Ukrainians buy their own inventions in the West
As we know, an original idea and specialized knowledge together beget socially useful inventions. For example, last year 7,208 Ukrainian individuals and legal entities applied for patents on products of their intellectual activity. Symptomatically, this figure notably exceeds — by a solid 28% — that of 2001. Moreover, the number of those who obtained patents almost doubled: 11,670 in 2002. Naturally, there are inventions and inventions. For example, a certain local Edison designed a 200% efficiency machine, which runs counter to all the laws of physics. No less interesting are attempts to invent the proverbial perpetual motion machine. At the same time, nobody denies that there really are progressive inventions as well. The trouble is that their creators still have no place to turn to defend their rights in case of conflicts (professional patent courts are still to be established), and, banal as it sounds, Ukrainians are practically unable to bring their intellectual products onto the international arena for lack of money.
In the following interview with our newspaper, inventor Ivan LANDAR, deputy director of the Ukrainian Research Institute of the Meat-Packing and Dairy Industry, reflects on our compatriots’ latest inventions, on what hinders our Ukrainian Edisons, and on Western reactions to our intellectual pursuits.
“What hampers Ukrainian inventors today?”
“Today, research and production are poles apart. I know from my own experience that when, for example, an agency receives an information letter about new cost-effective and pollution-free technologies, there are only a few officials who will do more than simply ignore it. The impression is we are deliberately seeking what has been made in the West because we consider them brighter and more progressive. Meanwhile, they greatly value, purchase, and even put into operation Ukrainian intellectual products. But when we acquire some Western technological wonder, we sometimes don’t have the slightest idea that it was made from a Ukrainian design. Ukraine has a tremendous potential that it can’t always fulfill. For example, why should we study and adjust to our needs foreign software if we ourselves can program a similar or even a better version oriented to our own mentality? All we need is that producers believe in and rely on our research. When that happens, we will see tremendous growth.”
“There was a saying in the USSR that investors literally have their oxygen cut off. This, of course, referred to the existing laws and regulations. What is the situation in independent Ukraine now?”
“True, at that time all inventions had to go through the All-Union Center of Scientific and Technological Information. The later could keep a patent application hanging for years, and then, by some inexplicable circumstance, a similar project would suddenly emerge in another country. This situation still has not radically changed: you have to try to prove for many years that your invention really is innovative, badly needed, and cost-effective, only to get pennies if you are successful. Still, despite this, the patent bureau is today literally flooded with applications — there must have been some reappraisal of values in this respect. The problem is that most of the projects crumble as soon as it comes to financing. In any case, we do have original ideas of our own, including some that are tested and ready for implementation.”
“Which of these inventions are popular in the West and simultaneously forgotten in our country?”
“The Pan-European Conference of Environment Ministers was shown the Teplmash unit, a thermal generator that can replace a boiler room, especially in summer. Diesel powered, it works on a self-contained basis and produces no atmospheric emissions. The principle on which it works is that two fluids collide and produce heat upon impact. These units are successfully operating in Russia, Belarus, Argentina, Bulgaria, and China. After the ecological ministers’ conference, the Balkans also showed interest in it, as did Germany, Poland, and the Baltic states. This country’s Energy Conservation Committee also has information on the machine. Yet, Ukraine operates only about a thousand of them. When I myself had to knock on official doors, I was most often told to write a letter for them to discuss it. The point is that this technology is not only pollution-free but also very energy-efficient. For example, it has already been successfully tried in the dairy industry. Until recently, the milk produced had to be cooled, treated at a special pasteurizing plant costing tens of thousands of dollars, stripped of hazardous nutritional impurities, and adjusted to the needs of our organism. As a result, the prime cost of a liter of milk always varied between 80 kopecks and one hryvnia. The new plant is able to do all this on its own, with the prime cost of milk dropping to 8- 10 kopecks a liter. In addition, the milk preserves much more of its vitamins and minerals. For example, the Institute of Biochemistry confirmed that when our plant produces soybean milk, it preserves 100% of its proteins, while traditional technologies make it possible to preserve only 50-60%. It’s the same with juices. As you know, the juices we buy are surrogates, i.e., water mixed with fruit powders, pasteurized and sterilized. But, in our case, we have a very good chance of getting a natural juice. The only thing we cannot do is withdraw the nitrates that get into fruits and berries at the cultivation stage.”
“You claim that this plant is in fact a breakthrough in the field of Ukrainian pollution-free technologies. But do you think pollution-free technologies can be implemented on a mass scale here? What do you think of ecological audits?”
“When we install such units, we have to conduct the environmental impact study ourselves. I take a more than positive attitude toward this. Experience prompts entrepreneurs to address their ecological problems. Of course, they don’t want to pay an additional tax for environmental damage, but they also lack any viable alternative. A good manager is aware that if he reuses an old technology, he will leave the ecological hazards intact and will wind up having to pay several times more than if he purchases a new one. Even now we can see enterprises growing flowers on their territory. This is an unmistakable sign that the Soviet- minded owner is gradually giving way to the European-minded one.”
