OREANDA-NEWS. Ulyanovsk Oblast governor Sergey Morozov, RUSNANO CEO Anatoly Chubais, and CEO of the Fund for Infrastructure and Educational Programs Andrey Svinarenko took part in opening ceremonies of the Ulyanovsk nanocenter, Ulnanotech. The nanocenter has a budget of 1.3 billion rubles of which RUSNANO will cofinance 800 million rubles. Other investors in the project include the Ulyanovsk Region Development Corporation, the State Scientific Center-Research Institute of Atomic Reactors, and the Siberian Casting Company.

Plans for construction of the nanocenter complex were prepared by the well-known Italian architect Giuseppe Della Giusta. The complex, covering 6,000 square meters, is located in the Zavolzhye industrial zone and contains offices, laboratories, and two manufacturing facilities one of which houses Metall Composite, a Ulnanotech subsidiary that produces goods from composite materials and aluminum alloys.

Ulnanotech's work centers on supporting manufacturing businesses in early stages of development, helping with the pursuit of breakthrough technologies, the establishment of startups to introduce new goods to the market (commercialization), the rendering of expertise and consulting services, and the rental of specialized engineering and analytical equipment.

As of the end of June 2013, the Board of Directors of the Ulyanovsk nanocenter had already approved 28 projects in automobile building, construction, and aviation, medicine and biotechnology. Forty more projects are in various stages of active development. Over the long-term, Ulnanotech is expected to launch 96 startups. The nanocenter and project companies will create 7,500 new jobs with above average salaries for workers in the region. The tax impact of the nanocenter and its project companies (taking into account tax incentives) in the span of ten years is estimated at 3.6 billion rubles of which roughly 60 percent will go to the oblast budget.

The recently opened nanotechnology center owns research laboratory equipment capable of complete analyses of the structure of any material and the creation of new materials- molecular-genetic diagnostics, water-dispersing materials, high-performance concrete and construction materials, functional thin film coatings. Innovative companies will be able to use the equipment during development of new materials and while designing steps in production chains. With access to these tools, fledgling companies need not establish their own laboratories and spending to commercialize new developments can be cut significantly.

A nanocenter, from the perspective of design and construction, is a complex engineering object that must simultaneously accommodate the diverse needs and activities of startup offices, laboratories, and pilot production. The engineering office of the Ulyanovsk Region Development Corporation, which functioned as project owner, was involved from the very beginning of complex construction. Its participation is credited with realizing all construction work within a tight time frame.

Messrs. Morozov, Chubais, and Svinarenko toured the new center and were introduced to promising nanoindustry developments, including product samples of nanostructured glass used in automating rapid (under two minutes) sequencing and purifying of biopolymers and to simplify the process of biopolymer analysis (DNA, RNA, proteins, and peptides).