Tomsk region: Profile
Information on the Tomsk Region
History and People
Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in the Russian Federation. The population of the region is 1 mln people. There are 120 nationalities. 90% of the population is Russians, Ukrainians and Tatars have large diasporas as well.
Geography and Nature
The Tomsk region is located in the center of the Russian Federation, in the South of the Western Siberia. The distance from Moscow is 3500 km, from Novosibirsk - 250 km. The Tomsk region territory is 316,9 thou km² that exceeds the integrated territories of such European countries as Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ireland. The territory is a large valley, 60% of it is covered with forests, 40% - with swamps. The forests are made up with the valuable species of wood - Siberian cedar, silver fir, pine tree, larch. The region is rich in valuable species of animals, birds, and fish.
Economy
The total value of the Gross Regional Product produced in 2005 amounted to 7 bln USD. The Tomsk region is among the ten Russian leading regions. The rate of the annual industrial growth of the region is 8%. In the region economy there is a large share of the fuel industry - almost 40%, machinery - 13%, electric energy - 9%, food industry - 8%. Two largest enterprises operating in the region are Siberian Chemical Combine (leader in the nuclear energy) and Tomsk Petrochemical Plant that supplies polyethylene and polypropylene to the European and Asian markets. The number of the economically active population is 300 thou people. Every third employee has a university education. The employment rate is 95%.
Competitive Advantages: raw materials and intellect
The Tomsk region is rich in resources.
Oil and Gas. 100 deposits of oil and gas have been discovered in the region. The extracted resources of oil amount to 2 bln tones, gas - 1,5 trln m³. Annually the Tomsk region produced 15 mln tones of oil and 5 bln m³ of gas.
Iron Ore. The resources of iron ore with the iron content of more than 30% in the Tomsk region are evaluated at 390 bln tones, that is 57% of the Russian resources. The Tomsk region is the largest iron ore province in the world. However the exploitation of the ore has not been started due to the complicated technology of extraction and watered grounds.
The Tomsk region possesses 30% of the Russian resources of titanium dioxide and zircon. The zircon resources amount to 1380 thou tones, ilmenite - 3400 thou tones. The Tugan sands are used a basis for production of catalysts in oil processing, development of nano-ceramics, production of ferroelectric, optical fiber, superdispersed powder, and other.
Peat. There are enormous resources of peat in the region, which are estimated at 30 bln tones - that is 18% of the Russian resources. Peat has a strategic purpose. It is an ecologically clean renewable resource. Tomsk peat can be used as substitute for fuel. On its basis it is possible to start production of fertilizers and stimulator for the plants growth, antiseptic for cattle-breeding.
Forest. Forests cover more than 29 mln hectares. The woods suitable for felling are estimated at 2,6 bln m³, a half of them - valuable coniferous species.
Intellectual Capital
The region development strategy is fully connected with intellectual capital, science and education. The history of Tomsk science and education began in 1878 with the opening of the first Siberian educational institution - The Emperor University.
Nowadays Tomsk is a city of 6 public universities, 2 institutes, 15 branches of the private universities that train more than 85 thou students. At the same time the secondary professional education in Tomsk train more than 20 thou students. Every 5th citizen of Tomsk is a student. The total value of the Tomsk scientific and educational complex financing amounts to 250 mln USD a year. Tomsk universities serve as training centers for the whole Siberia.
About 150 Tomsk institutions are involved in scientific research. The major directions of their activity are atmosphere and environment monitoring, material science, industrial electronics, nuclear physics, telecommunication, geology, petroleum chemistry, genetics, oncology, cardiology, microsurgery, obstetrics, pharmacology, and others. The region is unique in concentration of the academicians: there are 150 researchers, 18 doctors of science for 10 thou Tomsk inhabitants. Tomsk scientists actively cooperate with the foreign partners. The total value of the financing received from the foreign contracts and grants is more than 7,5 mln USD.
About 100 Tomsk companies work in innovative sphere. They are steadfastly developing increasing the volume of their production by 30% a year. The volume of the science-intensive production in the Tomsk region amounts to 240 mln USD. There are 8 scientific developments commercialization and innovations support offices in the region. Thanks to their activity 16 small-scaled enterprises were established last year. 3 business incubators began the implementation of 20 innovative projects and established a network of the venture financing.
Investments Prospects
- Tomsk Research and Innovation Special Economic Zone (SEZ)- In 2005 the Tomsk region won a competition for establishing Research and Innovation Special Economic Zone. The territory of the Tomsk Oblast Research and Innovation Special Economic Zone lies within the city boundaries; its area is 197 ha. The SEZ is aimed at developing information and communication technologies, new materials, nano-, bio-and medical technologies. The SEZ residents are released from the tax on property and land tax for the period of 5 years. Besides it, there is an accelerated depreciation (twice faster than a normal one), reduction of the tax burden for the research and engineering developments. The unified social tax is reduced from 26% to 14% for the companies working in innovation dissemination zones. The zone establishes a special customs regime: the foreign products will be sold without imposing import duties and Russian production - without export duties.
- Scientific Developments. There is a possibility for development of three sectors of knowledge-based economy: biotechnologies, nanotechnologies and IT.
Biotechnological developments are made on the basis of the company "Virion" that produces microbiological production and vaccines. There are prospects for the elaborations based on peat getting the stimulators for the plants growth. Company "Art Life" produces herbal supplements. The Tomsk State University has worked out a technology for getting virus-free species. Institute of Medical Genetics - the only one in Siberia - initiated the diagnosis of a person's susceptibility to cardio-vascular, oncology and other noninfectious diseases by gene markers.
Nanotechnologies. There are projects of usinf nanotechnologies in medicine. Tomsk Polytechnic University developed a bioactive and bio-inactive ceramics for implants, stomatological ceramics. Tomsk scientists supply filters and lubrication based on nano-materials to the international market. New project of the Tomsk scientists is production of the filter material based on nano-fibre.
Information Technologies. Tomsk scientists elaborated digital fluorographes that were tested in practical medicine. Historically Tomsk has a strong school of high-tech developments in telecommunication sphere. Such well-known companies as Microsoft, Intel, Boeing, Sony, Panasonic, Smith Aerospace (the US Air Force), TEAC America (The US Navy Aviation), Bosch are the clients of the Tomsk research institutes. Tomsk decoders are used in digital broadcasting system of the White House in Washington and in the system of video storage in air forces.
- Oil and Gas - exploration of the Northern-Eastern territory of the Tomsk region. According to the estimate the resources of oil amount to 1 bln tones, gas - 1 trln m3. The exploration of these deposits will contribute to the construction of the pipeline "Eastern Siberian-Pacific Ocean". In 2005 the region began to exploration works in this area. Two wells were drilled. The examination of these wells is being carried now.
- Timber Industry - there is 30 mln m³ of the woods increase annually. This figure can provide the largest wood-processing enterprises with the raw material. The list of the investment projects includes building plants on production of the MDF boards, pellets and briquettes, energy production based on waste wood, sawmills.
- Exploration of the Iron Ore Deposits. The first fusion of has shown 40% of iron in the Tomsk iron ore deposit. The potential consumers of this resource are metallurgical plants of Kuzbass, the Urals, China.
Internet Resources: Local Authorities
About Tomsk and Tomsk Region
Contact Information
Tomsk Region Administration
6 Lenin Sq.,Tomsk, Siberia 634050 Russian Federation
Tel./fax: + 7 (3822) 51-0730
E-Mail: ato@tomsk.gov.ru
Website: http://www.tomsk.gov.ru/
Head of the Region (the Governor)
Dr. Victor M. Kress
Tel./fax: + 7 (3822) 51-0730
Website: http://kress.tomsk.ru/
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