1.1. Introduction

About company Documents Annual report 2008 Report on Activities

To realize government policies in nanotechnology and to elaborate innovative infrastructure, the government established the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies, RUSNANO. Federal law №139-FZ On the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies was signed on July 19, 2007. Two months later, on September 19, 2007, the state corporation RUSNANO was registered as an autonomous non-commercial organization.

The federal law clearly outlines the basic functions of the corporation. It specifies:

  • Evaluation of projects in the nanotechnology industry for subsequent financial support with resources of the corporation
  • Financing of nanotechnology projects that envision introduction of nanotechnology or production of products in the nanotechnology industry
  • Financing of projects for preparation of specialists in the area of nanotechnology
  • Monitoring realization of projects in nanotechnology being financed with the corporation’s resources
  • Providing organizational and financial support for research and development and experimental work in nanotechnology

Since the corporation was formed only in the second half of 2007, 2008 was, in essence, the startup year of its activity. In order to ensure normal functioning, RUSNANO needed to resolve several priority tasks:

  • Form the management bodies and structure of the corporation
  • Develop and confirm the strategy for its activities
  • Create and regulate business processes for assessing and satisfying requests for financing

During the fourth quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of 2008, management bodies of the corporation were formed. They are the Supervisory Council, the Executive Board, the Science and Technology Board, the Committee for Investment Strategy. During the first half of 2008, the Corporate Strategy of RUSNANO to 2020, setting out the key directions of the corporation’s efforts, its goals and objectives, and concrete indicators determining its effective operation, was ratified.

Simultaneous to forming the organizational structure of RUSNANO, a transparent system for accepting and evaluating inquiries from applicants and a complex of expert appraisals was built. This system makes it possible to select projects for implementation that are the most promising from perspectives of scientific originality and financial-economic potential.

In accordance with the strategy that the Supervisory Council of RUSNANO approved, during 2008 the corporation was to select for financing projects totaling 14 billion rubles. That charge was not fulfilled for reasons that will be explained below.

RUSNANO began accepting inquiries for financing on April 1, 2008. During the reporting period, 811 inquiries were received. Seven projects, totaling 10.3 billion rubles of which 5.5 billion rubles was from resources of the corporation, passed through appraisal and won endorsement from the Supervisory Council.

Seven other projects, with total budgets of 33.7 billion rubles of which 20.8 billion was from resources of the corporation, obtained positive conclusions through expert evaluation and the recommendation by the Science and Technology Board. During the period, infrastructure was developed for the project Organization of a Storehouse-Catalog of Chemical and Biochemical Reagents. The project has a budget of 84 million rubles including 45 million rubles to be drawn from the corporation’s resources. It was scheduled for presentation to the Supervisory Council for its approval in the first quarter of 2009.

A significant reserve of projects receiving positive findings from science and technology expert evaluation has been built—in all, 26 projects with total budgets of 32.7 billion rubles of which 17.2 billion rubles is to come from resources of the corporation. In this fashion, the portfolio of projects to be presented the Science and Technology Board for consideration in the first six months of 2009 has been completed.

Ninety-one projects have passed acceptance for official procedures of expert evaluation, been coordinated, and confirmed. They have budgets totaling 142 billion rubles of which 91 billion rubles is to come from resources of the corporation (64% of combined project budgets).

Despite the fact that the corporation has a stockpile of projects at each stage of evaluation and approval, it must be noted that the project “conveyor” has not yet begun to work at full capacity. This is because the system for selection, evaluation, and approval was established only at the end of 2008. Additionally, a considerable portion of the inquiries that come to hand are insufficiently developed and, therefore, require a longer period for assessment. These circumstances led to a failure to carry out in 2008 one of the basic benchmarks of the corporation—volume of investment financing in projects of 14 billion rubles. RUSNANO intends to compensate for falling behind and will fulfill in full measure the goal for project financing during the period 2008-2009.

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