Russian-Israeli Nanotechnology Foundation
According to the Minister of Industry and Trade of Israel Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, at the International Economic Forum held in St. Petersburg, it was announced the creation of a joint Russian-Israeli fund that will finance developments in the field of nanotechnology.
On the Russian side, the founder of the fund will be the government corporation Rusnano, headed by Anatoly Chubais.
It is noted that earlier the Rusnano delegation visited Israel, where it was looking for new ideas and projects in the field of nanotechnology for prospective financing.
Leonid Melamed, CEO of Rusnano, said that Israel's advantage is a significant advance in nanotechnology, an orientation towards international cooperation and a significant number of Russian–speaking scientists – representatives of the Soviet scientific school. The Russian side offers "uniquely favorable conditions" to foreign innovators. "In all the countries where we have been, our visits are accompanied by a significant number of applications, because there are currently no such unique conditions for supporting projects, financing them and other kinds of assistance in any country, at least from those that we have visited," he said.
During the visit of the Rusnano delegation, a Russian-Israeli business forum on nanotechnology was held, at which Leonid Melamed stated that the corporation's goal is to achieve 3% of the global nanotechnology market by 2015, the turnover of which, according to American experts, currently amounts to about a trillion dollars a year, and by 2015 it will reach 2.9 trillion.
He noted that Russia has invested $10 billion in the development of nanotechnology.
At the moment, Rusnano is considering the possibility of investing in more than 600 projects announced by 360 firms. Of these, 2% were submitted by foreign applicants, including the United States and Israel.