Tag Archives: SPM

RUSNANO sells an investment based on IRR (internal rate of return)

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This is a turnaround. The news items usually state that RUSNANO (Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies) is about to invest money but this time they’re selling their investment. From the May 28, 2012 news item on Nanowerk,

RUSNANO’s Board of Directors has approved the company’s first exit from a previously-invested company. RUSNANO sells its 27.6 percent equity stake in Advanced Technologies Center, a leading producer of scanning probe microscopes and atomic scales. The sale to the project applicant, NPP CPT will generate IRR of 29.5 percent on RUSNANO’s investment.

RUSNANO’s co-financing enabled the high-tech company founded by Moscow State University professor Igor Yaminsky to reach next level of business and to expand its line of scanning probe microscopes [SPM] and SPM software. RUSNANO has invested 50 million rubles in the project, out of the 140 million rubles originally planned. In December 2011 the portfolio company opened a production site which will double its production capacity up to the revenue levels of 70 million rubles by the end of 2012.

The deal meets two essential RUSNANO’s criteria for successful exit: IRR is no lower than was planned, and the project is able to develop independently.

I had to look up ‘internal rate of investment’ (IRR) and found this essay on Wikipedia (Note: I have removed links and footnotes from the excerpt),

The internal rate of return (IRR) is a rate of return used in capital budgeting to measure and compare the profitability of investments. It is also called the discounted cash flow rate of return (DCFROR) or the rate of return (ROR). In the context of savings and loans the IRR is also called the effective interest rate. The term internal refers to the fact that its calculation does not incorporate environmental factors (e.g., the interest rate or inflation).

The news item goes on to describe the Russian company,  Advanced Technologies Center’s (not to be confused with New Zealand’s government agency, Advanced Technology Institute) product line (from the May 28, 2012 news item),

The main product of the Advanced Technologies Center is the FemtoScan series of scanning probe microscopes, high-precision instruments that use the mechanical motion of a probe (cantilever) to study the surface of a sample at the nanoscale. SPMs are used for research in chemistry, physics, biology and medicine, as well as for industrial applications such as surface quality control. The company also produces SPM control and image processing software, as well as precision scales capable to detect substances at atomic level.

There seems to be a lot of action in the world of microscopy these days. This is the second item I’ve written on the topic in the last 10 days (and it’s not my main area of interest).

RUSTEC holds an international education conference

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November 15-19, 2o10 will see Arizona State University hosting NT-MDT and RUSTEC’s (Russian Technology Science and Education Consortia) first international workshop. I mentioned (in my June 30, 2010 posting about nanoeducation in Colombia, Russia, and Iral) NT-MDT and RUSTEC in the context of their May 2010 nanoeducation conference held in Russia at the Kurchatov Institute.

From the latest news item about NT-MDT and RUSTEC on Nanowerk,

NT-MDT Co. and the first international workshop of RUSTEC, the USA NT-MDT Co. will be sponsor and the official partner of the first international workshop of Russian Science Technology and Educational Consortia (RUSTEC) at Arizona State University (ASU), the USA.

Director-General of the NT-MDT Co. Viktor Bykov will chair the workshop together with Associate Vice-President for Research at ASU Stephen Goodnick and Associate Research Professor at ASU Anatoli Korkin.

The aim of the workshop is collaboration and prospective partnership between American and Russian scientific representatives. It will be a great forum for non-profit organization, companies, universities and research centers of the both countries.

More details about the workshop can be found on this Arizona State University webpage.

As for NT-MDT, it’s a trifle unusual in that it’s both an instrumentation company and it sells products to educators. Here’s their mission statement (from their About page),

Our mission is to enable researchers, engineers and developers to conduct nanoscale research by creating ever more perfect nanotechnology instrumentation. Along the way, we maintain a global perspective, always taking into consideration the needs of student in the classroom, the researcher at the cutting edge in the laboratory, and the practicalities of industrial R&D.

This reminds me a little of Apple which got its MAC computers into schools so that youngsters (who grow into adults) would choose to purchase Macs in the future. In this case, NT-MDT a company which produces equipment for scanning probe microscopy (SPM) is reaching out to educators who need equipment such as SPM’s in the classroom. So the company hosts workshops and conference about nanotechnology and, yes, they have a platform such as NANOEDUCATOR which bundles their SPM’s with software and other materials appropriate for teachers (from the product page),

The emerging field of nanotechnology offers promise in the development of different areas of life – from environmental protection to consumer goods production, from electronics to energetics, from healthcare to aerospace defense.

Thus the application of nanotechnology has a great influence not only on science, but also on daily activity, therefore, mentoring the next generation of researchers in nanoscience by means of thorough hands-on training is an all-important question.

For this purpose we designed NANOEDUCATOR – the scientific training complex with a set of learning aids, accessories for introducing students to nanotechnology and giving them a basic understanding of how work with objects at nanoscale level.

NANOEDUCATOR, student oriented SPM, is your key to the minuscule world, developed for use by even first-time microscope users, it can navigate through the step-by-step operation. This device is designed to capture the students interest in science and train future nanotechnologists using both AFM and STM techniques.

I gather the company sells its standard markets and the education market separately as it encourages brand awareness amongst youngsters.