Translated material
Mega money for the nanoindustry
Putin provided Chubais with financial guarantees
On Friday, during Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s visit to the Rusnano state corporation, decisions that were not made at all were nano. At a meeting on measures of state regulation of the microelectronics market, it was announced that state guarantees would be provided for loans and bonds of a state corporation (and from next year - an open joint-stock company) until 2015. The head of Rusnano, Anatoly Chubais, said after the meeting that the company’s first bond issue will be placed before the end of the year.Before the meeting, the head of government was shown an exhibition of nanotechnology achievements over the three years of the existence of the head department, which is the Russian Nanotechnology Corporation (Rusnano), - developments in the field of solar energy, nanostructured materials, medicine and biotechnology, mechanical engineering, opto- and nanoelectronics.
Vladimir Putin was impressed by the exhibition: “It is already clear that the company is working actively, attracting a large number of interesting teams with promising ideas and developments.” Anatoly Chubais later in his speech confirmed the prime minister’s impression, saying that this year the first commercial batch of nanoindustry products will appear in Russia (the head of the Civil Code did not name specific items) worth approximately 4 billion rubles. Mr. Putin has set a very ambitious goal - to produce products worth 900 billion rubles already in 2015: “Our strategic goal is well known - this is the formation of a powerful, competitive nanoindustry, the products of which will be in demand both in the domestic and foreign markets "
To this end, the company created in the form of a state corporation will soon be transformed into an open joint-stock company, which will make it possible, for example, to acquire core assets of companies with foreign participation. Another tool for corporate development is borrowed funds. “A government decree has been signed on the rules for providing Rusnano with state guarantees for attracted loans and borrowings until 2015,” the prime minister said.
In his speech, Anatoly Chubais looked into the not-so-distant future - in the same 2015, Rusnano plans to receive revenue from the implementation of its projects in the amount of 220 billion rubles, and the corporation’s share in the global nanoindustry market should reach 3% (currently 0 .07%). At the moment, the company's supervisory board has already approved co-financing of 93 projects with a total budget of 302.1 billion rubles, of which the corporation's liabilities amount to 123.1 billion, and the volume of investments by the end of the year will reach 61.6 billion rubles. But the head of the company proposes to evaluate the projects being implemented not by cost, but by scientific and technical level. According to Mr. Chubais, 15 projects have the status of the best in Russia, 56 projects are world-class, and 11 are above the world level or have no analogues.
Vladimir Putin, summing up the meeting, asked “not to endlessly expand the scope of the company’s activities.”
But Anatoly Chubais is ready to go further - the new organizational and legal status is not enough; Rusnano proposes to create a state fund in Russia to work with non-profit projects in the field of nanotechnology. “Now we will move in two columns: one is a joint-stock company, and the other is a fund,” Mr. Chubais said. At the same time, according to the head of the future joint-stock company, it is impossible to ensure the full return of investments in the fund, and such a task should not even be set. “We do not set the task of a full refund, but we set the task of returning operating costs. I would like the fund to receive income from part of its activities,” noted Mr. Chubais. Previously, the state corporation proposed to allocate 30 billion rubles. specifically for non-profit projects.
Everything is even more certain with a new source of financing - by the end of the year, Rusnano will issue ruble bonds (the volume has not yet been announced). It is worth recalling that at the end of 2009 the corporation returned most of the public funds (85 billion out of 130) to the budget as unused. This money will be gradually used by the company over three years starting from this year.
The head of Rusnano has high hopes not only for state funding and state guarantees, but also for state regulation. By December 1, the largest companies with state participation will have to present their innovative development programs - Mr. Chubais sincerely hopes that his colleagues will include nanotechnology and nanoproducts in their investment plans, thereby confirming the need and importance of the work of his department.
In the meantime, according to Olga Uskova, president of the National Association of Innovation and Development of Information Technologies (NAIRI), Rusnano remains a thing in itself. “It is not clear what is happening behind its doors, how projects are selected for financing, who makes such decisions and on what basis, and why a significant part of the funds goes to finance areas that are absolutely not related to the scope of the state corporation’s activities. Despite the enormous amount of money spent, not a single completed solution was presented to the market, and all financial audits of the work of Chubais’ department gave very negative conclusions. We hope that changing the status of the company from a state corporation to a joint-stock company (with 100% state participation since 2011 - Ed. ) will solve this problem,” says Ms. Uskova.