and develop, needs to think about the prospects."
The perspective of Rusnano itself is as follows. By 2015, the state corporation should create a nanoindustry in the country with an annual sales volume of 900 billion rubles. "Exactly the same sales volume I had when I left RAO UES," Chubais recalled, "But if electricity is in demand by every home and every production, then the elite know what nanotechnology is." According to VTSIOM, 43% of Russians have heard something about nanotechnology, and 16% of respondents were ready to buy the goods for the production of which they were used in the summer of 2008.
Therefore, Chubais' goal is to create a nanomarket, to make the process of industry development "irreversible", when, without the participation of the state corporation, Russian business will generate demand and supply for nanotechnology and related products. Another benchmark is the volume of nanotechnology exports, which should grow to 180 billion rubles in 2015. In order to achieve these goals, the work of Rusnano will undergo significant changes starting in the fall of 2009.
NanoreformIt consists of five points.
First: the corporation will finance five applications (up to 1 billion rubles) per month. This "conveyor" will start working already from July 2009, Chubais promised: "To date, we have received more than a thousand applications. But not all of them are viable." According to one of the 19 members of the Scientific and Technical Council of the state Corporation, evaluating incoming applications from private businesses and scientists, 95% are "just garbage".
Second: if earlier the corporation passively accepted applications, then after the reform it will act as a customer. "We will formulate a technological task and put it before private business. For example, today we need someone to be able to produce LED lamps of the right quality and in the right volume. Whoever offers the best conditions at the tender will receive 3 billion rubles from the corporation," Chubais explained.
Third, the focus of financing will be shifted to those projects that involve a technical solution not for one specific production or segment of the economy, but for several industries. Such a task will require an increase in funding for research and the allocation of additional funds for the construction of "road maps" - the development of various business scenarios for the development of the project in case of achieving or not achieving the desired result. In particular, the HSE Foresight Center is engaged in performing such work for Rusnano.
Fourth: the corporation's participation in generating demand for nanotechnology solutions and products. "Without industry demand, we have no chance to create a Russian nanoindustry. Therefore, Rusnano starts working with the largest companies and manufacturers in their segments and niches. For example, we plan to work closely with the oil industry, shipbuilding and the military–industrial complex," Chubais said.
Finally, Chubais is going to try to improve the innovation environment as a whole. The State Corporation will analyze the current tax and corporate legislation, laws related to the technical regulation of production processes, intellectual property protection and the stock market management system in order to improve the innovation environment in the country. "We will study in a normative and positive way how technoparks, business incubators, business angels and venture funds work in Russia. If it is profitable for technoparks to rent out premises rather than grow businesses, we need to figure out why this is happening and how we should change the laws so that it becomes more profitable for them to engage in the target function," concluded the most famous reformer of post–Soviet Russia.
The matter remains small – so that oil does not fall below $ 10 per barrel.
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru30.03.2009