Companies to join Skolkovo nuclear technology center

Thirty companies will enter the Skolkovo nuclear technology research center this year, Executive Director of Nuclear Technology Cluster Denis Kovalevich said on Monday. "We expect 30 companies to become the nuclear cluster's members by the end of this year," Kovalevich said. The first two participants of the Skolkovo Nuclear Technology Cluster were announced on Monday - a medical research project from Obninsk and Siemens science and research center. Skolkovo President's adviser on nuclear technologies, Alexander Fertman, said eight requests on nuclear technology projects have undergone a scientific evaluation and will receive resident status soon. Apart from the two nuclear research projects, 13 companies also received the status of Skolkovo resident on Tuesday, including eight in biomedical research, four in IT and one in energy. Seen as a key part of President Dmitry Medvedev's drive to modernize Russia's commodity-dependent economy, Skolkovo is intended to be an ultra-modern science community for the development and commercialization of new technologies. The hub, being set up just outside Moscow, will focus on research in five priority spheres: energy, information technology, communication, biomedical research and nuclear technology.