From Research to Industry and Markets Presentation at Knowledge Economy Forum III

1. From Research to Industry and MarketsPresentation at Knowledge Economy Forum III Arriving at New Technological Solutions in Armenia Presented by: Gagik Vardanyan, PhD, Deputy Minister of Trade and Economic Development, E-mail: gvardanyan@minted.am Hakob Hakobyan, MA, Project Director, E-Armenia Foundation /Armenia Development Gateway E-mail: hhakobyan@gateway.am

2. Introduction Introduction • Transition to market economy; • Economic independence; • Macroeconomic stability; • Economic development; • Privatization of the land and enterprises; • Liberalization of the international trade.

3. Overview • Development of the fifth technological state including mega-technologies such as information technologies, biotechnologies. • Development of new technologies and scientific applications in Armenia by more than 100 academic, state research institutions and universities. • The integration of new technologies and innovations in the economy, especially in such fields as agriculture, health and ecology.

4. 2003 Macroeconomic Overview • GDP stable growth (13.9%) • Export growth (34.2%) • Industrial output growth (14.9%) • Inflation (8.6 %)

5. GDP Growth Dynamics (%)

6. Background • 1980s as a start of investigations for the development of new technologies in several fields in Armenia. • Development of new technologies in the field of biomedicine by Yerevan State University. • Preparation of national strategy and action plan for the development of high-technologies. • Formation of small enthusiastic professional team for the creation of new preparations and their testing.

7. Rationale • Transition to the market economy created new needs for using new technologies. • Privatization in all fields of economy. • Local and International support to develop new technologies since 1990s. • Emerging of new problems for the new farmers – plant diseases. • Use of the traditional chemical disinfectants are not effective against these diseases. • The development and testing of new preparations for plant diseases become very urgent. • Need of new preparations and modern methods for treatment of oncological diseases.

8. Demand and Market • Land diseases are very widespread and cannot be bypassed . • Regular needs for land restoration and plant diseases. • Integration of new preparations (porphyrins) is more efficient than the traditional technologies (chemicals, etc.). • Local and international customers as Potential markets for new preparation (porphyrin) production. • The main land user groups like the Government, agricultural companies and individual farmers (agribusiness sector) as local customers. • The main customers outside Armenia will be the Agribusiness community.

9. Partnership Development • Integration of about 100 highly qualified specialists from the following fields (Molecular Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Biotechnology, Agriculture, Biomedicine). • Yerevan State University; • Yerevan State Medical University; • Institute of Biotechnology; • Yerevan Physics Institute; • Institute of Zoology of NAS; • Armenian Agriculture Academy; • Pharmagene Co. Ltd.; • Research Center of Molecular Structure of NAS.

10. Partnership Development (Cont.) • Establishment of informal partnership (professional team) at the local level. • Coordination of implemented scientific researches. • More than 30 local and international Grant awards. • Partnership with the following international institutions: • University of Illinois, Chicago, USA; • National Institute of Child Health and Development, Bethesda, USA; • Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA; • Boston University, USA; • National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, USA; • University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA; • University of Toronto, Canada; • University of Florence, Italy.

11. Objectives • Main purpose of these projects is creation of new technologies and application of these innovations to increase competitiveness and promote economic growth. • Objectives: • Application of new preparations for the plant diseases and growth of the agriculture product • Application of new anticancer preparations and modern methods in the Biomedicine • Application of new preparations in the field of Biotechnology (against Bioterrorism, etc.)

12. Challenges • To coordinate investigation and research conducted by research teams; • To develop and test new preparations to be used simultaneously in agriculture and health. • To produce new preparations based on the results; • To develop modern methods for the effective action of these preparations in plants and organisms.

13. Activities • Synthesis of new photosensitizers (porphyrins and metal porphyrins); • Testing of new photosensitizers against root rot of wheat, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, etc; • Optimization of photosensitizers’ application parameters and selection of the most effective preparations.

14. New Preparation Characteristics • Acting in very small concentrations (1g/1m3 water); • Selectively attacking cancer cells or microorganisms; • They are not accumulated in human organisms or in plants • They are eliminated quickly; • Nontoxic for human organisms.

15. Results • Synthesis of more than 60 new porphyrins and their metal complexes; • Identification of new porphyrins possessing high anticancer, antifungal and antibacterial activity; • Identification of new porphyrins against some fungal diseases (root rot, black stem, bacterial cancer) existed in the plants; • Testing of new preparations in the agricultural field using green houses and plants.

16. Examples • About 30% of such agricultural products as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers are supposed to be damaged due to fungi (see pictures 1 and 2); • High efficiency of the affect of new preparations on fungi is obvious (see pictures 1 and 2). • The following are some examples showing the effect of new preparations on microorganisms:

19. Research Activities • Study of approaches and methods of the new water-soluble porphyrin synthesis allowing to obtain more than 150 new porphyrins and their metal complexes. • Study for the development of the mechanism on using new porphyrins and metal complexes and development of the modern methods (photodynamic therapy of tumors) in the Biomedicine for the cancer treatment at molecular, cellular and organisms levels. • Study of the new porphyrin for treatment of fungal diseases for agriculture (green house and plants) and developing disinfectants against Bioterrorism (including specially dangerous infections: cholera, plague, tularemia).

20. Current Activities • Establishment of the National Technology Center for coordination of the above mentioned studies; • Development of Industry-University relations attracting foreign direct investment; • Production and wide application of tested new preparations; • Conducting of the training programs on how the new preparations to be used; • Raising of awareness; • Integration of more partners from both local and international level; • Distribution of the production and engineering of new technologies in the country, regional levels.

21. Lessons Learned • Preparation of national strategy and action plan for the development of high technologies. • The management and coordination of the teams in implementing of different projects in the field of high technologies. • Government support and for the implementation of these projects. • Integration of the partners not only from the Academic sector, but also from private, civil society sectors.

22. ThankYou