On February 10, 2012 the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine (STCU) conducted a kick-off meeting of a new program in Ukraine. The Program is called – S4B: Science 4 Business Initiative.

10 Feb 2012

On February 10, 2012 the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine (STCU) conducted a kick-off meeting of a new program in Ukraine. The Program is called – S4B: Science 4 Business Initiative. The initiative will be managed by STCU and supported by the U.S. Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration’s Global Initiative for Proliferation Prevention (GIPP).

The kick-off meeting was held at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. It was opened by welcoming words from Ambassador Michael Einik, STCU Executive Director, Ambassador John F. Tefft, Ambassador of the United States, Dr. Borys Grinev, Deputy Head, State Agency of Science, Innovation and Informatization; Dr. Yuriy Kapitsa, Director of IPR, Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Uraine, Dr. Mykhaylo Zgurovsky, Rector, National Technical University of Ukraine “Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”. Mr. Vic Korsun, Deputy Executive Director (USA) of STCU spoke to participants to explain the goals and rules for participation in new program.

The proposed Budget for the GIPP CTCO Program: S4B Initiative is $500 Thousand USD for the first year. If the Ukrainian side would like to add to this effort and join, STCU welcomes the opportunity to work with other institutes, universities and organizations. Other Ukrainian organizations can join this effort through co-funding.

Other speakers included Prof. P. Tsybuyov, vice Rector Institute of IPR in Ukraine who spoke about the barriers that scientific institutes and universities face when trying to develop scientific discoveries and inventions into products and start-up companies. He addressed ways of improving the situation in Ukraine and how to help institutes to form spin-off companies to commercialize their technological developments.

Another speaker, Dr. O. Fesenko, Manager of the Office of Technology Transfer at the Institute of Physics in Kyiv, spoke about how their institute has moved forward by creating an Office of Technology Transfer with a staff of 5 persons, how they have formalized the institute’s relations with their scientific staff, how they have started to market and promote the institute’s technologies and scientific skills, and how the institute has created a spin-off company that has a staff of 6 people who are selling technological services and then sharing their income with the institute through royalties.

GIPP’s CTCO Initiative S4B: Science 4 Business can help institutes and universities to strategically develop and modernize through the expansion of knowledge exchange as a basis for growth and creation of high-technology jobs in Ukraine.