BioCity Technopark

A biotechnological science park with an area of 30 thousand m2 will open in Skolkovo

Marina Efendieva, Skolkovo Foundation

The biotechnological technopark BioCity Technopark will be built in the Skolkovo Innovation Center. The corresponding agreement was signed at the IASP 2016 conference in Moscow by the Vice-President of the Skolkovo Foundation, Executive Director of the biomedical technologies cluster Kirill Kayem and CEO of BioCity Technopark (Finland) Dmitry Gudimenko.

The Biotechnological Park will become a kind of platform for building an international innovation ecosystem for biotech companies - for research and development and bringing products to the market, both Russian and international. "The project is based on Finland's rich experience in building biotechnological science parks. The new science park will give Russian biotechnological developments access to European and global markets, Dmitry Gudimenko said. – We want to combine the efforts of Russian and Finnish colleagues: universities, industrial partners, startups, and, of course, the Skolkovo Foundation. 

It's no secret that the biomedical sector is one of the most complex: it takes a lot of money and time to develop and bring to market a new medical device or medicine. "The most important thing for us is not just to be a "smart", "scientific" center, it is important to attract money both in projects and in the creation of a development infrastructure," Kirill Kaem emphasized.

About $60 million will be invested in the construction of the biotechnology park. The area of the technopark will be 30 thousand square meters. "This will make Skolkovo one of the main and most important sites for projects in the field of biomedicine," Kirill Kayem said. "In 1.5–2 years, we will be glad to see startups in our new technopark." 

At the same time, it is very important, Kirill Kayem stressed, that in the person of BioCity Technopark, there was not just an investor who is ready to build another facility in Skolkovo, but the fact that the partner brings with him the expertise of one of the leading biotech centers in Northern Europe - Turku Sciepse Park. "They are able to cooperate with both industry and universities, and are a kind of entrance gate to the European market," he said. 

The Center for Biomedical Research in Skolkovo will focus on both the development of medicines and the creation of medical devices. One of the key areas will be the development of products for the agricultural segment. "Colleagues from BioCity approached this very sensibly – they gathered all the leading research institutes, development institutes, in order to find out what is currently missing in Russia. Thanks to this, they are putting in the construction plan exactly the objects that are really needed," the head of the biomed cluster said. 

In particular, vivariums for keeping animals will be built in the center. In particular, we are talking about supporting a line of model animals for preclinical studies. The needs for specialized laboratories and computing capacities for bioinformatics will also be taken into account. All this will be incorporated into the project task, which is being prepared for the design of the technopark. 

When asked if there are such a number of biomedical projects in Russia to fill the technopark, Kirill Kayem confidently replied: "There will be, for sure. Startups are very different – someone needs to be placed on 50 square meters, someone will not have enough and 300. There are those who make diagnostic ecosystems in the pre–production phase - they need to do it somewhere." 

The agreement signed at the IASP structures the next steps of the partners to create a biotechnopark. First of all, they will have to finalize a construction project, which will involve experts from the Skolkovo ODAS. 

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  23.09.2016