The representatives of the British Closed Nuclear Centres Partnership (CNCP) Programme visited the Park of Nuclear Technologies JSC in Kurchatov, Kazakhstan. During the five days of the working week CNCP experts consulted the nuclear technologies park specialists in issues of commercialization of innovation projects. It is worthy mentioning that the CNCP experts are one of the major consultants of the Park of Nuclear Technologies on issues on business planning, marketing research, and development of the working programme and strategy of the said organization. They act as partners of the Park of Nuclear Technologies on the attraction of projects and commercialization of innovation technologies. Charles Monk, a CNCP Expert and a leading specialist in the world on the issues of technologies commercialization shares with our readers his view of the results of cooperation and plans for the future.
Mr. Monk, the CNCP provides services in consulting on the issues of commercialization of projects in the CIS countries. What, in your opinion, are the distinguishing features of the technoparks in Kazakhstan, in particular the Park of Nuclear Technologies?
The cooperation between the Park of Nuclear Technologies JSC and CNCP has been continuing for 5 years. What major achievements in this collaboration were reached?
The work with the technopark is focused on three main areas. The first one involves the interaction in preparation of the Working Programme and Strategy for the technopark development. The second line is work on particular projects, which were initiated by the institutions of the National Nuclear Centre of the Republic of Kazakhstan and partners from Russia. The works in this given direction are at the initial development stage. As an example I can give two projects developed and promoted owing to our cooperation. InTechNos LLC is an enterprise set up on the basis of the park. The Park of Nuclear Technologies JSC and the CNCP Programme carried out the financing of the given project. The second project is the creation of an energy saving company. The project was attracted from Russia; its developers are partners from the Snezhinsk city-based CNCP Programme. CNCP also participated in the development of this given project. CNCP developed a successful model for the implementation of similar projects. Today, that model is applied in implementation of analogous projects in the former Soviet Union. The third direction of our cooperation is the efforts of CNCP aimed at acting as an interlink between the Park of Nuclear Technologies and research institutes, organizations, and technoparks in the post-Soviet countries. Annual meetings between the representatives of CNCP and nuclear centres, scientific organizations and technoparks from the former USSR contribute to cooperation expansion. At one of these meetings the parties discussed issues of using the basic facilities of the Park of Nuclear Technologies – electron accelerators ELV-4 and ILU-10 by the partners from the post-Soviet states.
You were talking about the projects which will be implemented jointly with the Park of Nuclear Technologies. What results is CNCP expecting from their implementation?
In the preparation and implementation of the projects, there were set goals and objectives for every project. By the end of 2011 a certain level of sales has to be reached and a certain number of jobs has to be created on every project. I have to mention that the projects are to be accomplished by the time of completion of the British Programme, i.e. by the end of 2012.
Not so long ago the first international conference Innovation Technologies: Reality and Prospects was held under support of the Park of Nuclear Technologies. How do you access the efficiency of the given event for the matter of attraction of projects and enterprises to operate on the territory of the Park of Nuclear Technologies?
This is a very important event conducted by the mentioned organization. Such forums positively affect the attraction of new projects. I offer this idea to the technopark to conduct analogous events not only in Kurchatov, but in the cities of Almaty and Astana as well. Why are these events important for the technopark? Owing to the meetings of the cooperating parties – the representatives of the companies, scientific centers, and venture funds – they will be able to see personally the opportunities provided, to familiarize with the operation of companies on the territory of the technopark, and to see the premises and equipment which are available and can be provided by the technopark. Thanks to such meetings people acquaint with each other, discuss new ideas and consider ways of cooperation. The evidence of effectiveness of the given measures is the joint ventures of the technopark.
As one of the consultants in development of the technopark’s Working Programme can you give a forecast of its advancement and development for the coming 5 years?
It is no doubt that at the moment there are very interesting projects implemented at the technopark. The technopark team has to work on their further development. Along with that, it is necessary to outline the ways of how to attract new projects, considering that the technopark has a difficult geographic position. I would like to put an emphasis on this once again, as the geographical location of the Park of Nuclear Technologies is not one of most attractive. The team of the technopark is challenged with a more complicated task than other technoparks in the country. The Park of Nuclear Technologies has to attract not only Kazakhstani projects, but consider the possibility of transferring technologies from other countries as well. Of course, in this prospect is the attraction of projects from institutions of the National Nuclear Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan. With the lapse of time it is likely that the institutions will have more projects and business ideas, and the necessity will emerge in their expansion, and the developers will wish to implement them through the help of the technopark. This will not happen in the short term, since this is a slow process. Of course, it’s a good thing that a number of the enterprises set up on the territory of the Park of Nuclear Technologies increases every year.
What are the plans of further cooperation of the Park of Nuclear Technologies JSC and the CNCP Programme?
The cooperation on the three above-mentioned directions will continue. The development of the National Projects Commercialization Strategy plays a significant role in further cooperation. In this area we jointly with the Park of Nuclear Technologies JSC are carrying out work with the National Innovation Fund of Kazakhstan. If this system is accepted at the governmental level, I believe it will greatly accelerate and facilitate the process of commercialization of projects in Kazakhstan, in particular, on the territory of the Park of Nuclear Technologies.
Thank you for the interview. We wish you and the CNCP expert team prosperity and health!
