Leading nuclear cluster resident Optogard Nanotech has received an 80 million ruble grant from the Skolkovo Foundation to build a laser-plasma facility at the innovations center.
Optogard's laser-plasma technology at work. Photo: Optogard Nanotech
The 80 million ruble grant, approved unanimously by Skolkovo’s grant committee this week, will be added to a 100 million ruble investment for the project obtained separately.
The facility will be built at Optogard’s Common Use Center at the Skolkovo Technopark, which is due to come online next year. The equipment will slash the time spent on key research as the startup looks to perfect its technology of using lasers to increase the durability of all manner of surfaces and secure a slice of an estimated $30 billion a year global market.
The fact that the facility will be located in a Common Use Center means other resident startups will have access to the technology, opening doors to all manner of potential partnerships and new customers for Optogard, CEO Pavel Smirnov said.
The news means the company starts 2015 in the same successful vein as 2014, when it signed a raft of major deals to strengthen Chinese gas pipelines.
The company is headquartered in the Siberian capital of Novosibirsk, where its main laser-plasma equipment is based.