Semen Musher, ManuFuture-2013, Vilnius. www.rftr.ru

1. RUSSIAN FOUNDATION
FOR TECHNOLOGICAL
DEVELOPMENT
East - West:
Cooperation in Manufacturing through
Cooperation in Innovations
Semen Musher
Russian Foundation for Technological Development
Managing Director
VILNIUS
2013

2. There is insufficient cooperation between the developed
countries and Russia in the creation of modern production
facilities.
The usual approach has been the purchase of turnkey facilities by
large Russian companies. The same scenario as in the times of
the USSR:
•
•
•
the VAZ automobile plant in cooperation with the Italian
company FIAT;
the construction of long-distance oil and gas pipelines in
cooperation with American companies;
the Nadezhdinsky Metallurgical Plant, the main facility of
Norilsk Nickel – in cooperation with Finnish companies.
This level of industrial cooperation does not facilitate the mutual
exchange of innovations and creation of competitive Russian
industry.
THE RUSSIAN FOUNDATION FOR TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
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3. Western engineering
operating in Russia:
companies
experience
difficulties
• different legal basis for technical regulation;
• different standards and approaches for preparing design and
construction documentation;
• lack of knowledge of Russian procedures for approval on
project documentation in state agencies at the federal and
regional level.
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4. Western engineering companies often win tenders (especially
for the construction of large-scale mining and metallurgical
facilities – green-field projects), but serious problems arise
when operations are underway:
•
their Feasibility Studies are insufficient regarding the Russian decision
making process for construction and the requirements of technical regulation.
•
they don’t know longstanding Russian practices and
technological, geological or ecological surveys of the deposits.
•
as a result, they need to hire Russian design and research institutes for
collaboration, but:
‒ they don’t do it in time, there are long delays;
the
results
of
‒ they don’t know how to effectively work with them;
‒ they don’t hire the best;
‒ they don’t know how best to divide areas of responsibility between Western
and Russian entities.
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5. The operational results of western engineering companies in
Russia are often negative:
• A Russian contractor will agree to undertake the operations for
a western engineering company, but then they have to transfer
the development of the technical and design documentation to
a Russian company that will handle it further, making
decisions characteristic of the Soviet period, and providing a
level of quality to match.
• No technological exchange takes place. Technological
cooperation is minimal. We need to find other tools.
The optimum basis for long-term development of East-West
industrial cooperation is cooperation at the earliest stages, directed
toward joint creation of innovations.
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6. The Russian Foundation for Technological Development
(RFTD) is a state foundation established for the support of
innovative companies
• The RFTD was founded in 1992 with the aim of creating a
favourable environment for the development of Russian
scientific and technological potential.
• The RFTD invests in applied R&D in priority fields as
determined by the Russian government.
• Since its organization, the RFTD has supported about 900
projects. Total investment has been about 50,000,000 euros in
2012 - 2013.
• The RFTD supports R&D in small and medium-size companies
working on the development of high-tech, innovative
production.
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7. RFTD is the only way to obtain funding in situations where
the credit system is underdeveloped
• The value of a loan may vary from $ 0.35 up to $10 million
• The loan term is up to 60 months
• Applicants are legal entities registered in the
Federation and participants in technology platforms
Russian
• The RFTD is the coordinator of all Russian technology
platforms.
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8. RFTD experience in working on projects shows that:
• Russia possesses advanced technologies whose origins date
back to the Soviet period.
• Quite often, Russian inventions and developments passed to
the West and, thanks to the efficient support system for
innovation and active business backing available there, they
developed into well-known products and technological KnowHow.
•
The level of awareness in Russia with advanced western
solutions is quite low. Russians often try to create something
that already exists in the West. Not a single one of our projects
has good cooperation with western partners.
• One difficult problem is staffing. Soviet-trained specialists are
no longer young; the middle-aged generation of engineers left
the hi-tech sector in the 1990’s due to the poor economic
situation at the time.
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9. We have noted a positive trend in recent years:
An influx of young people into engineering, into design. This is
directly related to active support of innovation by the President
and Government of the Russian Federation. Young teams are
appearing in:
‒ Aircraft design – the Sukhoi Superjet project,
‒ Polymers (composite materials),
‒ Biotechnologies,
‒ etc.
These young specialists are well educated, ambitious and
prepared to collaborate with colleagues from developed countries.
Prospects for cooperation exist in the area of innovation.
Opportunities for collaboration are not being exploited. Whoever
gets seriously involved in this on a long term basis will have a
competitive advantage.
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10. Members of the European Union from the former USSR
(Lithuania, etc) may serve as an reliable organizational
“bridge”:
•
•
•
•
They are already familiar with western approaches and
international standards for project management
They haven’t forgotten the technological approach of the Soviet
period
A sufficiently large number of ethnic Russians, which is
important for communications
As of yet there is no language barrier with Russian colleagues.
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11. The Proposed Communication Medium is Community of
Technology Platforms
The RFTD is the coordinator of Russian technology platforms on
behalf of the Ministry for Economic Development of the Russian
Federation.
Representatives of three platforms are members of the Russian
delegation at the conference.
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12. THE CONCEPT OF RUSSIAN TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMS
Technology
Platforms
Basic principles of
Technology Platforms
EVALUATION
OF
CHALLENGES
DEVELOP
RESEARCH
PROGRAMS
DEFINITION
OF MEANS OF
REALIZATION
Tool for bringing together various parties government, business, science & education - to
identify innovative challenges, develop a
program of strategic research and identify ways
to implement it
Government
Combining the efforts of the
most significant stakeholders
(government, business, science
& education)
Ensuring the development and
implementation of long-term
(strategic) priorities across the
main sectors of the economy
Business
Science
priority
industry
34 technology platforms have been launched in Russia since 2011,
including such platforms as “Future Medicine”, “Bio-industry and
Bio-resources”, “Future Industry”, “BioTech 2030”, “Prospective
Technologies for Renewable Energy”, “Deep Processing of
Hydrocarbon Resources”, “Lightweight and Robust
Constructions”.
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13. Technology Platforms: EU versus Russia
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14. International Forum «Open Innovations» and
«Open Innovations Expo».
31 October – 2 November, 2013, Moscow, Crocus Expo
Leading Russian forum in the area of innovative development.
•
The RFTD organizes a joint exposition of all 34 technology
platforms at the event.
•
At this forum, we are ready to provide all necessary assistance
in organizing practical contacts between European technological
platforms and leading representatives of Russian platforms.
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15. Contacts
The Russian Foundation for Technological Development
www.rftr.ru
rftr@rftr.ru
+7 (916) 713 6347
Thank you for your attention !
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