The Russian Union of Chemists discussed approaches to solving the problems of Small- and Medium-Tonnage Chemistry in Russia

The Small- and Medium-Tonnage Chemistry (SMTC) Commission of the Russian Union of Chemists held its first kick-off meeting. It was chaired by Mikhail Sutyaginsky, Vice-President of the Russian Union of Chemists, Chairman of the Chemical Industry Committee of “Delovaya Rossiya”. The meeting was held in cooperation with the Russian Union of Chemists' Council, the core group of “Delovaya Rossiya” Chemical Industry Committee and the State Duma's Expert Council for the Development of the Chemical Industry.

“When establishing the SMTC Commission, we set ourselves an important task. On the one hand, we wanted to contribute to the development of the technological sovereignty of our country and, on the other hand, to unite and strengthen all industry power interested in the development of small- and medium-tonnage chemistry. - Mikhail Sutyaginsky noted. – Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his annual Address to the Federal Assembly, has indicated that the time has come for a fundamental reset, including our industry and our high-tech sector. In other words, the tasks I outlined above are fully in line with the messages directed by the Head of State.

Opening the meeting, Mikhail Sutyaginsky briefly outlined the main issues for the development of SMTC in Russia. These are the shortage of domestic medium-tonnage feedstock for manufacturing small-tonnage chemistry products, the lack of a developed SMTC consumption market in Russia, as well as the shortage of skilled personnel.

“The main task for the members of Russian chemical complex is to identify those priority production chains which lack is affecting various branches of Russian industry most of all. And it is appropriate here to associate the development strategy of the Russian chemical industry with the strategies of the industries consuming our products. These are the shipbuilding, electronics, aviation and automotive industries, and many others,” Mikhail Sutyaginsky emphasized.

Maria Vasilkova, Chair of the Expert Council for the Chemical Industry of the State Duma's Industry and Trade Committee, spoke about the work of the Council she leads and encouraged chemists to join efforts in developing of a strategically important and backbone sub-sector of the domestic chemical industry.

“We all need a favourable result, so that the most promising ideas of expert chemists could be put into practice and backed up by good legal and regulation documents. If you like, we, the State Duma's Expert Council, are ready to act as the link that will connect business and government in practice. Today we invite the participants of your commission and industry to join the work in forming key positions for the cluster development of industrial chemistry. In our opinion, this brings maximum benefits and opportunities, it really stimulates the development of cooperation ties,” Maria Vasilkova noted.

She also spoke about current projects implemented by the Expert Council.

Closing the first kick-off meeting of the SMTC Commission of the Russian Union of Chemists, Maria Ivanova, First Vice-President of the Russian Union of Chemists and elected Vice-Chairperson of the Small -and Medium-Tonnage Chemistry Commission of the Russian Union of Chemists, said: “The objectives of our Commission lie in the plane of real actions and assistance to business here and now. We need to invite large-tonnage business, which has a feedstock base and is able to mobilise the power of science and significant managerial resources to solve personnel, logistic and cooperation issues in a timely manner, to participate in comprehensive work on development of the domestic SMTC base. For this purpose, it is necessary to create a pool of specific SMTC business projects, involving, among others, all possible sources of financing, engineering companies and universities”.

“We have an array of problems that we should accept as opportunities and guidelines for action. It is this approach that will ensure the efficiency of our work,” Maria Ivanova summarized.

The next meeting of industry participants is slated for March, 22. It will take place as an open discussion at Chemicos-2023 Forum. The topic is “Challenges and solutions for providing necessary critically important nomenclature to the domestic SMTC household chemicals and perfume and cosmetics industry”.

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