NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF RA HISTORY AND OVERVIEW

1. National Academy of Science of Armenia Opportunities for Technological InnovationsProf. Radik MartirossianPresident of the NAS RA

2. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF RA HISTORY AND OVERVIEW National Academy of Sciences of Armenia was established at the hardest time of the Second World War in 1943, as the supreme scientific institution of the Republic, integrating the efforts of the scientists in fundamental research, evolving and reviewing the rich spiritual legacy of the Armenian Nation, to provide scientific and practical resolution to the outstanding fundamental objectives facing the Nation and the Country in the economic, social and cultural domains as well as in national security and applied research.

3. STRUCTURE • More than 40 Institutes and scientific units • 3700 persons grouped into 5 sections: • Mathematics, mechanics and IT • Physics and astrophysics • Natural sciences • Chemistry and earth sciences • Armenology and social sciences

4. ACADEMIC STAFF • 75 full members • 54 corresponding members • 35 overseas members • 330 doctors of sciences • 1019 candidates of sciences.

5. GOALS • Organizing basic research • Implementing operations in fundamental and applied sciences • Establishment of scientific schools • Contribution to the assets of the world science.

6. economic blockade brain drain collapse of scientific links severe streamlining of the research staff critical under-funding Main focus - retaining the minimal infrastructure for scientific research capabilities. . PROBLEMS FACED FOR THE LAST 15 YEARS THE ROLE OF THE ACADEMY IN THE CURRENT CONTEXT

7. RECENT ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVMENTS • International cooperation with many scientific centers worldwide • Outlining the legislative domain for research • Establishment of academic computer network • Enabling preservation of scientific resources

8. RECENT ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVMENTS (2) • Generation of research projects aimed at developing economy under market conditions • Publications • International grants • Contracted operations

9. Publications, Grants & Contracts2003 - 2006

10. INTERNATIONAL GRANTS DYNAMICS 2003-2006 BY INSTITUTIONS

11. SCIENCE FUNDING IN SOME TRANSITION COUNTRIES

12. BUSINESS SECTOR FUNDING

13. NUMBER OF ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN THE WORLD 8 MOST POPULAR JOURNALS IN THE FIELD OF PHYSICS IN 2000-2006

14. Key actions for transformation of Science Policy of Armenia To step up investments into science, technologies, engineering, and innovations as prime mover of country’s economic development Closer integration of science and education Promoting commercialization of research results Boosting the efficiency of scientific and research establishments Increasing involvement of younger specialists in research efforts Updating the list of priority directions in science and technology Science and Technology as a Driver in the Economic Development Strategy of Armenia

15. Establishment of new scientific and international research and development centers via unification of institutions Preparation of the program for upgrading existing infrastructure and developing new facilities to support research Increasing the participation of NAS RA in international S&T cooperation Preparation of a proposal on the opportunities for innovation based on the investigations and research outcomes of Academy researchers National Academy of Sciences of Armenia realizes some approaches in the framework of new science policy: Science and Technology as a Driver in the Economic Development Strategy of Armenia (2)

16. OUTLINE OF PRIORITY TRENDS FOR DEVELOPMENT • Armenology • Information and Advanced Technologies • Terrestrial and space research • New energy sources • Sustainable development with biological and ecological perspectives • Major fundamental research to support the development of applied research

17. PROPOSALS OF INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES • New materials • Leading-edge technologies • Information Technology • Life sciences • Humanities IN THE FOLLOWING DOMAINS:

18. NEW MATERIALS

19. The new materials on basis of layered oxides for thermoelectric devices are proposed, providing higher efficiency than the existing ones. A composition is disclosed (US Patent 6459031) having the formula: (RBa2Cu3O7-δ)x +(PrBa2Cu3O7-δ)1-x wherein: R comprises Y, Ce, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and/or Lu; 0<x≤1; and δ is such that the RBa2Cu3O7-δ component of the composition is in a metallic or transitional phase. The technology and thermoelectric properties of these materials are presented. New Materials For Thermal / Electric Cooling INSTITUTE OF RADIOPHYSICS AND ELECTRONICS

20. DIELECTRIC WAVEGUIDE STRUCTURES WITH SURFACE -CONTROL IMPEDANCE In the Ka frequency band the institute has manufactured and tested dielectric guide structures coated by thin metal and light-sensitive film. Such impedance films provide a number of passive and active elements in millimeter waveband. AIIBIV class semiconductor, namely CdS, was used as the light-sensitive coating. When exposed to light, these compounds reduce their resistance, becoming almost metals, as a result of which surface impedance originates. Its value may be thus controlled by illuminating smaller or larger part of the total CdS area. The institute has also analyzed the response time of surface impedance.

21. INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGICAL SCEINCES & INSTITUTE OF EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING This new method of extending the operational life of hydromechanical structures to be used in aggressive media. To secure the sulphate stability of concrete, a study was made of concretes on the basis of volcanic rock aggregates. The results obtained show that the operational life of concrete can be predicted by taking account the hydraulic activity of the aggregates. • The new methods of improving the durability of underground, hydrotechnical constructions exploited in aggresssive conditions The gypsum crystals in the samples on guards sand after 12 months in solutions (electron microscopy)

22. The anticorrosive enamel with the following qualities has been elaborated: The coatings on the basis of the Enamel protect the metal in the acid, alkaline and salt solutions, in oil-products and others The Enamel usage is possible at negative air temperatures (about 20 degrees below zero) It is permissible to coat by the Enamel damp metallic surfaces, old paint, as well as rusted metal (up to 100 mkm of rust thickness), wood, concrete surfaces etc. Hardening (polymerization) of the coating may take place at air negative temperature, at high humidity and also under water. The enamel and coatings on its basis have been successfully tested on the specialized organizations of Armenia, Russia, Italy, Bulgaria and others. The enamel has been patented. New Anticorrosive Enamel with Complex Unique Properties INSTITUTE OF INORGANIC CHEMISTRY

23. State-of-the-art Technologies

24. The center proposes the establishment of fodder production in Armenia from inulin-containing plants, mostly Helianthus tuberoses and chicory, saccharides, sweeteners, bioethanol. It is envisaged to implement a complex non-waste technology involving inulin’s microbial enzyme hydrolysis for producing fructose and fructose-glucose syrup, with the processing waste of raw ethanol for methane fermentation. Organization in Armenia the production of saccharides, sweeteners, bioethanol and feed from inulin containing plants MICROBIOLOGY AND MICROORGANISM DEPOSITORY CENTER OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

25. A new technique for creation of periodically polled domain structure in lithium niobate (PPLN) crystals directly during the growth process was developed by the group of Dr.E.Kokanyan at the IPR NASA. The mentioned method was successfully used for the growth of pure as well as doped with various transitional metal and rare-earth impurity ions PPLN crystals. The controlled formation of 4-50m wide domains along the a-axis of the crystals in lengths of 20mm without interruptions or modulations in domain size and with more than 3mm of the domain inversion depth was possible. Periodically polled lithium niobate crystals Scanning election microscope (SEM) micrograph of an etched surface of as-grown hafnium doped lithium niobate crystal. • E.Kokanyan, V.Babajanyan, G.Demirkhanyan, J.Gruber, S.Erdei. J. of Appl. Phys., 92, 1544 (2002). • E.P.Kokanyan, L.Razzari, I.Cristiani, V.Degiorgio and J.B.Gruber. Appl. Phys. Lett., 84, 1880 (2004)

27. Improvement of PPLN creation methods(2) The expected results are: - Reduction of a room temperature poling voltage for congruent LiNbO3 from 21 kV/mm to 5-6 kV/mm; - Reduction of leakage current during the poling of Mg-doped LiNbO3 by 2-3 orders; - Elimination of conventional photolithographic electrode deposition for PPLN creation; • Removal of lattice period limitation caused by conventional photolithography.

28. INSTITUTE OF RADIOPHYSICS AND ELECTRONICS The proposed laser system includes a range finder and a dual-axis rotary platform with shaft angle encoders. The sensors and platforms had been developed and manufactured by IRPhE and SDC for the MIR orbital station, and showed high reliability throughout the 1996 – 2001 operation. The Institute has developed a number of therapeutic devices to be used mostly on the biologically active zones of the human body, or on the acupuncturing points affected by the weak microwave radiation. In contrast to popular imitations the proposed microwave resonance therapy device has a broad frequency specter yielding a powerful healing effect on the resonance frequency of the human body. The device is registered in several European countries and is in high demand. • Microwave Resonance Therapy Devices

29. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

30. INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND AUTOMATION PROBLEMS Grid infrastructures are one of the key enablers for scientific research and for development of Information Society. Enabling large-scale innovative research to be conducted through collaboration of distributed teams of scientist across the Armenian Research-Educational organizations and Western partners. It is fact that computational Grids consists of various computational layers. The computational resources can be integrated within the organization-institution, country, region, and worldwide. In this paper it is given the overview of Grid activities in Armenia in context of science and education • Deployment of Scientific-Educational Grid Infrastructure in Armenia

31. In the first stage, in 2004 the first high Performance computing cluster in the South Caucasus region had been developed (funded by Project ISTC A-823), which consisted of 128 Xeon 3.06GHz (64 nodes) processors. The nodes of the cluster are interconnected by Myrinet High bandwidth and Gigabit networks. The Myinet network is used for computation and Gigabit for task distribution and management. The cluster achieved 523.4GFlops performance by HPL (High Performance Linpack) test. fig. 1: Armcluster

32. Biological YSU IIAP NAS RA local user General Educational local user Internet SEUA global users IRPHE NAS RA local user local user Physics It is planned to expand the current infrastructure, in order to serve the existing and new user communities, by utilizing the model of the 2 layered infrastructures where the mature sites will be moved to real infrastructure while the fresh sites from new institutes and user communities will be incubated within the experimental Grid infrastructure. fig. 2 The Structure of Scientific-Educational Grid Infrastructure Further work: Further it is planned to integrate Armenian computational resources into international Grids, such as LHC (Large Hadron Collider), SEE-Grid (South East European Grid), Grid’5000 (French National Experimental Grid) grids, as well as create joint resource operating centre.

33. LIFE SCIENCES

34. Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is widely spread throughout the world. Though some countries are FMD-free the high rate of disease progression cause a serious problem for the international community. The Institute has developed a highly efficient remedy possessing powerful antiviral and antibacterial effects, named “Zetapol”. Zetapol is a native physiologically active compound based on calcium salt of ds-RNA. Study showed that Zetapol is effective in treatment of many infectious diseases of agricultural animals, including FMD. Zetapol is non-toxic and has no side effects. The product is protected by IPR #1367197, 15.09.1987. Zetapol, a highly efficient antiviral and antibacterial remedy INSTITUTE OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

35. ARCHAEOLOGY

36. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography • The protection of the monuments, their internationalization and development of tourism, which will contribute to investigation of historical and cultural heritage of Armenia are most important and urgent tasks for the Institute. Owing to international collaboration, Armenian archaeology got a unique possibility to use the modern laboratories in Europe and America, especially in the sphere of definition of chronological questions and investigations of special materials.

37. Aratashen. A settlement of Neolithic-Eneolithic stage. The Radiocarbon analyses have shown, that the lowest level of the site is presented by the earliest settlement of Transcaucasus, which dates to the first half of the 6th millenium BC.

38. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography (2) • In particular, within last years, more than 200 Radiocarbon analyses have been made, due to which the chronological scale of archaeological cultures of the region from the 7/6th until the end of the 1st millennium BC have been successfully reconstructed • In the sphere of archaeometry special investigations of metal and obsidian artifacts have been made from the 6th to the 2nd millennia BC. Within 1989-2006, more than 1500 analyses of obsidian samples have been done using the methods of Neutron activation, Inductively Coupled Plasma, Mass Spectrometry, X-Ray fluorescence, Fission-track dating. • Creation of corresponding laboratories within the structures of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography will turn Armenia into a leading and important centre of archaeological investigations in the region.

39. ACADEMIC INNOVATION CENTER • The Academy plans establishing Academic Business Information Center to: • Develop scientific and technological communication between Armenia and foreign countries • Promote scientific mobility of scientists • Stimulate the informational and investment activities

40. ACADEMIC INNOVATION CENTER (2) WIDER OBJECTIVES: • Providing conditions for raising the quality and competitive power of the Armenian scientific and technical products and services • Organizing the analytical databases for information exchange on business incubators and technology transfers • Developing special infrastructures for transfer of knowledge within NAS RA. • Developing strategic investment projects and programs with joint application of national and private funding.

41. CONCLUSION • Obviously, certain priorities require urgent solutions, for instance: • improving access of Academic Institutes to capital market, including venture capital market • stimulating increased expenditures for scientific-technical and experimental operations from private companies. Hope this representative event will encourage the steps in this direction…

42. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!