(Nanowerk News) The forum started with a plenary session "The Demand for Innovation" opened by Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Ivanov. He addressed the participants stating that Russia has shown its ability to create an effective mechanism for searching, evaluating and launching the hi-tech projects.

"The main question for us now is how great the demand for innovative products is in various sectors of the economy. Demand for innovations is the main topic of the VI International Nanotechnology Forum. The primary issue we're talking about is how the government can stimulate this demand: from ordering basic research and further R&D via ministries, state agencies and companies with state share, to direct purchases of products as part of federal and regional expenditures," said Sergey Ivanov.

Anatoly Chubais, CEO and Chairman of the Board of RUSNANO, Viktor Vekselberg, the President of the Skolkovo Foundation, Mikhail Pogosyan, the President of the United Aircraft Corporation, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSFC "SISTEMA" took part in the plenary session along with Douglas Leone, Partner, Sequoia Capital (USA) and Edward F. Crawley, the President and Founder of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (USA).

Anatoly Chubais, CEO and Chairman of the Board of RUSNANO

Sergey Brilev, Deputy Director for Special Projects of the "Russia" television channel, served as the moderator for this plenary session.

Overall, the Business and Science and Technology Programs of the Forum included more than forty discussions on promising technologies in the field of nanotechnology, opportunities for their commercialization, attracting investments and shaping demand for nanotechnology products. The Program for RUSNANOTECH 2011 is dedicated to show and discuss the innovative technologies in machine building and metalworking, optoelectronics and nanoelectronics, solar energy and energy efficiency, medicine and biotechnology, nanostructured materials industry, and infrastructure projects.

The Forum included RUSNANOTECH Expo 2011 — an exhibition of Russian and foreign-made nanotechnology products. Prototypes and sample products from 385 companies and organizations from 107 Russian cities and 9 countries of the world, Australia, Great Britain, Spain, Japan, Germany, Iran, the Netherlands, Finland and South Korea were presented at 112 booths.

Forum participants had the opportunity to visit the "Future Store" presentation booth, where a new retail format, jointly created by RUSNANO, X5 Retail Group N. V. and Sitronics JSC was highlighted. The key feature of the store is using the RFID tags instead of traditional bar codes so that data of any item in the store can be accessed remotely.

Another installation built at the Expo, the Nano-Home, demonstrated the practical use of nanomaterials and nanotechnology-based products for the construction of residential buildings.

At RUSNANOTECH 2011, participants and visitors had a unique opportunity to see the prototypes of electric vehicles equipped with Lithium-Ion batteries made by RUSNANO project company Liotech LLC. And they didn't just look at the preproduction prototypes of TROLZA large electric bus, and an "EL LADA" electric car and a small electric bus; they had the chance to drive them as well.

The IV International Nanotechnology Forum included a Project Fair, organized by RUSNANO, the National Business Angels Association (NBAA) and the Russian Venture Capital Association (RVCA). The main goal of this event is to show potential entrepreneurs, private investors and other participants and visitors, that the hi-tech business isn't as complicated as it may seem, and if one follows a few simple rules, it can be very profitable.

To contemplate the hi-tech in terms of modern culture was on of the goals for the humanitarian part of the Forum. This year, a group of people famous in contemporary art "invaded" the plants RUSNANO has just launched. The artists were able to familiarize themselves with the technologies laying in the basis of these plants and their products and the ways they can be applied, and, perhaps more importantly, meet the people who made it possible to turn scientific breakthroughs into new production. Their experience is embodied in the artworks created with the participation of plants' engineers and technologists which they visited. These pieces of art have been placed around the Forum area.

The "13+" photography project tells the story of new enterprises that make up the nanotechnology industry. Photographers Maxim Shapovalov and Vladislav Shut, armed with cameras, investigated the plants launched under RUSNANO's projects in 2011.

A separate program has been organized especially for schoolchildren and students, including tours of the exhibition, a game "quest for knowledge", a series of lectures, experiments and presentations, series of animated and documentary films, as well as a special exhibition about nanotechnology for children, called "Look, it's NANO!"

During the entire course of the forum, the Discovery Cinema Hall was open to visitors, where the Discovery Channel's very best popular science films were shown non-stop.

This year, a book comprising of essays "RUSNANO: Stories of Success" was presented to Forum participants. This book is a collection of stories of the people who create a new economy: scientists, engineers, design professionals and entrepreneurs. Every one of them did things their own way, turning scientific knowledge into production projects. At one time or another, they crossed paths with RUSNANO, and now we are working together to create a new high technology business. This book contains stories of technical entrepreneurship, prepared by journalists from business, economic, scientific and socio-political publications.

The RUSNANOTECH forum includes an award ceremony for laureates of the RUSNANOPRIZE nanotechnology award, Russian Nanotechnology Prize for Young Researchers and the International Competition for Scientific Papers in Nanotechnology for Young Researchers.

Furthermore, for the first time, the RUSNANOTECH Forum includes an award for the winner of a competition for the best website among nanoindustry enterprises. This contest was organized by the steering committee of "Golden Site", the oldest website contest in Russia.