In his speech at the Forum, President Medvedev insisted that everything should be done to make nanotechnology one of the strongest sectors of the Russian economy. Mr Medvedev said that Russia had all the intellectual, organisational and financial resources necessary to become a leader in this field.
The President noted that Russia has the world's largest government investment programme in the field of nanotechnology. By 2015 it will have allocated 318 billion rubles (more than 10.5 billion dollars) to the programme, and sales for Russia's nanotechnology industry are expected to reach 900 billion rubles.
To meet this challenge the country needs to take advantage of all the resources of Russian science and make the necessary changes in legislative, tax and customs regulations. Russia needs a system of state orders for the long-term procurement of innovative products as well as an up to date system of national standards.
Dmitry Medvedev sees Russia's advantages as its competitive scientific tradition, its first-rate system of higher education, its vast domestic market and the active role of the government. As for private business, in President Medvedev's words it has not been a factor to this point, and the government must encourage it to get involved and to invest in nanotechnology.
Mr Medvedev also raised the issue of training in this field. Estimates indicate a need for between 100 and 150 thousand new personnel. Dmitry Medvedev also believes that Russia needs to facilitate the return of Russian researchers who fled the country and create favourable conditions for their scientific activities.
The President emphasized that Russia's post-crisis economy should be based on innovative technologies rather than natural resources.
The Second Nanotechnology International Forum brings together leading scholars and businessmen from 36 countries and its projects involve more than 300 Russian and foreign companies from 17 countries. The Forum will last from October 6 to 8, 2009.