What does Rusnano finance?
The cream was removed
Domestic science cannot provide Rusnano with new projects
Yuri Medvedev, Rossiyskaya Gazeta – Federal Issue, 14.03.2012
Relying only on Russian developments, our nanoindustry will not reach the planned production volume of 900 billion rubles by 2015.
Russian nanotechnology has an anniversary. They turned five years old. The birth was loud, even the top officials of the state participated in it. Nano was given promising advances and a lot of money. The term itself went to the masses. Have your hopes been fulfilled?
Of the many anniversary figures, we can single out several of the most revealing. Now Rusnano is implementing 120 projects totaling almost 450 billion rubles, of which the corporation's share is about 170 billion, the rest was brought by business. This is extremely important. After all, Rusnano was tasked not just to invest funds from the public purse, but to attract the private sector's "hard-earned" money to the industry.
In 2010-2011, Rusnano built 16 new plants, in particular, in Novosibirsk, the world's largest enterprise for the production of lithium batteries. In total, these plants have already produced products worth 39 billion rubles. This year their number will be replenished, 16 more new plants should start working.
Everything seems to be great. Russia has been rocking for a long time, but now it has successfully joined the global nanotechnology race, rushing after the leaders. However, there is a trend that the executive director of the National Electronic Information Consortium, Alexander Kuznetsov, called depressing. The foundation is leaving from under our nano. The articles of Russian scientists in the field of nanotechnology are of little interest to foreign colleagues. What is signaled by such an important indicator in science as the citation index. Over the past few years, only 22 domestic articles have been cited only 15 times. As for our publications, their contribution to the global nanobiblioteca is less than three percent. To put it bluntly – a scanty amount. And a very bad situation, according to Kuznetsov, with patents. Their maximum came in 2009, when 160 patents were received, but a year later there was a decline to 40.
What, then, does Rusnano finance? Are the built factories doomed to be left alone with their products if they are built according to projects that are not backed by world-class science?
– The new plants correspond to the latest science and technology, – Mikhail Alfimov, Chairman of the Scientific and Technical Council of Rusnano, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told the correspondent of "RG". – But the problem is that they were created according to projects that were developed quite a long time ago, and passed the riskiest innovative stage of OKRov (development work). In fact, Rusnano experts were presented not with the results of laboratory tests, but with prototypes of products already out of the test tube and even small-scale technologies. In such a situation, it is much easier to make a choice where to send money than to deal with raw projects. And today, unfortunately, such a situation has arisen. We can say that the cream has been taken off, almost all deeply developed projects have been selected, and we must either take risks or take "vernyaks" from the world nanostole.
Apparently, Rusnano chose the second option. That is, ready-made production is actually being transferred to Russia, it can expand here, a new nomenclature may appear. Moreover, in order to get a modern plant, the corporation has to compete fiercely. Or enter into alliances with applicants and act in a share, reducing innovation risks.
Someone may be outraged: how is it, our science is in poverty, having no orders, and these businessmen from Rusnano invest public money in Western technologies, actually work for their economy! But this approach is laid down in the regulations on Rusnano. Its goal is to create a nanoindustry in the country and ensure sales of 900 billion rubles by 2015. And on what basis, domestic or foreign, it does not matter.
You can, of course, invest in some risky project, but there are no guarantees that it will be successful. Moreover, the probability of a miss, as world experience shows, is much higher. Out of hundreds of projects, only a few get into the "top ten". And Rusnano is asked first of all for how the money allocated by the state is spent.
– Here is a vivid example that reflects the current situation like a drop of water, – says Academician Alfimov. – Now a revolutionary technology is being born before our eyes, which will soon sweep away all the current ones. We are talking about printing various electronic systems, flexible solar panels, integrated circuits, light-emitting films, etc. In the West, this direction is developing rapidly, new factories are opening one after another. Unfortunately, this revolution is passing us by, although there are strong scientific groups in Russia that conduct research, but on foreign orders. Just to promote this technology here, it is necessary to immediately invest 20 million euros. Yes, this is a lot of money, they will not give a return tomorrow. And of course, it's a risk. Now Rusnano is not ready for such a step, for the reasons I have already mentioned. They prefer to wait until they do it in the West, and then buy ready-made technology.
Where is the exit? According to Academician Alfimov, it is obvious: we must proceed from the realities, take all the best that is being created in the West, but at the same time invest money in Russian science and education, and most importantly – be patient. Be aware that there will be no return tomorrow. Too much has been missed during the crisis years. It will take a lot of time for the nano portfolio to be filled with new promising projects. At the same time, Academician Alfimov emphasizes that for the first time in the last 20 years, Rusnano has managed to create a system from scratch that brings ideas from a test tube to the market. This is a huge achievement. So the innovative foundation for nano has been laid. "If the state continues to support nanotechnology in the same way as now, then we are doomed to success, if support begins to decline, then the infrastructure created will quickly disintegrate," says Mikhail Alfimov.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru
14.03.2012