by Yaroslav RENKAS, journalist

The first Moscow International Salon of Innovations and Investments was held in one of the pavilions of the All-Russia Exhibition Center (WTs). Its main objective was promotion of high-tech and science-intensive products on the domestic and foreign markets. This event can be regarded as a real review of Russian know-how.

It was not accidental that it had been visited by the RF Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Herman Gref, the RF Minister of Industry, Science and Technologies, Alexander Dondukov and also by a Nobel Prize laureate in physics Academician Zhores Alferov.

The exhibition area, over of 2,500 m ² , was occupied by several hundreds of projects and inventions of scientific research institutions, state and private companies, individual participants.

Visitor's attention was attracted, first and foremost, by RAS expositions, which have proved that the achievements of our scientists and designers are based on fundamental knowledge, stimulate development of scienceintensive technologies and technical efforts, which determine the image of the new century. Thus, the Central Scientific Research Institute of Ferrous Metallurgy (named after I. Bardin) has made a number of proposals to its potential consumers: powder materials for laser strengthening and reduction of details, technology of uninterrupted pouring of special steel, a multifunctional device for radiation control of radioactive wastes, etc.

In its turn, the State Scientific Research and Project Institute of Rare Metals Industry "Giredmet" presented a number of services for domestic and foreign industrialists, namely, technologies for receiving rare and rare-earth metals, compounds, high-purification substances, creation of various alloys; projects of construction of mining and concentration enterprises, plants for making of nonstandard equipment, etc. The Institute possesses a powerful experimental base, unique technological devices, has business contacts with hundreds of organizations in the CIS and foreign countries.

The Russian Engineering Academy (RIA) has also demonstrated a lot of interesting things at WTs. Visitors have got acquainted with a re-usable variant of aviation-space system "AKS-PM", a manual thermomechanical device for drilling solid rocks, concrete and frozen soil. Besides, visitors had an opportunity to carefully study unique design

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materials, technologies and devices, taken from rocket-space technology, including special steel for noise suppressor jackets for compressors of home refrigerators and knives for meat-processing industry with enhanced (tens of times) resistance to wear.

RIA exposition has also presented a wide range of compound materials: carbonglass-organic plastics created on the basis of a high-strength fiber - they can be used in petrochemical and food industries (pipes, containers, cylinders of high pressure); noncombustible and not easily combustible plastics from alumoborosilica glass; carbon compound materials for reparing aircraft brakes; membrane filtering elements; thickening systems; ecologically pure heat-insulating devices for electrotechnical, textile, medical and other branches of national economy.

The Central Scientific Research Institute (named after Academician A. Krylov) in St. Petersburg exhibited a number of different ship-building technologies, including those fit for creation of underground atomic thermoelectrostations, guaranteeing safety of population and environment, continuous power supply, adaptation to any loading schedule of the consumer's network, reliability of exploitation even in seismically unstable areas of the Earth. They also displayed a wide range of research in the sphere of designing means of ocean technology, ships and other floating structures.

Among representatives of the Siberian region of our country special mention must be made of the Institute of Catalysis (named after G. Boreskov), Novosibirsk, for its outstanding achievements. Over 50 catalyzers and technologies for synthesis of complex chemical products and polymers with assigned properties were elaborated and produced there, as well as ammonia and high- octane types of petroleum from gas condensate. The technology of reverse-process born here received the world acclaim. It is used in over 30 devices for purification of gas wastes of industrial enterprises from organic compounds and nitrogen oxides, dioxide of sulfur with simultaneous receipt of sulfuric acid.

The exhibition demonstrated also a family of catalytic gas devices for heating production and residential premises; for receiving energy through utilization of methane-air wastes of coal mines; for ecologically pure consumption of fuel with the aim of conducting endothermic processes (drying and thermal processing of powder materials) and neutralization of liquid organic wastes.

The Institute's exposition also contained non-silver materials for medical radiography elaborated by its staff members. Their main properties - high sensitivity to X-ray radiation; a wide range of measuring (50 mRe-5,000 Re); special resolution (1 km); low cost in comparison with the silver-phosphate glasses.

Scientific and production amalgamation "Iskra" from Perm has also presented its products at the Moscow International Salon. By the way, many of its projects were highly appraised at other international exhibitions and competitions. For example, the system of splashdown of flying devices was awarded the gold medal in Paris in 2000 and the silver medal was awarded to the anti-hail rocket. Five products of "Iskra" have received quality marks "Russian Brand" - a gas-processing unit, a gas turbine electrostation, elastic jack, a pneumatic membrane pump and a single-screw pump. These and many other items were exhibited by Permians at WTs.

The Institute of Chemistry and Technology of Rare Elements and Mineral Resources (named after V. Tananayev) of the Kola Scientific Center of the RAS (Murmansk) was also presented there demonstrating technology of production of high purity zirconium compounds used as

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a mixture for preparation of monocrystals, special glasses, construction ceramics and items of electronic technology.

The Mining Institute of the same scientific center presented at the exhibition the technology of reclamation of soil-vegetable cover on gas fields of the north-western Siberia using polymer cover "Bioreculat". It is effective against thermoerosion of the earth around drilling installations. Costs of the soil reproduction are 10 times less than during traditional biological recultivation.

Expositions devoted to scientific studies and technological efforts in the sphere of medicine occupied a big section of the salon. E.g. the Central Scientific Research Radio-technical Institute (Moscow) presented microvideotester MVT-L, which is the first microscopic device in medical practice which is used for automatic diagnostics of pathogens infections and parasitic diseases. It is possible to detect any pathogenic microorganisms with its help. Specialized program support was demonstrated for diagnostics of malaria plasmodia and microbacteria, trypanosomes, spirochaetas, urine and intestinal Protozoa. It is not accidental that this device was awarded the gold medal at the World Salon of Inventions, Scientific Research and Industrial Innovations "Brussels-Eureka- 2000".

The Smolensk Aviation Plant presented in Moscow the plasma installation SUPR-2MM (design of Alexander Beresnev) for use in surgery and physiotherapy. It has a number of advantages in comparison with other scalpels, an electrocoagulator and supersound. The argon or helium plasma, produced by it, is good for sterilization of wounds and stimulates their healing. No other country possesses such an installation.

A wide exchange of information between producers of science- intensive products, potential investors and clients was carried out in the process of work of the exhibition as well as business meetings and negotiations; a lot of contracts were concluded.

On the whole, the first Moscow International Salon of Innovations and Investments has demonstrated that the Russian land is rich in talented people.