A business mission for innovative Russian companies and universities in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg and Ulyanovsk was held in Belgium, June 22-26, 2015, with the participation of Russia’s Trade Representative Office. Belgium is traditionally one of the leading European countries in the sphere of innovations, high-tech companies, the number of promising start-ups and the quality of higher education for high-tech qualifications.

During the course of the business mission, representatives from innovative Russian companies participated in the IMEC Technology Forum of the Belgian Center for Microelectronics and Nanotechnologies. During the Forum, Russian companies negotiated with their Belgian partners. For example, representatives from Comberry (Ulyanovsk Nanocenter’s subsidiary) negotiated with their Belgian colleagues to potentially partner in photovoltaics, electronics, ‘smart’ glass, LEDs and displays.

Today, the Russian company wants to optimize or accelerate the R&D process for solutions to a number of technological tasks and to establish partnerships with scientific institutions in the form of joint applied research with the use of Comberry’s platform capabilities in Ulyanovsk. A representative from Tekhnopolis (Moscow) negotiated on the possibilities of using the technical know-how of innovative Belgian companies and subsequently locating production facilities at a Tekhnopolis site. Executives from the Technological Center (Zelenograd) State Science Center Research and Production Company negotiated with IMEC to partner on microelectronics.

Also, some Belgian partners showed their interest in visiting the Open Innovations-2015 Forum in Moscow for promoting further cooperation in innovations. Then, representatives of innovative Russian companies visited the Technopark at Ghent University, the Tech Transfer Center, and the Center for Microsystems Technology (CSMT) closely cooperating with the Belgian IMEC, where they could see the technopark’s infrastructure, visit the ‘clean’ room and negotiate a partnership in photonics.

Representatives from Russian companies also visited Liege Science Park where they could see the park’s industrial sites, research laboratories and production capabilities, and negotiate partnerships for developing startups and exchanging experience in creating and developing innovative businesses. In addition, innovative Russian startups from Saint-Petersburg were presented to the business and scientific community of the Brussels capital region. The companies presented innovative solutions in medicine, information security, software, new materials and laser technologies.

Further negotiations on innovative partnerships between Russian and Belgian companies are scheduled to be held at the Open Innovations Forum in Moscow in October and November 2015. The business mission clearly demonstrated the motivation of Belgian companies to continue partnering with Russia in research and innovations, and the willingness of Belgium’s leading educational institutions to establish relations with Russian universities.