Novosibirsk Academic Park

Maria Kachevskaya, CCI-InformIn 2006, the authorities of the Novosibirsk Region decided to create a technopark on the territory of Novosibirsk Akademgorodok.

The creation of the park was carried out within the framework of the state program "Creation of high-tech technoparks in the Russian Federation". Construction started in 2007, the construction of new facilities is still underway. At the initial stage of the creation of the technopark, there were many critics of the new project among the activists of Novosibirsk and Akademgorodok. The basis of the criticism was the fear that under the guise of creating a high-tech cluster, the construction of elite housing will be carried out on the previously inaccessible territories of Akademgorodok for developers and significant damage will be caused to the surrounding nature. Critics also feared that employees of academic institutes of Akademgorodok would immediately switch to commercial enterprises-residents of the technopark, since salaries there would be higher.

The correspondent of CCI-Inform was able to see with her own eyes what today, eight years after the start of construction, is the Academic Park of Novosibirsk, personally visiting the technopark and talking with its employees and residents. 

The first thing that immediately catches your eye is the contrast of the Academic Park and the Academic Town. The Siberian town of scientists, if not in desolation, certainly does not give the impression of a thriving scientific center. I did not have a chance to find out what is going on outside the walls of scientific institutions, but the external facades are depressing. Broken driveways overgrown with grass, and unpresentable buildings of some educational and scientific institutions indicate that universities, on the one hand, clearly do not have enough budget funds, and on the other hand, they are also unable to get funds on their own.

Against this background, the thriving Academic Park looks especially impressive. New modern buildings are adjacent to the rapid construction. There are several construction projects in the final stage. Ideal roads and green lawns, young people scurrying between the complexes of the park, immediately cause a desire to look behind closed doors and find out how and how this seemingly very successful technopark lives.At the door of the Technological Support Center, where the instrument cluster of the Academic Park is located, we were met by its director Pavel Glotov.

He said that today in the technopark, in addition to the already mentioned instrument-making, there are three more clusters: IT technologies, nanotechnologies and new materials, biotechnologies and biomedicine. Most of the resident companies are quite predictably concentrated in the information technology cluster.

Initially, the financing of the technopark was carried out within the framework of the state program "Creation of high-tech technoparks in the Russian Federation", but last year this program ended and for a year the Academic Park has been living on full self-financing, continues to work and develop. The construction of new facilities is in full swing.

The initial goal of the technopark was to create 20 new successful innovative technology companies per year, and this goal has been achieved. Today, more than 300 companies are residents of the Academic Park, and their number is constantly growing.

In 2012, within the framework of the business incubator of the Akademgorodok Technopark, the final separation of all projects of resident companies in specialized cluster areas took place. This made it possible to work more productively with residents, select the appropriate team of specialists to help projects and significantly facilitate and accelerate the start for teams of innovative projects, especially in the field of instrumentation. "In connection with the division of Academic Park clusters by areas, we can absolutely say that now in Russia we have a unique and one-of–a-kind specialized instrument-making business incubator," Pavel Glotov noted.

The purpose of creating an instrument-making business incubator of the Novosibirsk Akademgorodok technopark is to facilitate and accelerate the start for teams of innovative projects in the field of instrumentation that are in the initial stage of development. In the boxes of the business incubator, there are opportunities for designing, as well as assembling, configuring and testing prototypes of devices that are created by project teams. Among other things, the business incubator also provides office jobs, if there are people in the team who do not need to sit in specialized boxes.

The incubator also has two sections with specialized equipment – a locksmith (general use) and a radio installation. At these sites, teams have access to machines and devices that are too expensive for each individual team, but sometimes necessary.

Its main goal is to reduce the time spent by projects in the incubator in order to help implement technical ideas as quickly and correctly as possible. The product readiness time consists, among other things, of the search for all components and specific technical solutions of the final product (prototype). 

Another unique project of the Academic Park is the so-called engineering Master's degree. Students of Novosibirsk technological universities can now be trained at successfully operating innovative enterprises of the technopark. The training is designed for two years, during which students practice in Academic Park companies and write theses under the guidance of practitioners. Many of these students then receive job invitations from the companies for which they wrote the diploma.

The highlight of the Academic Park can also be called innovative schools, which take place twice a year – in winter and in summer. During intensive classes, participants develop innovative competencies and leadership qualities, finalize and package projects and ideas, solve customized business cases and tasks.

During the innovation schools, aspiring entrepreneurs and project teams get acquainted with the peculiarities of the high-tech products market, receive powerful mentoring support from the heads of successful innovative companies, expert support on all issues of real business and, of course, on the scientific and technical component of projects.

Since 2010, more than 1,200 people from 58 regions have become participants in innovative schools, about 300 experts have participated in the selection and work with projects and project teams. More than 70 startups have become successfully developing resident companies of specialized business incubators.

It should probably be noted that today not only the management of the technopark, but also its resident companies take part in the creation of new Academic Park facilities. Thus, the newly opened complex of office buildings was the result of joint financial investments of both the technopark itself and residents who felt the need for office space within the park.

Profitable residential buildings have also been built for residents of the technopark, in which young scientists and entrepreneurs can rent housing at affordable prices. It should probably be said here that social construction has not been carried out on the territory of Akademgorodok itself for several decades, and prices for existing residential real estate are comparable to Moscow's, despite their neglected state. Practically none of them or members of resident companies can afford housing in Akademgorodok, according to the technopark employees.

Very soon, a number of social facilities, such as a fitness center and a catering center, will be put into operation on the territory of the Academic Park. Thus, the Academic Park is gradually turning into a small town within a city that concentrates not only the working, but also the vital energy of young innovative-minded people who are called upon to become the mainstay of the present and future technological development of Russia. 

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30.06.2015