A positive surge of energy

Ivan Neklyudov, the General Director of the Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology (KIPT), is one of the leading authorities on radiation technologies in Ukraine. A member of the Ukrainian Academy of Science, he also serves as Secretary of the Academy’s Department for Nuclear Physics and Energy. In the following interview, he gives his views on the CNCP Programme and on the opportunities and prospects for radiation technology.

How do you see the prospects in the commercial application of radiation technologies?

With demand in the world market growing at up to 25% a year, this is one of the most dynamically developing areas of high technology. The range of applications is enormous, from agriculture and medicine to defence and space – and it is expanding day by day. The products of radiation technology have long since arrived in our homes in the form of insulated cables, strong plastic film, Teflon coverings and so on. And moreover, beside social significance, radiation technology is also a highly profitable manufacturing business.

Our Institute currently undertakes 70% of all of the radiation sterilization in Ukraine and we work with some 98 partners. And the market is expected to expand by between five and ten times over the next ten years. So we have already started a project to modernize the technology which we use for radiation processing. This initiative includes introducing a new radiation processing system and developing integrated infrastructure.

Mr. Neklyudov, how does the position of KIPT today compare with the situation of a decade ago?

A great deal has happened over the last ten years. After the collapse of the USSR, the Institute, which was previously a closed institution within the Soviet-defence complex was handed over to Ukraine and for a long time its services were not in demand. The situation was made all the more difficult by the burden of municipal type infrastructure which KIPT inherited as the dominant enterprise in a large district of Kharkov. In order to survive, so to speak, we set up a series of self-sufficient institutes within KIPT.

Today, KIPT is the largest scientific research organization in Ukraine and the leading body engaged in scientific support for the country’s nuclear energy sector. One could say that we have found our place in the science complex and are now standing firmly on our own two feet. Clearly, we have not been able to get this far without shedding staff, in particular from among the highly qualified technicians and engineers responsible for our experimental equipment. But we succeeded in maintaining our main areas of activity and in many of them have managed to hold onto our leading role.

What is your opinion of the CNCP model for financing commercialization projects and in what measure is it of interest to the Ukrainian Academy of Science?

I must say that the activities of the CNCP Programme are of great interest to the Institutes that belong to the Academy of Science. I consider that the CNCP model is definitely more fully developed than those which are employed in our country. It obliges managers to acquire a deeper understanding of the market and how their projects relate to it. And they then have to adjust their products in the light of this knowledge to what the market demands.

Nowadays, all countries are moving over to the innovation-based model of development. With that in view, the Ukrainian Academy of Science has resolved to establish a national innovation cluster for New Materials for Nuclear Energy based in KIPT, with the obligation to pull in other institutes and companies. The experience that we have acquired through our collaboration with CNCP will be very useful here.

Would you agree that the commercialization of scientific inventions contributes significantly to stable economic and employment conditions and that they in turn play an important part in global security?

The question of global nuclear security is a multi-faceted, human centred issue. Obviously, commercialisation is one of the means of exploiting the fruits of scientific activities, and as such provides an additional motivation for our colleagues. It helps to maintain, or even strengthens, their interest in their work and contributes significantly to their job sustainability.

Another factor is that commercialization is only just beginning in Ukrainian institutes. One cannot pretend that in their souls our scientists are entrepreneurs in the market sense of the word, or that they see the results of their efforts in terms of commercial products. But our joint efforts and British experience of commercialization show that such activities can contribute to the economic wellbeing of the Institute and to security of employment for the staff.

How did the collaboration between KIPT and CNCP begin and what in your opinion has it brought to the Institute?

I know that when they began to work in Ukraine, CNCP representatives visited several institutes, including KIPT. In 2005, we became the first in the country to work with the Programme. And I think that this was no coincidence; KIPT is the largest and longest established of all the nuclear centres in Ukraine.

The feature of CNCP that is unique is the constant dialogue between the institutes and the Programme’s experts and Moscow Office managers. An important aspect is that project funding goes hand in hand with a no less weighty investments in terms of exchange of experience with colleagues from Great Britain and from CIS countries. Seven projects involving the commercialization of KIPT discoveries are being implemented at the moment in the Institute. These involve four out of the five of KIPT’s constituent institutes.

I want to say that the experience and approaches to commercialization that we have acquired through the Programme nurture the practical side of the Institute’s activities and add to its weight in this area. The people working together in KIPT are taking on new and challenging experience.

A young commer-cialization unit team has been established to support the process of bringing innovations to the market. Study Tours to Great Britain are a wonderful idea. I am personally grateful to CNCP for having had the opportunity to take part in one such Tour. It not only provided an opportunity to see commercialisation activities in British scientific organisations with my own eyes, and to speak to British specialists, but it also created a surge of positive energy to pass on to colleagues on our return.

What forms of collaboration with the Programme, besides grant finance, have been productive and could be extended in future?

Grant funding for projects is only one of the Programme’s activities, albeit, naturally, of particular relevance to the creation of new workplaces. That apart, resources for promoting exchange of experience and the possibilities for open discussion with colleagues - through study tours, thematic seminars and annual conferences - would continue to be useful in future. I think that support for already existing CNCP projects and other commercialization oriented activities will be productive, as would help with establishing commercial links with British and European companies and support for marketing activities. The fundamental tool for discussions with investors and for finding partners to work with in commercializing discoveries is the business plan. Help with preparing business plans is very much needed and will continue to be in future.

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