A cooperation agreement between the Republic of Tatarstan and the Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises was signed.

On the 9th of February, 2010 a cooperation agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Tatarstan Republic headed by its Prime-Minister Rustam Minnikhanov and the Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises headed by its director-general Sergey Polyakov was signed. The agreement aimed to develop joint programs focus on small innovative companies supporting.

It is planned to start a new program «Business-Partner» oriented to help small innovative companies running R&D in behalf of large-scale industries, within this agreement in 2010.

The regional pilot program «Business-Partner» will be implemented by the Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises and Technopark “Idea” with support of Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Republic of Tatarstan.

Goals of the program are:

• assistance to small innovative enterprises on holding of research and development works on creation of innovative high technological goods and services which are claimed on the market and needed for decision of existing problems of industrial enterprises of the Republic of Tatarstan including for new consumer niche connected with “World Student Games-2013”;

• activation of cooperation between small high technological companies and players of real economy sector of the Republic of Tatarstan (industrial enterprises, banks, financial and investment organizations) for the purpose of forming of partner relation which will create conditions for competitiveness increasing of domestic goods and development of import replacing production.

Also within the agreement it is planned to start a program aimed to develop the measures of innovative enterprises supporting in accordance with legislation changes of the Federal Law №217.

The Federal Law 217-FZ of August 15, 2009 makes changes to the federal legislation. That would help take measures to avoid the situation whereby small size innovative companies being set up with state budged financed education and research organizations are in breach of nonproliferation obligations of the Russian Federation pursuant to Federal Law No217 of August 2, 2009.

Within the Federal Law it is intended to expand cooperation between the Republic of Tatarstan and the Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises in finance supporting the innovative companies, set up under these programs.

In addition, for the purpose of infrastructure support for small innovative companies in four priority fields (ecology and environmental protection, resource-saving and power efficient, medicine and pharmaceutics, information technologies) it is planned to implement another joint program aimed to help innovative companies to run their businesses and use the possibilities of the Nanotechnological Center on the basis of Technopark “Idea” within the contest of RUSNANO.