Investment Portal of the Tomsk Region

UK delegation to visit Tomsk Region

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:55:00 +0400

A British delegation is arriving to Tomsk Wednesday, February 1, on a working visit. The delegation includes Caroline Wilson, Minister Counselor at the British Embassy, and James McGuire, Consul General based in Ekaterinburg with two assistants.

They will learn about the socioeconomic situation in the region and discuss opportunities for British companies to implement their knowledge and experience in Tomsk Region.

Their agenda includes meetings with the Tomsk Region governor Viktor Kress and the management of the Tomsk SEZ and Tomsk Polytechnic University.

Back in 2009, Tomsk assets of the oil company Imperial Energy were sold to a British company and since then the cooperation with the UK was mainly in research and education. Last year, the Tomsk Region Administration and Rusnano invited ISIS Innovation (a subsidiary of the University of Oxford) to assist in the promotion of the products by Tomsk innovative companies in the foreign markets. This work will continue in 2012.

World Bank experts to develop new strategy of innovative development for Tomsk Region

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:53:00 +0400

A team of World Bank experts is working in Tomsk Region on a strategy of innovative development for the region. The team includes foreign and Russian experts in innovations experienced in the development of strategies and programs for the support of innovations across the globe.

In 2002, Tomsk Region was one of the first Russian regions to adopt and start implementing a regional innovation strategy. The strategy included five priority areas such as encouraging the existing regional companies to use innovations, facilitating setting up of small innovative firms, attracting foreign investments in the high technology sector, creating an efficient infrastructure for the support of innovations, and increasing the innovation culture in the region.

The strategy resulted in a regional system to support innovation which had its regulatory framework, organizational and financial infrastructure to support innovation projects and enterprises (technical innovation zone, business incubators, technology transfer centers, commercialization offices, and a venture fund), and a human resource development system. That strategy was implemented between 2002 and 2010 and over that period funding of the research and educational complex of Tomsk Region grew 6 times (to 21.5bn rubles), the output of high technology products grew 3.5 times (to 29.8bn rubles) and the output of innovative products grew 15 times (to 10.7bn rubles).

Given the dramatic changes in the regulatory framework, development of a system to support innovation in Russia, and recent economic and technological trends in the global and Russian markets, there is a need for a new innovative development strategy for the region, the experts say. In October 2011, the World Bank started working on a new innovative development strategy for Tomsk Region until 2025 by request of the regional administration. The World Bank team of experts evaluated the overall effectiveness of the regional innovation system of Tomsk Region and its global competitiveness in particular.

Currently, the experts are working in Tomsk. They are discussing the results of the analysis with the universities, research institutes, industrial enterprises, innovative firms, and innovation infrastructure organizations. In the end, the experts will come up with a new concept of the innovative development strategy for Tomsk Region focused on areas which will increase the competitiveness of the region in Russia and in the world, accelerate its economic growth, and improve the quality of life in the region.

Tomsk Region government anticipate fixed investment total up to 90bn rubles in 2011

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:27:00 +0400

Fixed investment in Tomsk Region in 2011 is expected to total around 90bn rubles. Compared with 2010, a 8% growth is anticipated.
Fixed investment in 2012 is expected to grow up to 98-100bn rubles, i.e. by 9-11%.
As of the end of 2011, the fixed investment by the regional oil and gas producers will have totaled 31.665bn rubles, which is 35.7% more than in 2010.
In 2010, fixed investment in the region totaled about 76bn rubles.

Own revenue of Tomsk Region grew 17% in 2011

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:19:00 +0400

In 2011, tax and non-tax revenues to the consolidated budget of Tomsk Region totaled 36.7bn rubles, which is 17% more than in 2010.
Growth was observed in all key areas of the economy of the region. Oil and gas production and mining grew by 8%, machinery and equipment production and wood processing by 1.5, construction by 1.3, wholesale turnover by 10%, and public sector payroll by 14%. That is objective evidence that the Tomsk economy has recovered from the crisis. Execution of the budget also proves that. Own revenues of the budget are growing and they are the immediate resources to tackle acute problems faced by the Region.
According to the latest available data, the revenues to the Region budget in 2011 totaled 42.9bn rubles, which is 8.7bn rubles more than in 2010 (growth rate 125.5%), including tax and non-tax revenues of 27.3bn rubles (4.7bn more than in 2010, growth rate 120.7%) and allocations from the federal budget of 15.6bn (4bn more than in 2010, growth rate 134.7%). The expenses of the Region budget in 2011 totaled 42.9bn rubles, which is 8.7bn rubles more than in 2010 (total growth 123 %). The national debt of Tomsk Region remained unchanged, approx. 7bn rubles.

The municipal investment committee summarized its results in 2011

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:47:00 +0400

In 2011, the committee reviewed 37 projects for an estimated total of 39.6bn rubles involving creation of more than 1,800 jobs while in 2010 it considered 17 projects for 45.3bn rubles and 3,400 jobs.

According to Alfia Kobeyeva, Head of the Economic Development and Municipal Property Management Department, the project involving construction of a trade center in Prospekt Mira has already been completed. Utilization of Aquelite products in the city's healthcare organizations is currently being considered.

The City Administration fully delivered on its commitments to investors on 11 more projects, out of which 4 are being implemented (construction of an oil refinery, wooden housing construction mill, sawmill, and a 50-meter swimming pool).

Low energy lighting development center to be created in Tomsk SEZ

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:03:00 +0400

The project for the creation of such a center was submitted by OOO Rusled to the December session of the Expert Council for Special Economic Zones of Technical Innovation Type and it was decided to approve the project and grant OOO Rusled the status of a resident of the Tomsk SEZ.
Rusled was set up in 2010. It is the R&D division (LED lights) of the Svet 21 Veka (Light of the 21st Century) Group, the largest lamp producer in the eastern part of Russia (low energy compact fluorescent lamps and general-purpose incandescent light bulbs).
Creation of the R&D center in the Tomsk SEZ will improve the competitiveness of the company in the lighting markets of Russia, CIS, and Europe, increase its production, and contribute to the energy saving initiatives in Russia.
Rusled's project involves construction of a 5,000 sq.m R&D and production building on the Southern Site of the Tomsk Special Economic Zone. The products developed in the Tomsk SEZ will include general-purpose LED lamps to replace incandescent lamps in light fixtures, special-purpose LED lamps, light fittings for interior lighting in administrative and public buildings and entrance halls in dwelling houses, with energy saving in those applications up to 50-70%.

Expert Council for Special Economic Zones of Technical Innovation Type approved the project by ZAO Tomsk Cell Technology

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:01:00 +0400

Cell Technology Development Center intends to set up Tomsk Cell Technology company (TCT) in the Tomsk SEZ.
This innovative organization was created in 2007 by the Tomsk Regional Venture Fund and the technology development group under the project "Development of autogenous vaccines for the treatment of tuberculosis and oncological diseases (lung cancer, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer)". Since then, the company has made some achievements. It has conducted clinical studies on immune recovery in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis which showed that conventional treatment methods in combination with the developed autogenous vaccine prove effective both for the treatment of drug-resistant and drug-sensitive tuberculosis. Currently, the permit for the implementation of a new medical technology is being obtained.
ZAO TCT will work in the Tomsk SEZ on the development of autogenous vaccines based on autologous dendritic cells used in the treatment of various oncological and infectious diseases.

New residents in Tomsk SEZ

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:59:00 +0400

At the end of 2011, Tomsk SEZ resident applications of five innovative companies were approved by decision of the Expert Council for Special Economic Zones of Technical Innovation Type in Moscow.
The new residents are OOO Rusled, OOO Sintegal, OOO Solveig Multimedia, ZAO Tomsk Cell Technology, and OAO Tomsk Research Institute "Proekt". According to the business plans of those companies, the estimated amount of investment in the projects within the Tomsk SEZ will total approx. 500m rubles. Over 400 new jobs will be created.
In the nearest future the companies will enter into the Agreement on Innovation Activity in the Tomsk SEZ and receive official status as a SEZ resident. Thus, the number of residents in the Tomsk SEZ will grow to 59.
Aleksey Baryshev, the CEO of the Tomsk SEZ, said that the regulatory changes on special economic zones which take effect on January 1, 2012 will become an additional positive factor for investors to opt in favor of the Tomsk SEZ and place their business there.

Tomsk Region topped the innovation activity rating of Russian regions

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:55:00 +0400

Peterburgskaya Politika Foundation, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, and RBK daily newspaper presented their regular Innovation Rating of Russian regions for 2011 with Tomsk Region at the top.
According to the experts, Tomsk Region is a "unique region of Russia where development embraces all development entities – universities, innovation companies, research institutes, and the regional government. Viktor Kress, the governor of the region, named the innovative development the key priority of the region. Tomsk Region was regularly delivering updates on new developments in the meantime being a leader in promoting "people's" innovations. Creation of a Tomsk version of Skolkovo, the INOTomsk'2020 Center for Education, Research and Development was an important event. In 2011-2013, it will have cost the regional budget and private investors 39.9bn rubles."
Tatarstan was the second in the top five innovative Russian regions. Krasnoyarsk Krai ranked the third. Novosibirsk and Moscow Regions took the fourth and the fifths positions respectively.