Tales of innovation
"Money and scientists are on different sides of the barricades," Professor Igor Bolshakov is sure
Ksenia Yakubovskaya, "AIF on the Yenisei", 18.01.2012
– Russia lags far behind the West, Europe, Japan and China in the field of scientific research and discoveries. The situation can be changed if only the state starts investing in science, and officials stop taking kickbacks, – says Igor Bolshakov, Honored Inventor of the Russian Federation, Professor, Doctor of Medical Sciences.
Efficiently and quickly – only abroad
– Igor Nikolaevich, you have created your own innovative company, you are actively conducting scientific research in the field of medicine – you know the whole situation with inventions and discoveries from the inside. Where are the domestic Bill Gates and Steve Jobs?
– Invented, patented, got rich – it's a beautiful fairy tale, everything is much more complicated in Russia. It can be done efficiently, quickly and well only abroad, where everything is available. Abroad, an employee of a scientific laboratory does not puzzle over where to get, for example, such and such an acid.
He doesn't care as much as we do that it will be expensive and hard to get, that he will have to order in the USA and wait three months. He writes an application – and the next day he has everything. And we buy it ourselves, students buy reagents with their own money. In Russia, it is very expensive to conduct an experiment, there is no money - everything is worth it. Therefore, it takes an average of ten years from the start of research to the first effective results.
– Why does the state not support science – after all, for the benefit of humanity?
– In Russia, only the Ministry of Defense receives good funds for the development of weapons. And there is not enough money for everything else, even space. Recent failures with satellites are proof of that. If successful ideas and developments appear in medicine, they are bought up by foreign businessmen.
Our scientists like to chat at conferences. And there are always experts from different countries sitting there, for whom one or two phrases are enough to understand whether it is promising or not. They take and embody our ideas. Our interest arises when the general director of a large plant or his relative suddenly suffered. Then there is money, and connections, and the prospect of developing medicine.
– Do private investors help science?
– Now there are a lot of so-called business angels – people who have a lot of money, but they don't know how to use it. So they work the old-fashioned way: goods – money – goods. But there are few such angels in the innovative business. They prefer to invest in technology and nanotechnology rather than medicine. In addition, a private investor needs to prove that he will make a profit. Prepare all calculations for him: cost, costs, market value, potential in Russia, etc. So, the business plan of my small enterprise is about 100 pages. Only if a scientist is able to convince an investor by backing up his idea with figures, calculations, he can get money.
The advertiser himself
– There are the same people abroad, businessmen, politicians. Why do they value scientists there and spare no money for scientific research?
– They see the prospect and understand how profitable it can be. Abroad, universities themselves are actively involved in research activities. They have a huge budget. Including because they sell a lot of inventions that come out of their laboratories. In addition, there is a special infrastructure connecting science and business. Managers and marketers are engaged in all administrative and financial activities. They build relationships between these poles. We don't have it. And scientists themselves are not always able to submit and sell their discovery. Find a common language even with the state.
– So if one of the Russian minds finds a cure for cancer or comes up with a teleportation machine, all this will remain on paper until the scientist becomes a businessman and studies marketing?
– If foreign countries don't get to it. And with us, nothing will work out. Financial and scientific reports, completion of documentation, business planning are necessary. You need to constantly look for grants and funding, participate in various competitions, find private investors for your products, prove to them and the state that your developments are promising. I last worked with a test tube about three years ago. They take away all the time: patenting, intellectual property protection, management, search for connections. A group of young scientists, students, is engaged in research. My task is to guide, inspire, explain. Scientists abroad are less distracted by such questions. But if I don't do them, there will be no money, and all developments will stand up. Only through grants we received 4.5 million rubles from the Fund for Assistance to the Development of Small Forms of Enterprises in the Scientific and Technical Field (the Bortnik Foundation) and were able to start working with the neuronal matrix.
A lot of chatter
– In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the authorities have been talking about innovations for a long time, creating business incubators. That's just not heard about the stunning results…
– Exactly – they talk a lot and do little. The innovative activity of the region is in its infancy. When Anatoly Chubais was in Krasnoyarsk, he said: "In terms of investment, the region is doing well, but in terms of innovation, there was no horse lying around here." Innovation is based on inventions that have entered the economic turnover with profit. Part of the money is returned to the scientists who developed it, and part goes to the development of the enterprise, to production. There are a lot of good developments in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, but they are not being implemented anywhere. The inventor does not know how to sell his invention. Almost all intellectual property belongs to a company that pays a scientist a salary of 100-150 thousand per month, but it takes away everything he produces, as well as patents. They stopped needing a scientist – they fired him and he won't get any more money.
– There are programs to support small businesses. Doesn't the state offer subsidies, benefits?
– Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to get investments from the state. It is necessary not only to overcome many obstacles and prove that you are doing a useful job, but also to have initial capital. We are told: "Well, we will give you 350 million rubles for research and development, if you find a sponsor who will invest the same amount. And 50% of the income goes to us." Naturally, a private investor will also give money for a reason. We haven't started making a profit from our discovery yet, and everyone is already asking: "Where is the money?". We have been creating our company for 10 years because there is no money for kickbacks, bribes. We have been paying fees to the Intellectual property Office for the maintenance of our patents for the tenth year. And we are not making a profit yet. We owe 5% of the sales volume to the university. When we sell the product, most of it will go to investors, the state, and taxes.
– Somehow everything is sad. Do we really have no enterprises that have achieved success?
– There is, but not enough. For example, the local "Teplophone" uses an innovative idea that has become an excellent product. Well done! A company has opened in Penza, employing 200 people who produce heart valves from pure carbon. They sold about 50 thousand valves for transplantation, including to our cardiology center. There is no better product today. And we started from the basement. Innovative enterprises also began to appear in Tomsk, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Samara, and the Far East. Maybe this wave of active actions will reach our region. But so far – just talk.
by the way
Seven medical devices developed by Prof. Bolshakov – wound coatings designed for tissue reconstruction in the field of burn injury, ophthalmology, dentistry, obstetrics and gynecology, as well as for regenerative medicine – cellular and tissue engineering. Implantation of these products leads to the restoration of residual or non-existent tissues.
DOSSIER
Igor Bolshakov was born in 1954 in Chelyabinsk-40, then the family moved to Krasnoyarsk-26. Graduated from KrasSMU, postgraduate studies at the 2nd Moscow Medical Institute. Pirogova. He worked as an assistant at the Department of Operative Surgery of KrasSMU, associate professor of the department. Protected the dock.torskaya in the Moscow State Medical University. Since 1994 – Professor of the Department of Operative Surgery with Topographic Anatomy of Krasnoyarsk Medical University. Author of almost 200 scientific papers and 60 patents. Honored Inventor of the Russian Federation. Married, has a daughter – also a doctor.
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19.01.2012