The Skolkovo Foundation is a Russian non-profit organization founded in 2010 and charged by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev with creating a new science and technology development center in the Moscow suburb of Skolkovo. The Skolkovo innovation ecosystem comprises the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, corporate R&D centers, business incubators and accelerators, private seed and venture funds, and start-up companies, as well as residential space and social infrastructure. Skolkovo is governed by a special law, which gives its resident companies special economic conditions for running their businesses. More than 300 companies have received the status of Skolkovo resident.

It is hard to imagine a more vivid example of efficient cooperation between business and science than the Center of applied research that we are establishing. This success is possible because of a close cooperation of global leaders in research on heat exchange and catalysis processes—Imperial College London and Boreskov Institute of Catalysis—with active involvement from British Petroleum. I am sure that we will be able to evaluate the results of the Center in the not too distant future, which may lead to a significant decrease of energy losses in oil and gas refining.

—Viktor Vekselberg, President of the Skolkovo Foundation

The Center of Applied Research is based on UNICAT Ltd.—a spin-off innovation company that was founded by the Boreskov Institute of Catalysis and Novosibirsk State University and approved as a resident of Skolkovo innovation ecosystem.

We believe that combining our experience in the development and utilization of catalysts and catalytic processes with Imperial’s expertise in chemical technologies will lead to fundamentally new approaches in advancing energy efficient technologies for processing carbon fossil fuels. The agreement, initiated by the Skolkovo Foundation, is setting an extremely important example (including for Russian companies) by supporting the fundamental research and innovation of leading international corporations.

—Valentin Parmon, Boreskov Institute of Catalysis director

Based in Novosibirsk, Boreskov Institute of Catalysis of Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Science is the largest research center in the world specialized in catalysis. The BIC’s R&D activities span the areas from basic research in the field of catalysis to the development of new catalysts and catalytic technologies and to designing pilot plants for the catalysts manufacturing. The main fields of catalytic research at the Boreskov Institute of Catalysis are establishment of general physicochemical regularities of catalysis, development of scientific bases for molecular design of materials and implementation of catalytic processes; creation of new generation catalysts for chemical and energy efficient technologies, refinery and petrochemical industries, as well as creation of catalysts and technologies for innovative application areas.