Victories and defeats of modern Russian innovators

Money from the microscope

Leonid Khomeriki, Business weekly "Company", 09.07.2012

In response to accusations of insufficient innovation, domestic business blames the fact that science is divorced from reality and works most often for itself. In part, scientists themselves agree with this. But there are changes in this area. For two decades, the country has been living in the realities of a market economy, and many specialists had to engage in developments, the results of which can be commercially attractive. In fact, people of science were forced to learn the culture that had been developing in the West for centuries.

The best conditions for the emergence of innovative products have been created in the USA. There, before starting work, a team of specialists closely examines the needs of the market, looking for vacant or not completely filled niches. As a result, instead of a breakthrough product, it often turns out to be a product with minor improvements compared to what already exists. If it is sold, the project is considered successful. Initial investments in such developments are often made by small investors. There is a joke in the States about 3F (fools, family & friends), which means: at the initial stage, only fools, relatives and friends invest in the project. There are also "business angels". "Angel" enters the project on the terms of convertible debt (convertible debt), in other words, provides a loan. After a large investor becomes interested in the company, who buys a serious stake in it, this loan is converted into a part of shares or simply returned. Angel's share in the project may eventually be insignificant, for example 0.01%.

Venture product developers complain that any Russian investor, be it a big businessman or a state-owned company, immediately wants to get at least 25%, or even all 50% in a promising project. Of course, such conditions cannot completely suit any developer. In many cases, this becomes the main obstacle that does not allow attracting an investor. Russian psychology also affects – the habit of initially not trusting a future partner. According to Denis Kovalevich, Director of the nuclear technology cluster of the Skolkovo Foundation, our scientists confuse investors and entrepreneurs. According to him, it is always possible to come to an agreement with the latter, and the investor is focused solely on getting the fastest income. Vladimir Knyaginin, Director of the North-West Center for Strategic Research Foundation, agrees with his colleague. In his opinion, Russian science will have to learn how to offer its developments for introduction into production, focusing primarily on end users. In turn, development institutions such as Skolkovo, Rusnano, and RVC need to concentrate resources on a limited number of projects and areas in which our country can still have a competitive advantage.

The first nano success

In May 2012, Rusnano's Board of Directors approved the sale of 27.6% of CJSC Center for Advanced Technologies to its founder and CEO Igor Yaminsky for 77 million rubles. This is the first exit from an investment project in the history of a state-owned company, and three years ahead of schedule. With 50 million rubles invested by Rusnano in the Yaminsky project, the latter expanded the production of scanning probe microscopes of the Femtoscan brand. The devices allow you to see individual atoms with an accuracy of about 1 nanometer. The funds and administrative assistance of the state corporation made it possible for CJSC "CPT" at the end of last year to launch a production site on the basis of one of the workshops leased from the AMNTC "Soyuz" and hire highly qualified specialists. The new site will double the production of "atomic" microscopes and increase annual revenue to 70 million rubles.

The path to success for Igor Yaminsky was a long one. In the late 1980s, a professor of the physics department of Moscow State University, together with colleagues, set up the assembly of scanning microscopes. He managed to achieve impressive results: the microscope cost about 50 times cheaper than foreign analogues. In 1999, a new product was released – a scanning probe microscope with the ability to control and receive all data via the Internet. At the same time, the question arose about the organization of mass production: it was obvious that without an investor, the company would forever remain "in the garage". Until recently, the manufacture of "advanced" microscopes remained piece-by-piece: approximately ten copies per year. In 2008, Igor Yaminsky began negotiations with Rusnano, and two years later his project was approved by the supervisory board of the state corporation. As a result of the transaction, CJSC Center for Advanced Technologies was created, in which the applicant invested about 130 million rubles: 30 million rubles in cash, 19 million rubles. the equipment cost, and intellectual property pulled another 82 million rubles. This can be considered a certain milestone: the investor considered the scientist's developments and knowledge a valuable asset, offering to release the product in a series.

Yaminsky believes that it is necessary to clearly separate the segments of product development and production: people with different thinking work there. In addition, according to him, the goals of increasing production often lead to a slowdown in scientific research. Therefore, he considers production to be a project separate from science, but harmoniously complementing it. With the exit of Rusnano from the project, the scientist's cooperation with the state corporation will not stop: probe microscopes are in demand by "high-tech" companies. Yaminsky plans to develop "atomic" microscopes for medicine that work in real time.

Convince the world

The stories of Fazli Ataullakhanov and Igor Yaminsky are similar in many ways. For 17 years, under the leadership of Fazli Ataullakhanov, a team of physicists, chemists and even mathematicians investigated the processes of blood clotting. The result of this work was a scientific theory about the autowave nature of such processes. Understanding the mechanisms of clotting is fundamentally important for the diagnosis of diseases such as strokes, bleeding, etc. Based on the theory, a new integral blood test was developed – "Thrombodynamics". He can predict thrombosis, and these are potential precursors of heart attacks and strokes. A prototype of a diagnostic device has been constructed, and the latter has no analogues in the world.

"The project began to turn into a business in 2007, when it was possible to attract the first money from business angels," says Igor Pivovarov, CEO of Gemakor LLC. Fazli Ataullakhanov was his supervisor. Later, they created a joint business in which an outstanding scientist became a deputy for scientific work for his former student.

In April 2010, the partners signed an investment agreement with Rusnano, according to which the state-owned company received 48.79% in the project. But before that, they had to find another co-investor (in accordance with the requirements of Rusnano). After about 60 meetings with potential partners, Ashot Khachaturyants, CEO of Sberbank Capital, who bought about 6.6% in the project, believed in the idea. Thus, the team of authors lost control in their enterprise. But the scientists were able to continue research and development and experimental work, clinical research, certification and the launch of the final product on the market. On March 30, 2012, the diagnostic system developed by Gemakor received the registration certificate of Roszdravnadzor. According to Igor Pivovarov, the launch of the first stage of serial production and the start of sales of Gemakor equipment in Russia are planned for October 2012, and by the end of next year, in accordance with the business plan, the company will break even.

"The Thrombodynamics test, which we are doing, in the future can replace all existing blood clotting tests and improve the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, significantly reducing the number of thrombosis and strokes," says Igor Pivovarov. But the export potential of the device is a dubious thing. In order to enter the markets of Europe and the USA, the company needs to convince the Western clinical community of the undoubted benefits of its development. And get all the necessary permits: in the West, clinical equipment undergoes much more tests than in our country. It is also necessary to prove to doctors the effectiveness of the "Thrombodynamics" test in specific clinical cases and its advantages over existing tests.

Quantum of Prosperity

Maxim Vakshtein is a young scientist and entrepreneur, head of the Nanotech–Dubna Scientific and Technological Center. Relying on his scientific developments and the funds of investors, Vashtein was able to quickly create a financially attractive production.

In 2006, he started working at the laboratory of the Research Institute of Applied Acoustics, where he was invited by a former colleague. The task for the laboratory staff was not trivial – to develop a specially protected system for marking and verifying securities and other documents. During the work, it became clear that the technology has gone beyond R&D and is already ready to scale. This is how the quantum dots project appeared.

The technology is based on the quantum-dimensional effect. Its essence is as follows: particles of a certain size (for example, 5 nanometers) begin to exhibit quantum properties, primarily in the optical range. In particular, to re-emit the light incident on them in a different spectrum, given by their dimension. Such particles do not just re-emit light, they do it in a well-defined range. Such properties make it possible to use quantum dots as specially protected markers in the financial sector, medicine, and the food industry. "These particles not only effectively re–emit light, but also absorb it and can even convert it into electricity, which allows them to be used in solar panels and various photodetectors," explains Maxim Wakstein.

LLC "NTIC "Nanotech-Dubna"" appeared in 2008. After receiving investments from Rusnano in 2010, the project entered the phase of creating an industrial production of nanoparticles in 2011. "By the end of 2012, we should reach self–sufficiency," Maxim tells about the company's plans. At the moment, the company's products are fluorescent inks for the protection of securities and documents, phosphors for LEDs that allow high-quality white light, as well as fluorescent varnishes for coating greenhouses in order to increase plant yields. Production volumes today amount to about 10 kg of phosphor per year. To understand the scale, it is enough to imagine that 10 million LEDs can be produced from one kilogram of nanoparticles. And if we add to this that the cost of this kilogram starts from one million rubles, then the attractiveness of the business is obvious. In late 2012 – early 2013, the company plans to reach production volumes of up to 100 kg of phosphor per year. In two years, the sales volume should be $10 million. The leading domestic manufacturers of LED lamps, as well as companies from Europe, the USA and Southeast Asia are already interested in the products. The largest printing factories in Russia producing protected papers and documents can become consumers of fluorescent ink. "Thanks to participation in international exhibitions, we started working with printed state houses of Eastern Europe," Maxim Vakstein notes. According to him, commercial structures from the USA and Israel working in the field of protective printing are also testing the product for implementation.

Smart points

Sergey Dudnikov knows firsthand about the problems of commercialization of Russian technologies and science. In the 1990s, after completing his work at the S. I. Vavilov State Optical Institute, he got a job as a scientific expert at the LG Technology Center, where he helped our scientists sell their developments. Gradually, the transfer center grew into a full-fledged laboratory, where Dudnikov developed three-dimensional displays. However, the production of such displays turned out to be unprofitable – the cost of the system reached up to $ 100,000.

Now Sergey Dudnikov heads the company "PCT-Invent". It is the leading Russian technology integrator in the RFID and radio frequency identification market. "We produce smart tags that replace barcodes. The code is located inside a half-millimeter chip to which the antenna is glued. If radiation from an external antenna is directed at the label at a certain frequency, the label responds. It differs from the barcode in that the reading process takes place at high speed, without errors, in any weather, direct visibility of the label is not needed," explains Dudnikov. And it is almost impossible to forge such labels.

"I've been doing this for about ten years. For six or seven years we worked in the investment mode, invested our funds, then the system integrator Systematics bought us, and later a joint venture with Rusnano was created," says Sergey Dudnikov. With the investor's money, a factory was built in the Leningrad Region, and the most modern German equipment was purchased. Last year, the project began to make a profit. Today, the company's turnover is about $ 3 million per year, and according to the plan by 2015 it should grow to $ 30-40 million.

Dudnikov's company provides systems ready for final implementation. They are used in libraries, railway transport, automotive and pharmaceutical production. Competition is constantly increasing, but business is also developing. According to Dudnikov, more and more companies are realizing the benefits of using smart tags. In particular, they allow you to significantly save time on inventory. However, business processes have to be adapted to the new technology. "For example, each bag of chips becomes a unique product," Sergey clearly explains. By the way, RFID customers prefer to keep their names secret, since this technology is considered a competitive advantage. "One of our first major projects is the automation of the library of the Higher School of Economics. Tags perform both accounting and anti–theft functions," Dudnikov reveals the veil of secrecy. According to him, the central library systems of St. Petersburg also decided to adopt this technology as the main one for their automation. Competitors of PCT-Invent products are imported smart tags – American, Finnish, Malaysian, Taiwanese and Chinese. Plans for the deployment of a similar production have Zelenograd "Micron". "The equipment is high-performance and everyone has about the same. Even if you buy a label in China and smuggle it into Russia, it will still be a little more expensive than the label produced here. Even if you buy tags from a foreign manufacturer, taking into account the costs of international logistics and customs duties, their final cost will be higher than the cost of our analogues. This is an area where we can have an advantage," says Sergey Dudnikov.

A bitter pill

In 2010, JSC "Rusnano" was going to invest 341 million rubles in the production of nanocarriages. The Supervisory Board of the state corporation approved the project with the company "Ecobiopharmdubna" with a total cost of 831 million rubles. The rights to the drugs were estimated at 282.5 million rubles.

As a result of the project in 2010-2015, an original industrial production of medicines, which has no analogues in Russia and abroad, was to be created. The company has developed a unique technology for embedding drugs in lipids that penetrate into cells, releasing the active drug exactly where it is needed. Phagocytes and other cells of the defense system that absorb objects foreign to the body are not able to "see" medicinal nanoparticles with a size of 15-25 nanometers. Due to this, nanoparticles circulate longer in the bloodstream and leave it mainly in those places where the permeability of the vessel walls is higher. "The production of medicines equipped with a delivery system is an innovative direction of the pharmaceutical industry all over the world," said then the scientific co-executor of the project, Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Alexander Archakov, one of the world's leading experts in the field of medical nanobiotechnology. It was assumed that the moderate price of nanocarriers, noticeably superior in efficiency to traditional analogues, would make them accessible to the widest segments of the population.

Apart from Rusnano, no one believed in the possibility of scaling the project and bringing domestic innovative medicines to the market. "Its uniqueness played against the project – the company failed to find a co–investor who would also invest in the project," Rusnano comments on the withdrawal from the project. Under the terms of financing, a state corporation can invest as much money as a private investor invests. Thus, the state insures the effectiveness of the use of funds: a private trader will not invest in a project that he is not sure of the success of. The state-owned company had to look for other pharmaceutical and medical projects in which private owners would be willing to invest.

Returned from outer space

Officially, Rusnano began to talk about the closure of projects in September last year. With particular regret, the head of the state corporation Anatoly Chubais spoke about a joint project with NPP "Kvant", which involved the creation of production of solar cells and batteries for spacecraft.

Rusnano planned to provide JSC NPP Kvant with a long-term loan in the amount of 550 million rubles for five years. JSC "Information Satellite Systems named after academician M. F. Reshetnev", the main consumer of the project's products, was supposed to contribute 50 million rubles to it. as a loan.

The project's products are solar panels designed for space satellites and orbital stations. Their basis is gallium arsenide, which makes it possible to double – from 15 to 32% – to increase the efficiency of batteries (compared to silicon). It was planned that the batteries would fully comply with the requirements of global spacecraft manufacturers for solar power systems. In particular, it was reported that the efficiency in space conditions will be about 30%, the service life will be 15 years, which corresponds to the level of the best world analogues. All this would make it possible to supply batteries to foreign manufacturers of spacecraft. It was said that the price should be competitive due to the lower cost of production of solar cells compared to the currently purchased foreign counterparts. The implementation of the project was supposed to reduce dependence on the import of solar cells, the share of which in the cost of a space solar battery reaches 70%. As Rusnano Managing Director Alexander Kondrashov stated at the time, the project is aimed at protecting Russian interests in the space exploration program.

Shortly after that, Kvant was subordinated to the ISS named after Academician M. F. Reshetnev. The new leadership of the ISS opposed the agreed terms of cooperation. As Rusnano board member Andrey Trapeznikov explained at the time, the state-owned company was negotiating with the new ISS management, trying to save the project, but did not meet with understanding. Kvant was able to receive irrevocable money under one of the Federal Target Program. "Naturally, if developers have the opportunity to receive budgetary funds within the framework of the Federal Target Program or grants, they prefer them," a source in Rusnano states.

Inflexible logic

In August 2011, Anatoly Chubais presented the Plastic Logic 100 e-book to Vladimir Putin. Prior to working with Rusnano, Plastic Logic had not produced a single commercial serial device. The only product that has the appearance of a ready-made device was shown by the company at CES-2010. It was called The Que proReader and was a prototype of the Plastic Logic 100 school reader. The head of Rusnano promised Putin, at that time the prime minister, to introduce a reader in the education sector of the Russian Federation and replace heavy paper school textbooks with it.

Rusnano planned to invest half of its total budget of $650 million in the project and receive 43.8% of the authorized capital in return. In different countries, the reaction was contradictory. In Britain, they were allegedly outraged that the Russians were outbidding their intellectual property. Russian experts considered the deal unpromising, recalling the recent failures of the foreign partner.

The launch of Plastic Logic production in the special economic zone of Zelenograd was scheduled for 2013-2014. The plant, designed to produce hundreds of thousands of new-generation plastic electronic displays per month, was supposed to create 300 highly qualified jobs. However, according to experts, it could be done at a much lower cost.

Skeptical forecasts of observers were justified soon enough. In May of this year, Plastic Logic announced a change in strategy. Before that, she was able to solve two key problems – the appearance of animation and color on the screen. But the refinement of these technologies required significant investments, and the company found itself in a dilemma: to remain a product or to move into the segment of technological ones that license their developments to other market participants. PL has chosen the second way and is no longer going to be engaged in the production of "unkillable" tablets alone, but plans to find partners for this. The change in strategy also led to significant transformations in the structure: the division in the USA was closed, production cuts were made in Dresden, the construction of the plant in Zelenograd was postponed until the time when the company will have partners ready to bring new products to their markets. But it is unclear when this will happen. Meanwhile, apparently, Russian schoolchildren will continue to walk with heavy paper textbooks in anticipation of a new generation of gadgets.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru 09.07.2012