Can Russia become a leader in nanotechnology?

Catch up with Nano
Can Russia become a leader in nanotechnologyYuri Medvedev, Rossiyskaya Gazeta
For success in the field of nano, it is necessary to radically change its development strategy.

This was told to the correspondent of "RG" by the director of the Marketing Institute of the State University of Management, Professor Gennady Azoev. The Institute won the competition of the Ministry of Education and Science for marketing research of the nanoindustry market.

Rossiyskaya Gazeta: The government has set an ambitious goal: to bring the sales volume of the Russian nanoindustry to 900 billion rubles by 2015. Skeptics immediately said it all depends on how to count.

Gennady Azoev: The nanotechnology market is just emerging and is potentially huge and multifaceted. There are no clear boundaries here yet, since it is difficult to separate the actual nanoproducts having nanoscale sizes (nanofilms, nanotubes, etc.) and goods manufactured with their use. Such uncertainty creates a field for double and sometimes multiple accounting. For example, the contribution of "nano" to a medicine in order to improve its quality may be only one dollar, and the price of the product in the pharmacy is $ 100. These are, as they say, two big differences. Therefore, one of the first tasks is to create a classifier of nanoproducts. Estimates have shown that the global market for primary "nano" is not so large, about $ 30 billion in 2009, but sales of secondary products already reach hundreds of billions.

Four areas can be distinguished here: medicine, manufacturing, electronics, and energy. And the obvious leaders are, in particular, oil refining, drugs and medicinal compounds, the use of nanodetectors and nanocomposites, the production of ethanol. It's not even the sales volumes themselves that are impressive, but their growth rate – about 14 percent per year. According to estimates, a sharp jump is expected in the world market since 2010.

RG: It seems that everyone has gone to nano. But how many Russian enterprises are actually doing this ?

Azoev: There are about 600 in our database, coordinated with the Kurchatov Institute. But this is a total figure, including institutes, enterprises, universities, etc. But those who produce and sell nanoproducts, no more than 60! On average, one such enterprise produces products worth 80 million rubles a year, that is, our market is still modest – about five billion rubles. And there is also "foam" – enterprises that use the prefix "nano", but have nothing to do with it. For example, among the participants of the exhibition "Rosnanotech-2008" there were about a third of them.

There is an aspect that can seriously affect the market. It's about nanorisks. Nanoparticles, once in the body, can settle in the kidneys, liver, and even move through nerve channels. How will they affect human health and the environment at the moment, in ten, twenty years? No one knows this, because there were no such materials in nature, and research is practically not conducted. One major public scandal is enough, when it is proved that nanotechnology is to blame for the disease, as the market or part of it may collapse. And then you will have to invest money in a serious study of the consequences of the use of nanotechnology. No less sums will be required than are currently allocated for research in the field of nano. How will this affect the demand and the final price of products? One can only guess.

RG: Supporters of nanotechnology paint their bright future. The sphere is almost the entire economy. Even the richest countries cannot cover everything. Then Russia all the more urgently needs to find its niches by highlighting priorities. But they have not yet been determined, for which Rusnano is being criticized. Your opinion?

Azoev: This is one of the most "sick" questions. The main criticism of the development of the Russian nanoindustry, by the way, often justified, comes from scientists. They believe that once they have come up with something and it can have an effect, then it is urgent to implement it. The opinion is erroneous. The basic law of marketing says: do not try to sell what you produce, but produce what will certainly be bought. Of course, this is ideal, but it is important to understand the essence of the problem. Why is it difficult to formulate Russia's priorities today, and most importantly, to choose where to invest big money specifically? It is unclear what our enterprises are really capable of, who will produce nanoproducts and who will consume them.

RG: But high officials understand everything, they have repeatedly called these priorities: medicine, energy, new materials, etc.

Azoev: In fact, this is a repetition of what is already developing in the West. The devil is in the details, in the specifics. Especially in our country, where there are still no innovative chains for creating nanoproducts. Everything starts with science, where the money allocated for nanotechnology is directed, and it offers the results of its research to enterprises for implementation. Hence the scientists' confidence that they are the main ones, that their ideas are beautiful, they promise millions, we just need to implement them.

But all the world experience has proved that this is the wrong strategy. It is not scientists who should start innovations, but those who produce goods. Only enterprises know what is happening on the market and what goods it is profitable for them to produce in order to be competitive. Already depending on this, they "buy" the science they need, give her orders, invite the necessary specialists. By the way, all the leading nanocompanies in the West have already passed this path and have their own science, including fundamental.

RG: So, maybe we should also allocate a lot of money to strong enterprises who are able to pull out the entire innovative nanochain?

Azoev: Unfortunately, it won't work. Financing of individual enterprises is inefficient. They do not live in an airless space, but are tied to a lot of adjacent suppliers of raw materials, most of which, according to the level of development, remained in the last century. And this backwardness will negate all the efforts of the strong. Therefore, investing even a lot of money in them, we will achieve little, the effect will be scanty.

RG: What kind of recipe do you suggest?

Azoev: It has been found and tested in leading countries for a long time. Innovative chains or clusters are being created for each of the promising areas of the nanoindustry, which include institutes, universities and enterprises. For each such triumvirate, it is necessary to evaluate what range of products it is able to produce. Then you need to conduct market marketing, what will be in demand and what will not. And only after such an analysis can specific production programs be formed. It is necessary to finance the final producer, who will "buy" science and begin to train his staff. For example, the newly created nanodoline works in New York State - the world's largest cluster with an investment volume of $ 13 billion.

Russia will have to buy new plants abroad. It is impossible to enter the XXI century, the age of nano, on equipment of 50 years of age. But this is the way of big business. And there are small and medium-sized nano-enterprises, of which there are up to 80 percent in the world. Their share in sales is small, but these firms are extremely important, since they are the ones who often make breakthroughs. We have very few small and medium-sized businesses in the knowledge-intensive field.

RG: With this approach, how much time will it take to create a nanoindustry?

Azoev: If we increase financing, shifting it towards the manufacturer, attract money from oligarchs, then the tangible effect will be in 3-4 years. Alas, while our business is inert, in a crisis it is only interested in maintaining current profits. Let's say I talked to power engineers, they say we don't need nanocoating on turbine blades. We're doing fine as it is. As long as there is no competition, the case in the field of nano will not move.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru/10.06.2009