ACIG took part in the extended meeting of the Association of Innovation Regions of Russia (AIRR)

The extended meeting of the Council of the Association of Innovation Regions of Russia (AIRR) took place within the framework of the 4th International Innovation Nanotechnology Forum NANOTECH’2012 which was held on November 27-29 in Kazan. The meeting was chaired by the Chairman of the AIRR Supervisory Board Sergei Naryshkin. At the meeting, the results of the year’s work of the Association were summed up and the plans for next year were determined.

Chairman of the AIRR Supervisory Board Sergei Naryshkin, Chairman of the AIRR Council Rustam Minnikhanov, AIRR Executive Director Ivan Bortnik, members of the AIRR Supervisory Board Vladimir Kononov and Oleg Fomichev, Head of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives for Promotions of New Projects Andrei Nikitin, as well as the State Duma Deputies and the AIRR partners, including ACIG, took part in the meeting.

One of the key issues on the meeting agenda was the discussion of the biotechnology sector as one of the most promising and demanded ones. “Innovations in this sphere have a great multiplying effect and contribute significantly to the regional economy’s sustainable development and increased competitiveness of the country in general,” Mr. Naryshkin noted in his speech. He added that on April, the Government of the Russian Federation approved a comprehensive program for biotechnology development in the Russian Federation until 2020. This program provides for the legislative improvements in this sphere. Parliament hearings and several round tables were organized at the State Duma to discuss support measures for biomedical technologies and bioenergy industry. The discussion on this topic will continue within the framework of the AIRR public meeting which will take place at the 7th St. Petersburg international Economic Forum-2013.

Chairman of the AIRR Supervisory Board Sergei Naryshkin noted that the lawmaking aspect of the AIRR activities should be strengthened: “There is certain progress. The Association is represented in the Parliamentary and expert councils, while its regions are taking part in the expertise of drafts of the key economic laws which are under consideration of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.”

As the member of the AIRR Supervisory Board Oleg Fomichev noted that the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation was working on a coordinating program together with the expert community. “The whole program on biotechnology can be divided in two parts. The first one is legislative support. The second one includes concrete projects because we need to build industrial facilities as right now there is a lack of “adapters” between our research efforts and concrete industrial factories,” Mr. Fomichev noted.

State programs under development were particularly emphasized. Besides, a working group on monitoring of legislation in the innovation sphere headed by the member of AIRR Supervisory Board Vladimir Kononov was established upon the initiative of AIRR and State Duma deputies.

A Committee on Cluster Policy was established within the AIRR. According to Ivan Bortnik, this committee is responsible for the most important task – implementation of the program on regional innovation clusters development.

A lot of regions started to base their policy on clusters, but then, there’s a need of a further step, which is establishing interaction between clusters, because the competition through the division of competences between the clusters becomes more constructive.

At the meeting, a number of organizational issues were also touched upon. In particular, Chairman of the AIRR Council Rustam Minnikhanov said that the new heads had been elected in three AIRR regions: the Governor of Irkutsk region Sergei Eroschenko, the Governor of Perm Krai Viktor Basargin and the Head of the Republic of Mordovia Vladimir Volkov. Therefore, it was proposed to consider new candidates for the AIRR Council. Following the outcomes of the meeting, Andrei Nikitin, General Director of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, was elected the member of the AIRR Council.

Head of the ACIG Legal and Tax Consulting Department Yury Fedyukin and ACIG Chief Accountant Anton Chuklin noted the importance of this event.

ACIG is the AIRR strategic partner and shares its values and key areas of activities aimed at development of regional innovation policy in a group of priority regions and maximum realization of their potential. According to the ACIG representatives, a wide discussion of the ways how to introduce innovations in business, proposals on efficiency of the innovation development stimulation as well as development of concrete steps play an important role in comprehensive regional development.