British Closed Nuclear Centres Partnership

Seminar "Opportunities for commercialization in health care technologies" , Tbilisi, Georgia , 11-14 October 2010

On 11 October in Tbilisi (Georgia) the CNCP Programme in association with the Andronikashvili Institute of Physics and Sukhumi Institute of Physics and Technologies arranged a seminar for employees of commercialisation centres created with CNCP support, and on 12-14 October they organized a seminar dedicated to commercial application of diagnostics equipment and medical technologies. A special attention was paid to commercialization in nuclear medicine. The participants were given presentations by invited speakers from the UK and Germany. Specialists from Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine shared their experience in implementation of CNCP projects related to biological and medical technologies. On 14 October there was held a seminar on "Marketing and sales of medical products. Experience of CNCP".

Examples of the CNCP projects presented included:

- bio-chip production in the Institute of Physics in Tbilisi; a project being implemented with the support of the British University of Portsmouth. Biochips are used to present multiple microscopic samples for testing on a very small surface, making it possible to carry out tens of bacterial analyses simultaneously, in a manner which is practical and inexpensive;

- development and production of endoprostheses by the Kharkov-based company InMasters; a project being carried out with the collaboration of local hospitals, KIPT, the Institute of Aeronautics and other scientific research organisations. Ligaments and bones prostheses are produced on the basis of an alloy developed by the company, which has high biological compatibility and good characteristics as far as strength, flexibility and weight are concerned;

- development and production of biosoluble stents in KIPT; the project is developing step by step as part of a CNCP-backed initiative in conjunction with partners from Switzerland.

The delegation from Kazakhstan gave interesting presentations on individual dosimetry, the production of wound dressings through electronic irradiation cross linking, and collaboration with the Oxford Centre for Nuclear Medicine.

International medical experts told participants about European experience. Presentations covered the functioning of health related business in the West, certification in Europe, and marketing in the health sector. The round tables were an important part of the seminar. Representatives of the Royal Berkshire hospital, the Number One University Clinic in Tbilisi and a specialist from IAEA discussed questions concerning nuclear medicine from the points of view of suppliers from the Former Soviet Union and possible purchasers from the West.

The seminars demonstrated the very wide opportunities that exist for business in the fields concerned. The round tables, reports, question and answer sessions, discussions and debates stimulated new ideas for all of the participants, opening up fresh perspectives and opportunities. Responses to the feedback questionnaires show that they found the seminars both very interesting and useful, particularly for companies which are only just embarking on commercialising technical services.