Posted: February 11, 2010

(Nanowerk News) RUSNANO Deputy CEO Andrey Malyshev and Reijo Munther, Director, Materials technology, of Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, signed a memorandum on standardization and regulation in nanotechnology at a recent Russian-Finnish roundtable.

Russia and Finland have held roundtable discussions since December 2008 under an international agreement for collaboration in the nanotechnology sphere. This meeting was a continuation of that work. Representatives from RUSNANO, the Russian Research Institute of Metrological Service, and the All-Russian Research Institute for Standardization and Certification in Mechanical Engineering contributed to the discussion on behalf of Russia. Specialists from MIKES, the Centre for Metrology and Accreditation; Tekes, and Spinverse contributed to discussion from the Finnish side.

Participants examined problems regulating nanotechnology and approaches to developing coordinated positions for presentation to European standardization and safety agencies. The standards would be applicable to joint Russian-Finnish projects, if undertaken.

RUSNANO proposed, and the group agreed, that a working group would be formed to take over joint efforts to standardize and regulate Russian-Finnish nanotechnology.

The memorandum signed during the meeting envisions collaboration between Finland and Russia as the foremost international joint undertaking to regulate nanotechnology.

“Development of joint Russian-Finnish projects for technical regulation and safety assessment in nanotechnology and nanoindustry products is directed toward creating conditions for competitive products from Russian-Finnish projects to enter world markets,” Yuri Tkachuk, Director of the Department of Standardization at RUSNANO, explained.

Tero Elkin, Manager for Development at the Finnish Centre for Metrology and Accreditation and chairman of the roundtable, emphasized that “future cooperation will be positive for both countries. We must consider global aspects. As proposed by the Russian side, joint Finnish-Russian advances in this sphere could be used in integrating other countries into this model for collaboration.”

Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, is the linchpin in the nanotechnology infrastructure of the country. The primary function of the publicly funded agency is to stimulate cooperation between research departments in business and scientific groups in universities and institutes. Tekes provides 35.8 percent of the funding essential to realizing approved projects; business provides the balance. Chances for funding from Tekes rise when there are more universities, research institutes, and companies involved in a particular project. In this manner, the government, via Tekes, achieves broader use of newly acquired knowledge and technology in Finland’s economy.