In Altai Krai AIRR regions discussed cooperation in technological development

A delegation from the Association of Innovative Regions of Russia (AIRR) completed a working visit to Altai Krai. Representatives from the Kaluga, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, and Ulyanovsk regions, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, and the Skolkovo Foundation discussed interregional cooperation in biotechnology, the development of small technology companies, and industrial cooperation.

Altai Krai Governor Viktor Tomenko and AIRR Director Alexander Smekalin focused their working meeting on support mechanisms for regions with a high concentration of scientific and technological potential and the special role of science cities. Alexander Smekalin emphasized that AIRR continues to promote regional initiatives aimed at creating favorable conditions for the growth of innovative businesses and facilitating the dissemination of the most effective practices for supporting technology companies.

 
The biotechnology agenda has become one of the key areas of the AIRR work program in Altai Krai. "Our region's experience in both biotechnology development and agriculture has been recognized as successful at the federal level. We are pleased to share our best practices with colleagues from other regions. We are developing the Altaibiotech technology park in Biysk, one of the country's 13 science cities. We recently opened the Komponent industrial technology park in Barnaul, which is also becoming a sought-after platform for small technology companies," noted Viktor Tomenko.

A roundtable discussion on the commercialization of promising developments in biotechnology was held at Altai State University. Representatives from the AIRR regions, the scientific community, government agencies, businesses, and development institutions discussed mechanisms for bringing scientific developments to market, personnel training, funding instruments for innovative projects, and the development of interuniversity collaboration. As a result, proposals were formulated for developing cooperation between universities and research centers in the Association's regions, as well as improving the conditions for the commercialization of biotechnology developments.

 

 

The delegation visited the Prombiotech engineering center, the Komponent industrial technology park in Barnaul, and the AltaiBioTech technology park in Biysk. At the technology park, representatives of the regional ITCs shared their experience supporting technology projects, including those of the AgroUspekh plant, which received Skolkovo Foundation participant status thanks to the development of a smart seed treater; Glenver Medicine, a company that creates modern surgical instruments; and ESTESIS and Komposit-Engineering, which are implementing innovative projects with the support of the Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises (FASIE).

At the AltaiBioTech industrial technology park and the AltaiBio cluster, the discussion focused on the prospects for intercluster cooperation and leveraging the expertise of AIRR regions to implement joint projects. The participants agreed to continue their joint work on interregional university collaboration in biotechnology, expanding cooperation between industrial enterprises in the Association's regions, and sharing best practices for supporting small technology companies. It is planned that the innovative infrastructure capabilities of AIRR entities will be used to implement joint scientific and technological projects.

For over 15 years, the Association has served as a federal expert platform uniting constituent entities of the Russian Federation to exchange best practices, develop joint initiatives, and develop cooperation projects between regions, scientific organizations, development institutions, and high-tech businesses. Altai Krai has been a member of AIRR since 2013 and is one of the regions consistently advancing its innovation agenda.