Astana, December 18 (Interfax) - A ceremony has been held in the town of Dubna, outside Moscow, to sign documents that establish a CIS-led international innovative center of nanotechnologies.
The founding documents were signed by ministerial officials, as well as representatives of the national Academies of Sciences, Chambers of Commerce and Industry and academic and educational centers of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Ukraine.
"The goals of this center are to create new instruments of scientific and innovative cooperation, [to facilitate] joint access to global competitive markets, to help CIS member-countries secure leading positions in terms of innovative development, as well as to arrange joint work in the sphere of innovations," said Alexei Sisakyan, director of the Dubna-based Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. Sisakyan’s remarks were included in a press release issued by the CIS interstate humanitarian cooperation foundation.
The CIS nanotechnologies center, which will be based in Dubna, will work to form a CIS nano-industry high technology market capable of competing in the international arena. The center will also serve as an integration instrument for innovative, research and education processes within the CIS.
"CIS member-nations are home to high-grade research and educational institutions, which, however, are isolated from the business world and do not create the "critical mass" needed for innovations," Sisakyan said.
The new center "will become a mechanism that will harmoniously integrate all three sides of the "triangle of knowledge" (education, research and innovations), and it will help boost countries’ ability to translate the results of their research and development efforts into commercial innovations," he added.
