No One Really Knew What Commercialization Was...

Vladimir Grigoryevich, in your opinion, what stages of development has VNIIEF gone through over the last decade? Are there any distinctive features associated with the development of the market economy in the country?

The last decade could be conditionally divided into two phases. The first phase is associated with after-affects of the default in 1998 and the country's recovery from the systemic and economic crisis, which undoubtedly had an impact on the defense complex and our Institute in particular. This period is known for efficient activity of Rosatom and the RF Government in general, which paid due attention to development of the nuclear industry and the defense complex, which facilitated recovery after the crisis. The situation was, of course, extremely dangerous. In this regard I would like to say that the international cooperation, especially during that hard period, also had a positive impact on the development of the Institute. Supported by such organisations as ISTC, Russia didn't lose any specialists, and the safety and non-proliferation objectives were successfully achieved by the Russian side. The support from the international society and the international contractual activity was also very significant.

The second stage of this decade is associated with the establishment of Rosatom State Corporation, setting its tasks and strategic development objectives, first of all for the atomic energy, and, naturally, the defense complex, which we belong to, and redirection of significant resources to civil and market-oriented tasks.

The activity of the new Director of RFNC VNIIEF Valentin Kostyukov has become a part of this phase in the last 2-3 years. It has been focused on current tasks of the State Corporation and key goals of the Institute, which include strategic issues related to safety and efficiency of the nuclear weapons. Other issues also include the restructuring of the Institute, optimization of its personnel, strict focusing on civil and market economy initiatives.

What role does commercialization of scientific and technological developments play in the activity of the Institute? How has this activity been developing? What difficulties have you faced?

The Institute has been working on commercialization of scientific and technological developments for a long time. This work started during the perestroika period, when the institute was trying to enter the market of agricultural equipment production, sugar refineries and so on. We had many challenges, some of which were quite na?ve. In fact, no one knew clearly what the commercialization was, there were no market relations. Nevertheless, there was a sincere desire to redirect a huge scientific, technological and production potential the Institute possessed to the civil sector and get benefit from it, and we made attempts. I cannot say they turned out to be very successful but, I believe, the main achievement was that a large group of specialists, staff and managers of the Institute realized the right direction to follow. As a result, a group of people was formed including dozens and hundreds of specialists, who enjoyed this work and understood why and how to do it. Over that very period a significant number of former employees of the Institute established their companies in and outside the city. Now, those of them which have managed to survive and develop are the basis of the city business. They remember their origins very well, have good contacts, they are loyal, and building relations with VNIIEF they try to attract workforce for their commercial work. There are many difficulties. The main one is the shortage of qualified personnel in this sector. Again, we've received big support here from ISTC, the USA Nuclear Cities Initiative and the CNCP Program. First of all, as training, demonstration of successful case studies, business trips, seminars, conferences, visits to laboratories and institutions in Great Britain and USA which carry out similar activity, as well as other places, like Germany and France. Such experience helps to create a favorable atmosphere in which an evident demand for this kind of activity is formed and a high need of this activity direction is forecast. There are some difficulties related to legal issues. Often IP issues arise, like: "Who does this belong to? How is it protected? How can this be legally transferred to other private companies and organizations? Is it the case when something developed at the expense of some people is transferred to others for free?"

Now to solve these issues partnerships are established.
One of them is a public and private partnership formed in Technopark where our Institute contributes its potential and specialists, and Financial Corporation Systema taking part as a private business. In so doing, preconditions are formed to start large-scale commercialization. No doubts, issues I mentioned are and will be greatly important.

Secondly, it is the creation of various clusters, including industrial, economic, geographical, and, in particular, a cluster based on the capabilities of the city, as well as VNIIEF. These should not be identical to Technopark. We should use different forms and select the most efficient of them. The entrepreneurs who are former employees of VNIIEF, businessmen and managers of Sarov businesses take an active part in this activity. As they say, all of them are important and needed. So, perhaps, the main point is not to focus on one thing only.

What do you think of the partnership between the Institute and the CNCP Program?

First of all, I would like to say that the main part of CNCP projects is connected not only with the Institute but with the companies registered in the city. It is considered that if a person worked for VNIIEF, they are representatives of the weapons complex for the rest of their lives, which means this specialist becomes eligible for the CNCP Program. We had long discussions but in the end we came to reasonable agreement, and now the Institute is working well with the city on the CNCP Program implementation. Unfortunately, the Program finishes in 2012. I am not going to talk about technical commercialization projects, which were several and they were different and quite interesting. I would rather focus on the most valuable and important. I think, it is training. Teach what you can do well. When I participated in the CNCP Study Tour in Manchester, I was astonished by one fact of the city history, i.e. a large industrial region lost all its work nearly overnight. The transfer of the main production capacity to the South-Eastern Asia ended up with industrial recession, and a huge number of people lost their jobs. The businessmen together with local administrations struggled hard for the area to survive after the city-forming businesses, such as textile and machine-building productions, disappeared. VNIIEF is also a city-forming enterprise, and when it changes its status or various reorganisations and staff redundancies take place, this has an impact on the life of the region. The situation is very similar, and Manchester's experience is extremely valuable for us. I believe that training, visits to enterprises and seminars are highly valuable for us, since it is difficult to get this information anywhere else.

The Program is also important by providing its regular language courses. Though, the courses are for a small number of employees, dozens of people, but the training program is very specific, which we and other cities, I think, find interesting. This is the main value of the Program, because its financial resources are limited but focusing of its activity on specific things gives a positive effect and is very productive.

The CNCP Program has supported a number of high-tech commercial projects proposed by the Institute and being implemented by former and current VNIIEF employees. Will these projects continue to develop after the grant funding is over?

I believe, they will. Moreover, we are making some efforts to help it within our competence. Now a more favorable environment is being created in Russia for commercial activity, and those things which were not interesting to people before are becoming such. Therefore, I have no doubts that these projects will continue to develop. All of them? I do not know, perhaps, not all. But I would like the educational part of the Programme to continue because we cannot say we have gained sufficient experience. Of course, not. We need to learn all the time, and, I think, we will work on that.

How relevant are CNCP efforts on exchange of experience and training, as well as events, such as seminars and conferences? Do they help solve practical issues? Do they help promote high-tech technologies to the market and ensure successful technology transfer and building partnerships?

They are absolutely relevant. I do not think I have ever come across any other initiative which was so successful in exchange of experience.

Once a year in the framework of the CNCP Program representatives of all nuclear cities get together in Great Britain. Though, the number of these people is small, the coverage of the event is enormous. The main goal is to share experience gained by British companies. These meetings take place in different cities, such as Oxford, Cambridge, London and Manchester, which share their extremely interesting case studies. This is one side of the exchange program.

The other side is much wider, when a big number of people from nuclear cities are invited to conferences held in Russia. Such conferences took place in Astrakhan and Kazan; one was held in Vyborg in 2010. This is a good form of interaction. Conferences include official reports, as well as discussions. Conference initiators are masters to arrange polemical discussions, which are extremely valuable.

These events are held regularly twice a year in Great Britain and in Russia. They both are good, and I cannot say one is better than the other. They are differently structured. In Russia we pay less attention to experience of foreign companies but discuss what is going on in our country, first of all in nuclear cities. When abroad, we can see what is going on there. This is very well organized, because as a result the information provided is supplementary. Of course, it would be good if we get such mentoring and training opportunities in future. It would be extremely useful. This is a request for future.

I would like to say again that the British Initiative is valuable not only for provision of funding to specific projects, which is certainly highly demanded and important, but also for mentoring, commercialisation training, business and language training. This is the key specific feature of CNCP.

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