Russia is to spend billions of US dollars on nanotechnologies in a bid o catch up with the West.
The government is to create Rosnanotekh, a state nanotechnology corporation with a budget of five billion US dollars (3.7 billion euros) that will inject funds into Russia's long-neglected science establishment.
The government has had to invest the money because local business is not interested. However the government is aware that it could fall a long way behind the US and EU if someone is not doing the research.