With its six universities, flourishing economy, specialist economic area and an innovation strategy supported by 40 institutions, Tomsk offers the networks of the National campaign for Russia a wide range of opportunities for cooperation. All four R&D networks – NanoBRIDGE (Bridging of German and Russian Nanotechnology Excellence), ENNA (Energy Efficiency and Sustainability of Buildings), SOJUS Bioenergy (SOJUS Marketing Russia) and Light4LIFE (Marketing for Germany, Center of Innovation in Optical Technologies) – are represented on the exploratory mission. Tomsk also has a particular significance for the NanoBRIDGE network: it was here two years ago that the first German-Russian nanotechnologies event took place, from which the NanoBRIDGE network application was developed.
The trip offers great potential for all participants representing Germany as a destination for innovation and research as part of the exploratory and cooperation-building mission: the programme for 27 November 2012 includes B2B discussions with organisations based in Tomsk during the afternoon as well as some related networking. During the day, they will visit the specialist economic area TWT “Tomsk” AG and will explore the possibilities of high-tech developments in the fields of biotechnology, medicine and biopharmacology during topic-based round-table discussions. The “Fourth German-Russian conference on German-Russian Cooperation in Research and Innovation” to be held on 29 November will deal with how developments can be brought to market. The initial focus will be on structures for innovation and the policies of both countries/regions as regards clustering; both German and Russian participants will give presentations on these issues based on their own expertise. The networks of the national campaign are to be represented together with their respective fields; energy efficiency in buildings and municipalities will be represented by ENNA, nanotechnology by NanoBRIDGE, clinical biotechnology by Light4Life and bioenergy by SOJUS. Following on from this, the Association of Innovative Regions of Russia (AIRR) will hold an extended, open session focused on funding opportunities, in which Professor Iwan Bortnik, Executive Director of the AIRR, will also take part.
All in all this is a very extensive programme which will allow the networks within the national campaign to see for themselves the potential for innovation that Tomsk and the surrounding region has to offer, as well as its infrastructures for carrying out high-tech projects.
National campaign for Russia on exploratory mission to the innovative region of Tomsk
From 27 to 30 November 2012, the National campaign for Russia funded by the BMBF will be at work in one of the most innovative regions of Russia – Tomsk in Siberia. During B2B discussions with organisations and companies based in Tomsk and during the fourth German-Russian conference on the subject of the “Commercialisation of Future Technologies”, the four networks of the National campaign for Russia will showcase their expertise with the aim of developing and extending cooperation.
