Weekend Economists Salute Ruin July 3-5, 2015

[MattSh]

34. Russia Science & Technology Roundup, June 2015

This is something I've put together for another site I spend some time at.

To read the complete story, click on the individual links.

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http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/russian-tech-firm-yota-working-on-dual-screen-tablet/522845.html

Russian Tech Firm Yota Working on Dual-Screen Tablet

Russian electronics firm Yota Devices has created a new tablet device, Sergei Chemezov, the head of state technology holding Rostec, told newspaper Vedomosti in an interview published Monday.

"We are working on a tablet. I've already seen it," Chemezov said, adding that one of the Yota Tablet's novel features is the ability to charge a YotaPhone smartphone. Rostec, a massive state conglomerate heavily invested in the defense industry, owns a 25 percent stake in Yota.

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http://rbth.com/science_and_tech/2015/06/17/no_smoking_please_russian_mobile_health_technologies_46979.html

No smoking, please: Russian mobile health technologies

Several anti-smoking mobile apps appeared in Russia in summer 2015, including the “Smoke Free Area” service. It can be used to report those that violate the ban on smoking in public places.

In June 2015 Russia launched the comprehensive project BrosayemKurit.rf (translation: Let's Quit Smoking). The country celebrated World No Tobacco Day on May 31 with the release of another mobile application, “Smoke Free Area.”

With the app a user can take a photo of an establishment where the ban on smoking in public places is violated and send it to the authorities. The idea of the service was initiated by Russia’s Ministry of Health.

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http://www.ewdn.com/2015/06/05/russia-china-to-equip-trucks-with-glonass-and-beidou/

Russia, China to equip trucks with Glonass and Beidou

Russia and China are currently working on a joint project to develop “a navigation device with Glonass/Beidou support” to equip commercial carriers crossing Russia’s border with China. These plans were aired last week by Alexander Bondarenko, Head of the Glonass International Projects Department, at a conference in Novosibirsk.

“The users will be provided with equal service in China and in Russia. A truck driver will be able to contact tech support, get help on the road, find the closest gas station and use other services supported by the satellite navigation systems,” Russian online portal Sputnik quoted Bondarenko as saying.

He added that truck drivers would not have different devices, and instead would be using the same apparatus.

Russia’s answer to GPS, the Glonass network currently consists of 28 satellites, 24 of which are operational, according to Sputnik. This configuration allows real-time positioning and speed data for surface, sea and airborne objects around the globe.

The announcement comes as no surprise as China and Russia are seeking to form a single navigational space in the coming years. Negotiations on the harmonization of equipment standards for Glonass and Beidou started in the summer of last year, as reported by East-West Digital News.

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http://www.ewdn.com/2015/06/08/alibaba-opens-russian-company/

Alibaba opens Russian company, teams up with Skolkovo

“Alibaba Group founded a new company in Russia in order to further expand our business and support our partners, and also to facilitate cooperation with the Russian authorities,” said Mark Zavadskiy.

Almost simultaneously Skolkovo, the international tech hub under completion on the outskirts of Moscow, announced a partnership with Alibaba’s local branch to create the AliExpress Challenge for B2C microelectronics solutions. A memorandum of understanding is to be signed by the two parties at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum later this month.

The AliExpress challenge will allow Skolkovo resident firms to pitch their products to a panel, with the top startups winning access to acceleration programs and additional mentor support. The victors will also have the considerable backing of AliExpress to reach international markets.

The contest will be split into two categories – one for solutions that are still at the idea stage, the other for market-ready products.

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http://www.ewdn.com/2015/06/23/booking-com-confirms-commitment-to-important-russian-market-gets-prepared-to-comply-with-personal-data-storage-law/

Booking.com confirms commitment to “important Russian market,” gets prepared to comply with personal data storage law

Earlier this month, Booking.com announced that it will comply with Russia’s new law on personal data storage. The global online travel operator will soon transfer all data from the country’s users to a local data center, Russian business daily Kommersant reported.

“Russia is an important market for us,” the Booking.com press service told Kommersant. “We continue to watch developments related to the law. We understand this law will not affect our relations with business partners and customers in Russia. When the law comes into force, we will be ready to comply. We are now working on a solution that will allow us to operate accordingly.”

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http://www.marchmontnews.com/Finance-Business/Volga/21315-Huawei-and-Russian-partner-develop-new-software-Kazans-%E2%80%98IT-city.html

Huawei and Russian partner to develop new software in Kazans ‘IT city

China’s Huawei and Russia’s iTeco are pooling efforts in the development of software for cloud services and virtualization. The project will be based in the new ‘IT city’ of Innopolis outside Kazan. A subsidiary will be set up to further the endeavor, Lenta.ru reported.

The subsidiary will reportedly be owned by iTeco, while Huawei is expected to bring into play its software and hardware platform, staff and other resources in an effort to market their joint Russian-made solutions across Russia and the four other BRICS countries (Brazil, China, India, and South Africa).

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http://www.ewdn.com/2015/06/18/panasonic-opens-rd-center-in-skolkovo/

Panasonic opens R&D center in Skolkovo

Earlier this month Panasonic opened its R&D center in Skolkovo, the international tech hub under completion on the outskirts of Moscow, following an agreement signed in December 2014.

Panasonic thus became the first Japanese company to sign up as a Skolkovo partner. The agreement commits Panasonic to deploying at least 30 workers from its Russian representative office at the R&D center by 2017 – an operation that will cost the company around 160 million rubles (approximately $3 million at the current exchange rate), according to the Skolkovo Foundation.

The center will focus its research on coming up with energy efficiency solutions for the Russian technology and energy sectors. Panasonic’s priority R&D areas are alternative energy sources, in particular solar panels, electricity storage systems and fuel cells.

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http://www.ewdn.com/2015/06/22/top-skolkovo-startups-to-showcase-their-projects-in-singapore-tech-show/

Top Skolkovo startups to showcase their projects in Singapore tech show

Just weeks after it announced a partnership with China’s Alibaba and inaugurated Panasonic’s R&D center on its premises, Skolkovo is announcing another move towards the Asian market with ten of its startups taking part in Singapore’s Echelon Asia Summit.

The Russian startups showcased by Skolkovo are the following:

3DiVi (motion and gesture controller);
Ivideon (video surveillance);
Logistics IT (solution for e-commerce deliver optimisation);
Nanosemantics (natural language dialogue system);
Flexbby (multiplatform business application: CRM, ERP, KPI, DocFlows etc.);
Bravo Motors (ultra-compact transformable electric vehicle);
Artquant (stock market analytics);
SPB TV (end-to-end OTT TV, IPTV and mobile TV solutions);
Board Maps (enterprise collaboration software);
Intelligent Social Systems (feedback generation and management for e-government and commercial use).

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http://www.marchmontnews.com/Real-Estate/Central-regions/21293-Finns-build-advanced-biotech-park-Skolkovo-.html

Finns to build advanced biotech park at Skolkovo

The Skolkovo Foundation and Finland’s Turku Science Park have inked an agreement on the creation of a 200 million euro BioCity biotech technopark in the Skolkovo innovation hub, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.

The design stage of the project will end next year, and by the end of 2018 the technopark is slated for completion, the source said. Turku Science Park is expected to act as the prime operator of the new project which has been designed by Lundån Architecture Oy, a Finnish architectural design bureau, and will be built by Finland’s Capital Development Group.

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http://www.ewdn.com/2015/06/03/graviton-wins-startup-village-2015-pitch-competition/

Winners of the Startup Village 2015 pitch competition

Home security firm Graviton has destroyed the field to win the 2015 Startup Village pitch competition, impressing the judges with its sensor-based system to win the 3 million ruble prize and an invitation to become a Skolkovo resident.

Graviton produces a sensor that is installed in doors and windows and alerts homeowners when breaches have been made.

Second place, meanwhile, and a check for 2 million rubles, went to biomed startup Tektum. The company produces a so-called haemostatic, antibacterial agent that heals cuts and wounds twice as fast as natural processes.

Third place went to another biomed firm, Roman Kholodenko’s promising cancer-fighting startups Real Target, which seeks to kill tumor cells through immunotherapy.

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http://www.marchmontnews.com/Technology-Innovation/Central-regions/21301-Russia-claims-have-technology-that-uses-thoughts-control-machines.html

Russia claims to have technology that uses thoughts to control machines

Russian developers are said to have completed the creation of this country’s “brain-computer” interface to control machines by the power of thought, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing Andrei Grigoryev, the head of Russia’s Advanced Research Fund (ARF).

“We have a “brain-computer” interface project which has been showcased repeatedly. The federal government is interested in know-how we developed to make it. According to our law, we will transfer to government agencies the related IP and the end product itself,” Mr. Grigoryev said.

The interface is designed to make use of the human brain’s electrical activity; the latter is reported to be registered using the electroencephalography approach, a methodology already widely utilized in medicine.

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http://www.marchmontnews.com/Technology-Innovation/Central-regions/21290-Russia-makes-new-step-towards-quantum-computer.html

Russia makes new step towards quantum computer

Scientists representing leading Russian universities and research centers have managed to create this country’s first superconducting qubit—the next step towards developing a quantum computer, announced the press service of MISiS, one of Russia’s top technology universities based in Moscow, and a participant in the project.

Alongside MISiS, researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) and the Institute of Solid-State Physics took part in the qubit effort.

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http://www.marchmontnews.com/Energy-Utilities/Siberia/21289-Siberian-students-offer-sunlight-control-system.html

Siberian students offer sunlight control system

Students at the Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) in Siberia are said to have developed a system that boosts solar panel efficiency by an estimated seven times, partners at TPU told Marchmont News.

The system is reported to be able to follow the movement of the Sun, turning a panel to it as it moves. The cost of production and maintenance for such a panel is believed to be up to 75% lower than that of analogs.

“The existing solar systems have two deficiencies: low solar energy to electricity conversion ratio and prohibitively expensive solar cells. We are suggesting our know-how to address the problem effectively and without extra costs; we use a solar tracker and acryl concentrator to control a solar panel. We have obtained a patent for the invention and are working to bring it to market,” the source said, citing Alexander Petrusev, a TPU Energy Institute student and the project leader.

The tracker is reported to be able to turn a solar panel towards the Sun as it moves during the day, and the panel thus ‘catches’ more light. According to the developer, its competitive advantages over analogs include a wider rotation angle (up to 200 degrees vs. 150 elsewhere), which enables a panel to generate more power at daytime. Frequent maintenance sessions are not required with the system—unlike the competition, the developer said.

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http://tass.ru/en/russia/798685

Anti-Ebola vaccine developed in Russia’s Novosibirsk to undergo clinical tests from August

NOVOSIBIRSK, June 4. /TASS/. Clinical tests of anti-Ebola vaccine developed by the Novosibirsk-based Vector state research centre of virology and biotechnology will begin in August, Valery Mikheyev, Vector’s acting director general, said on Thursday.

"We have several variants. Work is underway. Some of the variants are ready. We will soon submit them for clinical testing. One of the preparations is ready, two or three more will be ready soon," he told journalists on the sidelines of the 3rd international forum of technological development Technoprom-2015 being held in Novosibirsk on June 4-5.

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http://www.marchmontnews.com/Technology-Innovation/Central-regions/21302-Moscow-scientists-develop-new-early-stage-diagnostics-for-cancer-HIV-and-more.html

Moscow scientists develop new early-stage diagnostics for cancer, HIV and more

Dmitry Fedyanin and Yuri Stebunov, two young scientists from the Nanophotonics and Plasmonics Lab at MIPT, a leading Russian university in Moscow, have developed what they call a nanomechanical sensor to identify chemical components of various substances, the MIPT website announced.

The device is said to be able to also pinpoint biological objects, such as the markers of viruses which appear as our immunity system responds to diseases like herpes, HIV, or all sorts of hepatitis. The new methodology is “much more refined and less costly than the diagnostics techniques that exist today,” the source claims.

The sensor is believed to be sensitive enough to also identify oncology markers that alert to the development of a malignant tumor in a patient. The developers say it can detect other most acute medical conditions at very early stages—before other techniques can identify them. This appears to be a very important move into the future of medical diagnostics.

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http://www.marchmontnews.com/Technology-Innovation/Central-regions/21304-Moscow-and-Australian-scientists-improve-lives-with-ultra-resilience.html

Moscow and Australian scientists improve lives with ultra-resilience

A consortium of Prof. Sergei Prokoshkin led group of Russian scientists at MISiS, a leading Russian university based in Moscow, and experts from Endogene-Globetek, an Australian company, has tapped into the physical effect of shape-memory and ultra-resilience alloys to develop innovation technologies, the MISiS website announced.

The knowledge-intensive techniques, based on some metals’ fundamental property of returning to their original shape after extremely strong deformation, have led the collaborative researchers to the development of a range of unique medical instruments for neurology, cardiovascular surgery, paramedics, etc.

According to Dr. Prokoshkin, the shape-memory effect was discovered in the Soviet Union as far back as 1948.

The new instruments are said to be easy and intuitive for use and enable surgeons to do surgery fast, safely, and with minimum risk for patients. Using the innovative equipment is expected to dramatically reduce the cost of medical operations, as the approach associated with the instruments is noninvasive, and no general anesthesia is required.

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http://www.marchmontnews.com/Technology-Innovation/Siberia/21307-Novosibirsk-host-Russo-Chinese-nuclear-physics-center.html

Novosibirsk to host Russo-Chinese nuclear physics center

Academgorodok, the famous science-packed borough of Novosibirsk, in Siberia, may expect to host a future Russo-Chinese scientific center with the focus on research in nuclear physics, the website of Russia’s Federal Agency for Scientific Organizations reported.

The center is viewed as the Agency’s first mega science project in this vast region. The initiative is reportedly aimed at expanding scientific collaboration within BRICS (the group of five developing economies, including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa).

“We need programs that will help us reposition Russian sciences in the world. The government is ready to allocate funds to support such projects. Today, all international projects in nuclear physics are based in the West. A balance is needed.

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http://www.marchmontnews.com/Finance-Business/Central-regions/21319-Russian-biotech-company-launches-exports-into-US.html

Russian biotech company launches exports into U.S.

Semiotic, a Russian biotech developer, will have at least five years for the distribution of its proprietary solution in the U.S. via its partner GlycoTech Corporation, a sizable supplier of reagents for glycobiological research in the United States. The product the partners will be marketing under their recent agreement is a carbohydrate microchip, or glycochip, enabling medical researchers to determine the quantity of glycan-binding proteins in a biosample under study, reported the website of RVC, Russia’s national fund of funds for innovation.

The Russian innovative solution “is unrivaled,” the source claims. The glycochip is said to contain the world’s largest carbohydrate glycans library that has been accumulated for 30 years. Already this version of the chip reportedly enables researchers to place on it up to 600 carbohydrate glycans and use those as a source of data on “a hundred of pathologies simultaneously.”

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http://www.ewdn.com/2015/06/15/russia-and-iraq-to-develop-cooperation-in-the-fields-of-it-and-telecommunications/

Russia and Iraq to develop cooperation in the fields of IT and telecommunications

As a result of a meeting earlier this month between the Russian minister of telecommunications and mass media Nikolai Nikiforov and Iraqi ambassador Ismail Mukhsin, the two countries are willing to develop ties in the field of telecommunications, information technologies and postal services.

Government bodies, private companies, scientific and educational organizations are potentially concerned, according to Nikiforov, which believes that this cooperation “will last for many years to come.” While the security of information and telecom infrastructure will be an essential field of cooperation, Nikiforov also expressed Russia’s desire to see “all countries fully participate in the governance of the world wide web’s infrastructure” at the UN level.

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http://www.ewdn.com/2015/06/25/skolkovo-and-ibm-team-up-to-extend-the-healthy-productive-lives-of-patients-with-cancer-and-other-age-related-diseases/

Last week IBM signed a memorandum of understanding with Skolkovo, the international tech hub under completion on the outskirts of Moscow, the First Oncology Research and Advisory Center (FORAC), a resident of Skolkovo’s biomedical cluster. The three partner will develop a personalized medical platform in Russia in a joint strategic, technology and commercial collaboration effort.

The platform will feature advanced solutions to support clinical decisions. Made available to oncology researchers, clinics and institutions, it will “help doctors narrow down all available cancer trials and quickly identify potential matches, offering promising new approaches and treatment options to extend the healthy productive lives of patients with cancer and other age-related diseases.”

The platform will be supported by IBM’s Watson Health and FORAC’s OncoFinder solution.

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http://www.marchmontnews.com/Technology-Innovation/Siberia/21322-Siberian-programmers-help-rehabilitate-speech-cancer-patients-.html

Researchers at the Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radio Electronics (TUSUR) and the Tomsk Research Institute of Oncology, both in Siberia, are working to improve their noteworthy software solution enabling cancer patients after larynx or laryngopharynx ablation surgery to restore their normal voice much faster than it is possible today, Nanonewsnet.ru reported.

The alpha version of the software was first used at the Institute of Oncology as far back as 2004. It facilitated the development of voice rehabilitation methodology that was up-to-date enough at that time.

Voice rehab consists of several computer-aided stages, the developers say. The stage enabling the assessment of speech loudness and duration was successfully completed with the initial version of the software. What requires polishing and refining is the next more complex stage, which is the determination of a voice’s fundamental tone frequency on a real time basis.

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http://rbth.com/science_and_tech/2015/06/29/russian_rockets_to_put_internet_payloads_into_orbit_in_globa_47307.html

In a billion dollar boost to Russia's national space agency, Roscosmos, Soyuz launch rockets will put hundreds of light-weight satellites into orbit over the next five years to help bring Internet access to people in ever corner of the planet.

The $1billion deal with OneWeb and launch service operator Arianespace will see 648 micro-satellites placed in near-Earth orbit by 2019. Russian Soyuz rockets will carry many of the small 150 kg modules.

The project - which also involves Airbus, Coca-Cola and Virgin Group - is driven by an urge to make the earth a global Internet village, with super fast broadband access available everywhere, from the most remote mountain communities to the vast steppes of Mongolia. Backers also include Indian group Bhari Enterprises.

In an intensely competitive race to connect the world, OneWeb has stolen the march on Google and Facebook, which both also said they would bring the Internet to developing countries.

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http://www.ewdn.com/2015/06/25/skolkovo-and-ibm-team-up-to-extend-the-healthy-productive-lives-of-patients-with-cancer-and-other-age-related-diseases/

Last week IBM signed a memorandum of understanding with Skolkovo, the international tech hub under completion on the outskirts of Moscow, the First Oncology Research and Advisory Center (FORAC), a resident of Skolkovo’s biomedical cluster. The three partner will develop a personalized medical platform in Russia in a joint strategic, technology and commercial collaboration effort.

The platform will feature advanced solutions to support clinical decisions. Made available to oncology researchers, clinics and institutions, it will “help doctors narrow down all available cancer trials and quickly identify potential matches, offering promising new approaches and treatment options to extend the healthy productive lives of patients with cancer and other age-related diseases.”

The platform will be supported by IBM’s Watson Health and FORAC’s OncoFinder solution.

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http://www.marchmontnews.com/Technology-Innovation/Siberia/21322-Siberian-programmers-help-rehabilitate-speech-cancer-patients-.html

Researchers at the Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radio Electronics (TUSUR) and the Tomsk Research Institute of Oncology, both in Siberia, are working to improve their noteworthy software solution enabling cancer patients after larynx or laryngopharynx ablation surgery to restore their normal voice much faster than it is possible today, Nanonewsnet.ru reported.

The alpha version of the software was first used at the Institute of Oncology as far back as 2004. It facilitated the development of voice rehabilitation methodology that was up-to-date enough at that time.

Voice rehab consists of several computer-aided stages, the developers say. The stage enabling the assessment of speech loudness and duration was successfully completed with the initial version of the software. What requires polishing and refining is the next more complex stage, which is the determination of a voice’s fundamental tone frequency on a real time basis.

-----

http://rbth.com/science_and_tech/2015/06/29/russian_rockets_to_put_internet_payloads_into_orbit_in_globa_47307.html

In a billion dollar boost to Russia's national space agency, Roscosmos, Soyuz launch rockets will put hundreds of light-weight satellites into orbit over the next five years to help bring Internet access to people in ever corner of the planet.

The $1billion deal with OneWeb and launch service operator Arianespace will see 648 micro-satellites placed in near-Earth orbit by 2019. Russian Soyuz rockets will carry many of the small 150 kg modules.

The project - which also involves Airbus, Coca-Cola and Virgin Group - is driven by an urge to make the earth a global Internet village, with super fast broadband access available everywhere, from the most remote mountain communities to the vast steppes of Mongolia. Backers also include Indian group Bhari Enterprises.

In an intensely competitive race to connect the world, OneWeb has stolen the march on Google and Facebook, which both also said they would bring the Internet to developing countries.

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http://sk.ru/news/b/articles/archive/2015/05/06/_1820_keep-calm-and-make-robots_1920_.aspx

‘Keep Calm and Make Robots’ - Daria Kaftan and Skolkovo

In business, they say, failure is the first step on the ladder to success. If that’s true, Daria Kaftan is headed in the right direction.

The 24-year-old “programmer blonde,” as she calls herself on Twitter, has been rattling around the Skolkovo ecosystem since 2013 but is yet to find her feet – leaving two companies that went on to become residents and opening a third that is off to a spluttering start.

But Kaftan’s response to the latest setback - finishing outside the prizes during a pitch contest in Krasnogorsk – reveals the honesty and persistence that keep her on track.

“It’s a shame, but it’s logical,” she proclaims dismissively, recognizing the superiority of the competing projects at the Startup Tour in the small town near Moscow.

“Now we look straight to Startup Village. But before Startup Village, we must focus on our algorithms and perfecting our product,” she says, flashing a tired smile.

That Kaftan had any energy remaining at all seemed remarkable.