Mikhail Mishustin: “Our country has a substantial amount of diverse biological resources. The further development of our processing sectors will facilitate economic diversification, create new jobs, encourage demand for complex intellectual labour, and increase production in allied sectors and the export of value-added products.”
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:
Mikhail Mishustin chaired a strategic session on accelerating tech-driven bioeconomy national project
Mikhail Mishustin chaired a strategic session on accelerating tech-driven bioeconomy national project
Mikhail Mishustin chaired a strategic session on accelerating tech-driven bioeconomy national project
Good afternoon, colleagues.
Today, we will discuss a national project for providing technological support to the bioeconomy, which includes novel solutions in biotechnology, renewable bioresources, and the creation of new materials. The President recently spoke about the importance of this sector for the quality of global growth at the Future Technologies Forum.
It is a comprehensive document that provides the basis for the development of several industries, including chemistry, the food industry, energy, medicine, ecology and agriculture. These are the industries where bioprocesses and modern forms of industrial production can be used on a broad scale.
The development of bioeconomy began in the 1960s. The Soviet Union had a separate agency for it, the Main Directorate of Microbiological Industry, which had the necessary research institutions and infrastructure.
However, it primarily focused on creating products for healthcare and the fodder industry. The current demand is much broader. It spans a large number of sectors, including such advanced ones as genetic engineering and synthetic biology, microbiology, biochemistry, biosynthesis, and precision fermentation.
It would be fair to say that the sphere we will address stands at the forefront of the technological race, where rivalry for global leadership is especially high.
Our country has huge potential and diverse biological resources. This is a substantial competitive advantage, which we can and must use.
I am referring above all to agricultural raw materials, and forest and water bioresources. The further development of our processing sectors will facilitate economic diversification, create new jobs, encourage demand for complex intellectual labour, and increase production in allied sectors and the export of value-added products. Our agricultural sector will be able to supply not only grain but also bioferments, biopolymers and other high value-added goods.
We have the initial basis fort this work. We have over 225 companies that produce various bioeconomic goods and nearly 50 institutes that conduct research in this sphere.
We have established a Council for the Development of the Microbiological Industry and Biotechnology. It has over 200 members, including from our research and business communities.
The key goal of this national project is to consolidate our efforts, capacities and resources and create competitive enterprises, including by modernising existing ones, in order to regain our positions as a global leader in the biotechnology market.
That is why we have incorporated three basic federal projects and elaborated the socially significant results and indicators for each of them. They include a radical growth of the amount of domestic bioeconomy products, as well as research and technological support and a reasonable personnel policy. These measures must produce a long-term effect, strengthen the national research basis and subsequently promote the creation of our own products, including unique ones.
We believe that the implementation of these plans will help us achieve technological sovereignty in bioeconomy by 2030 and leading positions by 2036, in particular, by creating new markets, an infrastructure for systemic development, and a reserve of research achievements.
Colleagues,
Today we must determine the details of the challenges we will face during the implementation of this national project, the amount and sources of funding, and the scope of the tasks we must fulfil. We have representatives of our expert and business communities with us today.
The development of bioeconomy must have a positive effect on the economic progress of our country
as a whole. It must also help us achieve the national goals set to use by the head of state, as well as reduce our dependence on the import of critical
components and expand our exports.
