Taruta invests in nanotechnology

Ukraine has opened its first nanotechnology company. The intention is to start production of innovative new products for medicine, veterinary science and agriculture next year. But the biggest obstacle to success is forecast to be achieving the higher prices such products will require, compared to lower cost, less sophisticated alternatives. rnWell-known Ukrainian businessman Sergey Taruta and the academic, president of the National Academy of Science of Ukraine, Boris Paton, founded the new company ‘Nanotechnology in Medicine’.

The company has been specifically created for commercial development of Ukrainian scientific inventions. “The scientific potential of our country is huge and the scientists’ developments are unique. But they won’t be developed without Ukrainian private investment. That is why it is important to enter into cooperation in the innovation sector”, said Taruta. It was the scientists who suggested the creation of the Institute of nanotechnology of Ukraine in order to achieve this aim.The first large-scale project under development is the production of metal oxide nano-particles.

This technology was created by the Institute of Electric Welding under the Evgeniy Paton brand by the academics Boris Paton and Boris Movchan. These innovative nano-products can be used in medicine, agriculture and veterinary science. rnrnIn future Nanotechnology in Medicine will work in cooperation with state institutions to produce pesticides, micro-fertilisers and health aids based on the new technology. Improved antibiotics, antiviral and anti-infammatory drugs will be developed through the use of nanotechnology. The general director of Nanotechnology in Medicine, Igor Parneta, explained that this new technology has already been patented, and the new company has already secured its first customers. Sergey Taruta said that the initial capital investment in the new company is approximately US$1 m but that further investment in the tens of million of dollars is planned. Nanotechnology is increasingly popular internationally, with international marketing company RNCOS’ research in 2009 putting the global nanotechnology market at US$600 m, set to grow to US$1.6 bn by 2014. Nanotechnology products are forecast to be considerably more expensive than conventionally products. The higher price is likely to be an initial obstacle to sales, especially in agriculture, where farmers are more used to cutting the cost of inputs than investing in unknown new technology to improve yields.