On December 11 Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attended the 2nd Russian Innovation Convention in St Petersburg.
For three days (December 9, 10 and 11) St Petersburg became Russia's most innovative city. Young scientists from Ufa, Kemerovo, Tomsk, Orenburg, Moscow and many other cities have come to the gathering with their inventions.
The inventors demonstrated to Putin their designs such as a portable machine that recycles off-cut timber into liquid fuels, a distance laser breathalyzer and a turnstile that charges ticket fares from a cellphone account. The head of the government was very amused to see a neurocomputer interface designed by researchers from Zelenograd. The interface allows to mentally control external devices. "If you attach it to a human head you will know what the person thinks," the developers explained. "I see. Let's not attach it to my head," Vladimir Putin replied cautiously.
The Youth innovation convention is a culmination of the the Federal Youth Agency's Zvorykin project, which has given a research opportunity to many young scientists in Russia so that they could become successful and wealthy and convert their ideas into tangible products.
"When you want to isolate macaroni from water you use a colander," a young scientist Stanislav Khartov says. "We know how to make holes less than one nanometer in a sieve. Then, instead of macaroni you can isolate molecules. This is what we call a molecular sieve or a nanomembrane." This is not the only new thing about Stanislav's project. He knows how to make ‘active' holes in molecular sieves, holes that can reshape themselves and create an electric field inside. This makes them incredibly functional in many applications! "We can divide many different substances and even those that are very hard to extract like air," Stanislav said. "This extraction opens way to a new generation of power engineering with air burning replaced with pure oxygen burning. This will significantly reduce emissions and make a fuel from low quality coal or even garbage." And this is not the end. Molecular sieves could be used for desalination of sea water, energy saving and many other tasks. Stanislav could speak about potential uses forever. He was silent about one thing. If he does not find 300,000 roubles ($10,000 or 7,000 euros) by December 25 to apply for a patent in Europe, the development will just go away abroad for free. Like many other researchers, Stanislav is looking for investors and partners at this convention.
"What is your method about? How does it work?" head of the Federal Youth Agency, Vasily Yakemenko, asks Stanislav and the inventor starts pouring out scientific terms and explaining how the machine works.
"If you want investors to be interested in your project learn to describe it in one sentence," Yakemenko advises.
It is true, few inventors can be good managers. Not many of them can convert their ideas into useful products. Ramil Rakhmatullin, winner of the Zvorykin award in the nomination Best Innovative Product, created a unique "Giamatrix" bioskin that does not need to be taken off the wound and breaks down naturally whilst healing. This property saves constant bandaging. Besides, Giamatrix has a longer life and lower costs. Ramil's research was supported by the Zvorykin project. Like thousands of other participants, he registered on the project website and uploaded his research proposal. Later he was contacted by a private investor who was personally interested in bioskin usage. This helped Ramil present a commercially full-fledged product at the convention. The Zvorykin award committee voted for Ramil unanimously and he received an award and a certificate from Vasily Yakemenko. Best Innovative Concept winner Marat Mukhamedyarov received an award from Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko and Best Innovative Project winner Lilya Anisimova received an award from Education Minister Andrei Fursenko. Marat is developing a medicine for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases as well as other chronic degenerative disorders. Lilya Anisimova found an effective, fast and - what is more important - cheap way to isolate pesticides from soil. Her development will soon be available on sale. This spring any farmer will be able to buy a capsule for 300 rubles that would be enough for 0.06 ha. The capsule must be mixed with water and sprayed over soil. In addition to the million roubles each winner received, Lilya's project was funded by interested sponsors who invested 25 million rubles.
And these are only a few projects from among the dozens of unique developments displayed at the convention. "In a few years we all will be using items developed by the convention finalists," Head of the Federal Youth Agency Vasily Yakemenko who presented the award to Lilya Anisimova said.
Marina Gladysheva