OREANDA-NEWS. On 29 December 2008 was announced, that the Corporation and Saint-Petersburg Administration will cooperate in the nearest several years on the following topics:

Implementation of the state policy in the sphere of nanotechnologies;

Providing the conditions for commercial use of the scientific and technical activity results in the sphere of nanotechnologies and nanoindustry;

Implementation of the investment and infrastructure projects in the sphere of nanotechnologies;

Implementation of the educational programs in the sphere of HR training and retraining in the sphere of nanoindustry.

Saint-Petersburg is the sixth region of Russia with which an agreement on cooperation with RUSNANO is signed. Similar agreements have already been signed with Tomsk and Sverdlovsk Regions, Tatarstan Republic, Moscow and Moscow Region.

One of the first practical examples of realizing the Agreement will be RUSNANO’s participation in functioning of the Information and Consulting Center for the innovative companies. This Center will be opened in Saint-Petersburg on the 25th of December.

At present, approximately 70 applications for financing the projects in the sphere of energy engineering, mechanical engineering, medicine, electronics were submitted to the Corporation from Saint-Petersburg.

One of the projects initiated by the scientists from Saint-Petersburg has already been approved for financing. The matter is in the project on organizing the manufacture of new generation lighting products.

- This Agreement will become the next strategic document for Saint-Petersburg in developing the regional innovative system, emphasized Valentina Matvienko. – It will allow for preparing the city projects in the sphere of nanotechnologies more efficiently in order for them to obtain financing by RUSNANO, provide the information interaction between investors and innovators. In its turn, Saint-Petersburg will pay special attention towards supporting the enterprises working in the sphere of nanotechnologies. Cooperation between the city and the Corporation within the framework of Saint-Petersburg International Innovative Forum and International Forum on Nanotechnologies will continue. These and many other directions in the joint activity specified in the Agreement will allow for developing its traditional and forming clusters in the city being able to get additional impulse in the nanoprojects and technologies.

- There is no nanotechnological sector in Russia yet; we have to create it from scratch, - stated Anatoly Chubais. – This objective can be resolved only by mobilizing the entire potential of all Russian regions. Saint-Petersburg is absolutely unique in terms of scientific and technological edge, higher education potential, demand for innovation from the regional industry. In this sense Saint-Petersburg is one of the key regional priorities for us which supports the development of the Russian nanoindustry that will become a real economical sector in the XXI century.