Siberia to be at heart of Russia's nano revolution

Chubais specified Novosibirsk and Tomsk for the centres which will open in 2013 and 2014. The first nano centre in Russia will be in Kazan, due to open this year, he said. 

The pioneering centres - aimed at attracting small and medium-sized companies including start-ups - will be established 'from Siberia through to Russia's western part', he said. 

The Siberian science base in both Novosibirsk and Tomsk is seen as crucial to the success of the centres which also require regional support. 

Chubais said the main aim is the 'attraction to the nano centres of small and medium companies, where they would not have to rent space and buy expensive equipment'.

Currently, 287 producers of nano-goods are working in 50 Russian regions, of which only 47 companies were created with ROSNANO's participation. About three quarters of those companies manufacture petroleum products.

'Russia's nano-industry in general is a start-up. It is a very unusual sector. It is of big importance for use to raise the industry to a new level,' he said. 

'We have real financial resources. But we face the necessity of nano-technical community's self-organisation, to know the real projects for the investment of those funds in their implementation.'

Nanotechnology has been called the manipulation of matter on an atomic and molecular scale. It can lead to developing new materials to direct control of matter on the atomic scale. Nanotechnology entails the application of fields of science as diverse as surface science, organic chemistry, molecular biology, semiconductor physics, and microfabrication.