The Tomsk Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for innovative engineering was established in compliance with a government resolution dated Dec. 21, 2005. It is located on two plots of land with a combined area of 207 hectares.
Fifty-four resident companies had registered with the Tomsk SEZ by March 9, 2011, including 11 firms holding either patents for various products and technologies, or state registration certificates of their rights to the products they developed.
Priority areas of activity in the Tomsk Special Economic Zone include:
information and communications technology, and electronic technology, to develop and manufacture trial digital televisions, power and high-current electronic devices, radio engineering systems, communications facilities, quantum electronic and other devices;
new material production technology and nanotechnologies, to produce metal nanopowders, micron and submicron powders from inorganic compounds, nanofibres from inorganic compounds, structural ceramics using zirconium dioxide and biocomposite materials using nanostructural titanium, etc;
biotechnologies and medical technologies, to produce, among other things, stem cells, recombinant proteins and new-generation drugs using such proteins, to extract and process or refine mineral resources, to produce bio-energy from recycling biological mass, such as woodworking and bio-organic waste, and to engage in biological instrument-making, such as biosensor and biochip manufacturing.
Resident companies plan to make an overall investment of 14.2 billion roubles in the SEZ, while the actual investments made by Jan. 1, 2011 stood at 2.686 billion roubles. Output over the entire period of the SEZ's operation, that is until 2025, is planned to amount to about 77.914 billion roubles, while the actual output as of Jan. 1, 2011 is estimated at 505.95 million roubles. By 2025, resident companies plan to create more than 5,000 jobs (about 1,000 jobs had been created by Jan. 1, 2011).
The overall tax proceeds that will be channelled into budgets at various levels by the time the projects are rolled out are planned to total 12.030 billion roubles. By Jan. 1, 2011, the SEZ residents had actually paid 261.61 million roubles in taxes to the federal, regional and local budgets.
In 2008, the construction of the Innovation and Technologies Centre at the Southern Site of the SEZ was completed, as well as the construction of the customs infrastructure and check points at the Northern and Southern sites, while the checkpoints were also supplied with all the necessary equipment.
In December 2010, the Information Technology Centre was unveiled at the Southern Site. The Centre will provide premises to companies engaged in information technologies, electronics and instrument-making.
The opening ceremony for the second phase of the Information Technology Centre – a 2,000-square-metre laboratory – is scheduled for the third quarter of 2011. The laboratory will house the Sigma Nanotechnology Centre. The project to build the Multifunctional Centre for Nanotechnology in Tomsk and Novosibirsk won the first open tender held by the Rosnano state corporation in March 2010.
The major resident companies of the SEZ include:
Sibur Neftekhim Research and Development Institution (NIOST). Established in Tomsk on Oct. 10, 2005, Sibur Neftekhim was Russia's first company to be granted the status of an SEZ resident in April 2006. It is part of the SIBUR Holding. It is a leading corporate research and development centre for chemical technologies into which the holding company has injected more than 1.5 billion roubles over the four years of its operation.
NIOST has the potential to engage in research and development in a variety of areas, ranging from the synthesis of new materials to the development of new technologies for the chemical sector.
Today, the Centre is managing 20-plus projects. In particular, researchers at the Centre have developed and tested trial samples of rubber to manufacture environmentally-friendly tyres with better service characteristics. Drag reducers are being currently developed to increase pipeline throughput capacity (by up to 40%) without additional investments. Research is under way to synthesise new-generation highly active catalysts. Researchers at the Centre have developed an original process, which infringes no patents, to manufacture 1-hexene, with process parameters similar to those that only Chevron Phillips, the sole manufacturer of this polymer, can achieve. The materials to be used in car manufacturing, in particular by the AvtoVAZ and Hyundai car plants, are currently being developed. NIOST has more than 190 employees, half of whom are aged between 20 and 30.
Zi Poli Tomsk. Set up on Feb. 15, 2008, Zi Poli Tomsk is engaged in the development and introduction of technologies to produce polycrystalline silicon for solar power engineering. The fluoride-enabled technology used in the project is based on the findings that scientists from the Seversk State Academy of Technology in the city of Seversk in the Tomsk Region obtained during their research into technology to produce highly clean metals. This technology has many advantages compared to the conventional chlorosilane method, which is more costly and less “clean”.
The Tomsk Head Centre for Light-Emitting Diode Technologies. The Centre carries out research and development to design and manufacture trial high-efficiency light-emitting diodes and various energy-conserving lighting units using LED technology.
Mikran and Submikronniye tekhnologii (Submicron Technologies). Founded by Mikran, these two limited liability companies are engaged in designing a microelectronics plant to be built on a leased 4-hectare plot of land at the Southern Site of the Tomsk SEZ.
Mikran's priority strategic objectives include developing an original integrated-curcuit technology for telecommunications, radiolocation and dual-purpose instrument-making, securing a foothold for its high-technology products in foreign markets, and developing new-generation shipborne radars.
Mikran and Nokia Siemens Networks have reached an agreement to set up a joint venture in the Tomsk SEZ to manufacture fourth-generation telecommunications equipment. The joint venture will create 150 jobs and is planned to manufacture 10,000 base stations a year.