The breakthrough into the future, apparently, is postponed
Within the framework of the Russian Venture Forum, which was held recently in St. Petersburg, the VIII Russian Venture Fair was held, where over 50 innovative companies tried to attract investors at the start-up stage or for the development of an established business.
Speaking at the forum, the Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Andrey Fursenko said that companies with turnover of several million dollars a year appeared at the exhibition. "They know what the market is and how they can develop further," the minister said. At the same time, according to A. Fursenko, "these are not the ambitions that we would like to see in the framework of such a representative forum."
Companies are hungry for moneyThe largest number of applications for raising funds came from companies working in the field of information technology and software (26%), as well as industrial equipment (22%).
Compared to previous exhibitions, the demand for money from companies representing industries such as telecommunications, medicine, and biotechnology has decreased.
With regard to the amount of funds requested , the picture is as follows: applicants were most interested in amounts from $1 million to $3 million (32%), as well as from $300 thousand to $1 million (21%) and from $3 million to $10 million (21%).
At the initial stage, innovative companies invested their own money or attracted funds from "business angels". This is exactly what PlusMobile did (it is engaged in broadcasting to mobile phones). According to its CEO Dmitry Bondarev, the main stake is in the hands of "business angel".
PlusMobile has no shortage of funding. "Venture funds offer their services to us, and first of all, Western ones," the CEO noted.
At a certain stage of development, companies resort to the help of the state, while the Fund for Promoting the Development of Small Forms of Enterprises in the Scientific and Technical Sphere (the Bortnik Fund) was more often called.
Biotechnologies in the penToday there is no single definition of nanotechnology.
Oleg Naraykin, First Deputy Director General of the Kurchatov Institute Research Center, noted that this new phenomenon appeared in the depths of the existing technological culture. In the Russian Federation, a lot of money has been allocated for a promising direction, which is divided between universities (134 million rubles each).
By the way, the state has allocated even more funds for the development of nanotechnology than the US government.
"There is no gap with other countries in terms of scientific groundwork in this area in the Russian Federation. We are on the same level as the whole world. There is a lag in infrastructure and equipment. The implementation of the state program will help to catch up here," O. Naraykin said.
Biotechnologies are practically not developing in the Russian Federation, Konstantin Scriabin, director of the Bioengineering Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, stated at the forum. Of the five areas, including such promising ones as the human genome, renewable biofuels, in our country, as the scientist put it, there is still absolute zero in the field of scientific achievements.
According to K. Scriabin, investing money in the areas listed by him will be in demand in the market and will bring returns. Thus, the introduction of genetic analysis for artificial insemination in the capital and in St. Petersburg could generate revenue of up to $ 30 million.
"Apparently, there are people who are interested that we do not have this," the famous scientist noted.
Cadres in universities are outdated"We have a good personnel system, but it is not close to the market," A. Fursenko said at the forum.
According to him, young people do not go to science, although they can earn over $800 a month there. The Ministry of Education and Science is preparing a strategy that takes into account the social aspect, the minister said.
In general, for a breakthrough in the scientific field, according to A. Fursenko, we need those who are ready to create new technologies. "The absence of such people creates enormous problems," he said. Fundamental science, which rests on hieroglyphs, as the minister put it, we do not need. In his opinion, there should be one criterion for evaluating the activities of these scientists - entering the market.
"We have repeatedly appealed to academic institutions about increasing the power of LEDs, but none of them took up this task," A. Fursenko recalled.
The officials present at the forum drew attention to the fact that the state (for the first time in many years) paid serious attention to the innovative direction of our economy. Moreover, the emphasis is on public-private partnership. According to this principle, a Russian venture company and regional funds have been created.
In St. Petersburg, such a venture fund started accepting applications in early November. Its assets amounted to 400 million rubles, of which 200 million rubles were received from private investors. In 2008, they plan to double the fund's assets according to the same principle.
According to Dmitry Bykov, Deputy Chairman of the KERPPiT administration of St. Petersburg, this will allow 40-50 companies to get on their feet at the start-up stage.
Lyubov Shabalina, Business weekly "Economy and Time"Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru