Another service of the Partner and Sustainability Department is the Partner Projects Program, which provides account management services to help ensure success and satisfaction on joint projects between Partners and Russian/CIS Institutions. The Partner Projects Program gives Partners access to high quality Russian/CIS scientific and engineering talents with the added benefit of support through established international auditing procedures, mutually predetermined assignment of intellectual property rights, and guaranteed access by the host government to sites, equipment and resources.

Currently 12 Partner Project Managers manage 270 active partner projects with total funding over $130M in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. Each manager adds value by working closely with partners to develop new projects and helping potential partners identify promising technologies. Moreover these managers assist partners by carrying out customized activities ranging from regular site visits and workshops to special-request activities.

US Bio Industry Initiative (BII)
The ISTC shares many of the same objectives with the US Department of State’s Bio-Industry Initiative, or BII a major ISTC Partner activity. BII has a number of activities underway, and ISTC is coordinating its activities with BII to identify areas of cooperation and synergy in the biotechnology sector.

Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) Training organized by NP TEMPO and sponsored by BII, with guest instructors from the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society (USA), February 2005

US Department of Health and Human Service (DHHS)
One of the DHHS objectives is to find solutions to socially transmitted diseases (TB, HIV, Hepatitis and etc). Activities included, various diagnostic method and instrument development, new drug and vaccine research. In 2004 significant achievements were made through partnerships, including:

• Diagnostic Tuberculosis biochips,
• The Russian State Research Center of virology and Biotechnology (Vector) developed a pilot HIV vaccine candidate which is currently in a US patent process with support US DOS Bio-Industry Initiatives,
• A vivarium was newly renovated for preclinical trials of a new DNA-vaccine at the Institute of Highly Pure Preparations in St. Petersburg.
• DHHS-BTEP/ISTC co-sponsored a workshop “Antidotes to highly toxic chemical substances”, organized by the Institute of Toxicology, St. Petersburg. Approximately 30 participants from the Institute of Toxicology and DHHS/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defence attended the workshop.
• Co-sponsoring by two USG Partners – BioIndustry Initiatives (BII) and DHHS/BTEP. Helm Global Group company with In Step Training, Dublin, Ireland, including two US experts from Elli Lilly and FDA (Food & Drug Administration) taught Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) in Ireland.

European Office of Aerospace Research and Development, (EOARD)
In partnership with the ISTC, EOARD’s objective is to develop, fund and manage basic research in the areas of aeronautical science, mathematics, information technology, radio frequency technologies and others. Since 1999 EOARD has funded some 89 projects. In 2004 alone, 11 projects have been added or extended for further research opportunities.

Fuel Cell Targeted Initiative

ISTC’s Targeted Initiative (TI) Program focuses on support of promising research and development by assisting Russian and CIS R&D experts in the transition from R&D to economically selfsustaining activities. The TI approach is applicable for complex technical, financial or managerial-structure projects that have a single well-defined goal.

The first ISTC TI project has focused on fuel cell technology, which provides a highly efficient means of generating electric power with minimal pollution. This initiative draws on the highly developed skills and experience of Russian engineers from closed nuclear cities. The objective of the project is to construct and conduct a pilot test of a small capacity, approximately 7 KW fuel-cell power plant to meet the needs of Russian consumers. This multidisciplinary high-technology project involves the participation of five Russian institutes, the government agency RosAtom, and private companies Gasprom and Orgenergogaz.

The TI fuel cell project began its first phase in April 2004, with a feasibility study supported originally by the EU and US funding parties and later joined by Canada. Activities of the project are jointly observed by the TI Steering Group and the Technical Advisory Group, which also evaluate progress and plan next steps..