Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Discusses Risk Management for First-of-a-Kind Domestic Technologies: NIIK Takes Part in Working Group Meeting

On July 1, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation hosted the inaugural meeting of an Interagency Working Group established to advance a joint initiative by the Chamber, VTB Bank and the leadership of the United Russia Party’s Council of Strategists. The initiative aims to develop a mechanism for managing the technological risks associated with the first commercial application of Russian technologies in pilot projects.

Conventional risk-management practices are largely based on technologies that are already mature and widely used across global industrial markets. But a different approach is needed when a production process relies on a newly developed solution that has been tested at only one or two facilities — or has yet to be implemented at industrial scale at all.

The proposal to create a dedicated mechanism for managing the risks of first-of-a-kind Russian technologies was initially presented during a roundtable at the Metalworking 2026 exhibition and was subsequently taken forward for discussion by the working group at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Andrey Zadorozhny, Senior Vice President at VTB Bank, outlined the initiative and the key barriers to launching pilot projects based on domestically developed technologies in the chemical industry. Alexey Krylovsky, Head of the United Russia Party’s Council of Strategists, expressed support for the initiative and suggested considering it as part of a broader industrial and technological agenda, noting that the issue extends well beyond the chemical sector.

Maria Glukhova, Executive Vice President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, shared the organisation’s experience in exploring technological-risk insurance and highlighted the practical complexities that could arise if an insurance-based mechanism is introduced.

Alexey Polyakov, CEO of TopTech LLC, stressed the importance of building integrated end-to-end technology chains based on domestic solutions. Vsevolod Bebutov, CEO of Azot Group, confirmed the company’s willingness to participate in a pilot project provided that the technological risks are fully covered by the state.

Oleg Drobotushchenko, CEO NIIK JSC, proposed complementing financial and insurance instruments with measures designed to reduce the technological risks involved in the development and implementation of new solutions. In particular, he suggested applying the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) methodology throughout R&D projects.

The initiative to develop a mechanism for managing the risks associated with the first application of Russian technologies at pilot facilities is also supported by the Russian Union of Chemists. Maria Ivanova, First Vice President of the Union, noted that once fully developed, adapted and agreed with the government, such a mechanism could help accelerate the adoption of domestically developed technology licences at industrial facilities.