CNCP-NIS Fourth Conference Held in Sevan, Armenia, September 2008

A particular feature of the Conference was that discussions covered two separate themes. The first of these consisted of a review of the results for the previous year. The second theme was discussion of the ways in which experimental facilities in nuclear institutes could be used for commercial purposes. The discussions were structured so that a CNCP specialist first gave an overview of the area concerned, and this was then followed by reports from delegates on their experience of developing projects in the particular area of technology concerned.

At the start of the Conference, the CNCP Programme Director, Trevor Hayward, touched on a number of key issues concerning the development of CNCP. At present, active work is being carried out in six Rosatom Closed Cities in Russia and in nuclear institutes in six other FSU countries. Much ground has been covered since 2002 when the Global Partnership was announced in Kananaskis. Much has been achieved in reducing nuclear related threats. At present, the attention of the UK and other members of the world community who are striving to address these global problems, is increasingly focused on countries beyond the borders of the former Soviet Union.

The following positive results were achieved by CNCP over the past year:

• The main components of the Programme – grant projects, training, partnership building and the facilitation of economic development – had developed steadily;
• A new initiative had been launched in the field of the production and sale of isotopes;
• Partnership relations had been established with institutes in Armenia, Belarus, and Georgia, as well as in Sevastopol and Kiev;
• Work on the creation of commercialization units in the Almaty and Tashkent institutes was progressing.

The Conference enabled the delegates to compare their own practical work on projects with the views put forward by the experts.

The subject of isotope production was also covered. Industrial and medical markets and the structure of demand were reviewed. The shortage of isotopes in the West was explained and possibilities for the institutes to enter these markets were explored in conjunction with specific CNCP projects.

Drawing on his 25 year experience of working in Harwell and his first hand knowledge of the commercial exploitation of accelerators, Steve Sugden spoke about opportunities for commercialising radiation technologies. Harwell provided a particularly interesting case study for the Conference discussion. From being the main research nuclear centre in the UK, it went through a period of significant reductions in government funding in the mid 1980s. Faced by this challenge, it restructured its activities and by the end of the 1990s, had developed a commercial component which meant that the total number of staff on the site remained at almost the same level. Today, some 80 companies are operating there, half of which are independent small businesses.

A separate session was devoted to the issue of how institutes can best respond to the challenge of adapting to the demands of the market place. A report by CNCP specialist Christophe Trontin attracted a lot of interest among participants. He presented information in a way that was very easy to understand and used real examples to discuss the activities that often cause the biggest difficulties – such as market research, the preparation of realistic business plans and, most important, how to achieve sales. Selling is an integral part of the life of any business and needs its own plan, strategy and budget. It can be based on different relationships with intermediaries and customers and make use of various forms of promotional activity. Presales preparation of products and aspects of after-sales services such as warranties, technical support, and so on, play an important part. These things may seem obvious, but project development is often impeded because they are missing in practice.

NIS - Newly Independent States