In a landmark deal at the Open Innovations Forum in Moscow on Tuesday, Skolkovo resident Optogard Nanotech signed two deals worth a combined $41 million with China’s largest pipe manufacturer Shandong Trustpipe Industry.
Under the deal, Optogard Nanotech will provide patented plasma laser technology for making super-hard coatings and surface modifications for Shandong’s pipes.
Optogard technology. Photo: optogard.ru.
“This system allows for the reinforcement and protection of the entire outer surface of any mental pipes, including gas pipelines, ten times faster and seven times cheaper than existing technology,” said Skolkovo vice-president Igor Karavaev, the executive director of the foundation’s nuclear technologies cluster.
“The result is complete protection against corrosion,” added Karavaev, who oversaw the signing ceremony at the Technopolis in Moscow.
The technology leaves internal pipeline surfaces as hard as the armor that protects battlefield APCs, guarding against blockages caused by the buildup of impurities by providing an ultra-smooth and friction-free coating.
The contracts are just two of a wealth of deals involving Skolkovo resident companies and Chinese partners at the forum, which this year is devoted to boosting Russian-Chinese economic cooperation.
The respective signatories were Wang Zong Ling, chairman of the board of directors at Shandong Trustpipe Industry, and Pavel Smirnov, Optogard’s general director.
Smirnov noted Optogard’s technology has potentially far broader applications.
"We can strengthen concrete structures and, therefore, make the building stronger," he added.
The deal comes five months after Russia and China signed an historic $400 billion deal for Moscow to provide Beijing with Russian gas over the next 30 years.
Open Innovations is a premier tech conference, headlined this year by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang.