Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Good afternoon, colleagues. Let us begin this year’s first meeting of the Government Commission on High Technology and Innovation.

I would like to start by citing a few important statistics. In the first two months of this year, industrial production in Russia grew 6.3% against the same period last year. Manufacturing grew by as much as 11.8%. As you must know, Russia’s GDP grew 4% last year. The economy is steadily recovering from the economic downturn.

It is our job today to sustain this forward momentum, and not just head for higher growth figures. We need to emphasise the quality and content of this growth, economic modernisation and the broad use of innovation. It is a matter of principle to make all the development institutions more effective.

We have recently toured the country’s technology parks. Most of us present today were on that trip. What I’m saying is that technology parks, as well as special economic zones, state corporations, banks in which the government has various stakes, innovation support funds and research and education centres must all be used effectively for the development of the country, and the advancement of its technology. It is also advisable to use the opportunities opened up by public-private partnership, including its innovative formats which are not yet used in Russia or are used very little.

I am referring to the so-called technology platforms, as an example. We shall discuss this model today. It has proved effective in many countries; it has been widely used by our partners and neighbours in the European Union.

A technology platform is a network bringing together the state, researchers, industry, universities, businesses and other relevant stakeholders in a particular technological field to produce innovative and, most importantly, commercially attractive technology, products and services. They may not be grand; in fact they are often very ordinary consumer goods, but they still promote technological innovation. We successfully promote them on the market. I just heard that Mr Prokhorov is promoting one of such products. (Addressing Mikhail Prokhorov, head of the Onexim Group): What do you call it, Yo-mobile?

Mikhail Prokhorov: Yo-mobile, yes.

Vladimir Putin: Well, the name… I don’t know how you came up with it… Anyway, it is catchy and good for PR. This is an absolutely new product. Completely new. Breakthrough technology. I cannot give you my personal opinion – I haven’t driven it yet. I am going to try it out today. I have a Security Council meeting later in the day. Do you think I could drive a Yo-mobile to President Dmitry Medvedev’s residence and show it to him? It’s not far. Do you think it’ll make it? Or fall to pieces halfway there? Well, let’s test it out.

In any case, this is a kind of product we should strive to make. Finding an absolutely new concept and putting it into action. The government support of technology platforms should create the incentive for companies to develop innovations, attract the resources needed for research and for training qualified staff.

The Economic Development Ministry has already received 180 proposals for technology platform projects, which shows that there is quite a lot of business and scientific interest in this format. All of the proposals have been studied and analysed; now we have to select and approve 25 of them.

We will be developing technology platforms in a number of industries, including medicine, biotechnology, energy, the aerospace industry, nuclear power and IT. These industries form the current global technological order.

While introducing technology platforms, we must set out some very clear rules from the start, such as evaluation criteria and efficiency indicators. The main indicator of success, I think, is how the products perform in foreign markets, and in Russia – how in demand and competitive they are. This last point is essential because we need to enter international markets and find niches there.

Businesses should promote these projects by investing in them. The government, in turn, will fairly share the responsibility for high-risk R&D, and provide other kinds of support – for example, finance the construction of the necessary infrastructure.

The federal government has already allocated more than 17.5 billion roubles for this year to special economic zones, technology parks and science cities. This infrastructure should be used wisely when implementing joint projects within technology platforms.

I would like the Economic Development Ministry and other federal agencies to take into account the needs of the technology platform projects underway when drafting state programmes and industry development strategies.

A number of the first such projects we plan to implement will directly involve biotechnology: the technology platforms Medicine of the Future, and Bio-industry and Bio-resources. This choice has been prompted by current trends and the growing role of biotechnology in medicine and other industries, in energy and agriculture. I think it was Igor Tamm – the Russian nuclear physicist – who said that the 20^th century was the age of nuclear energy, while the next century was going to be the age of biotechnology. The academics present here may correct me if I am mistaken. But the world is obviously moving in this direction. China is actively promoting such projects, and so are India, Brazil, and Japan. European nations are making large investments in biopharmaceuticals and bio-energy.

The global bio-industry was estimated to be worth more than $2 trillion in 2010. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, in 2030, biotechnology will be used to produce up to 35% of chemicals, up to 80% of pharmaceuticals, and 50% of agricultural products.

Russia today accounts for a mere 0.2% of the global biotechnology market, with a heavy emphasis on pharmaceutical projects. In other areas, the results are even more modest.

It is our job to change this situation – to create an atmosphere in Russia that will encourage the development of a powerful bio-industry. We have all the potential for it, such as a strong research and educational base with projects and patents meeting international standards.

We need to take stock of the whole sector and draft policies to stimulate the demand for Russian biotechnology products, remove excessive administrative barriers that are a hindrance to businesses. We have regularly discussed this in recent years. We have done more than just talk. I hope these measures will be effective.

We must help coordinate the R&D stages of these projects to consolidate the resources of state academies, federal and departmental targeted programmes, and federal, regional and corporate research centres.

I believe we should accelerate the development of a special coordination programme for the promotion of biotechnology in Russia. I expect the Economic Development Ministry to submit a draft to the government no later than mid-May.

Let us get down to discussing the aforementioned issues now.