STRUKTÚRÁK SZERVEZETEK STARTÉGIÁK IPARGAZDASÁGI SZEMLE 1991 SPECIAL ISSUE - INDUSTRIAL STRATEGIES AND POLICIES FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH IN THE 1990'S
IV. Financing private sector activities - Vincent H. Tobkin: Venture capital's role in industrial strategies and policies for economic growth
Venture Capital's Role in Industrial Strategies and Policies for Economic Growth • VINCENT H. TOBKIN Sierra Ventures SUMMARY Collaboration between Western venture capitalists and East European scientific institutes holds significant promise for economic growth. Although the conditions necessary for such collaboration are currently rare, they are becoming more prevalent. One such U.S.-USSR collaboration in the field of molecular biology is enjoying early success. Sierra Ventures, a California-based venture capital firm, and the Institute of Protein Research of the USSR Academy of Sciences began collaborating early in 1990. What follows is a review of this particular undertaking and its implications for economic development for other scientific research institutes in Eastern Europe. BACKGROUND RiboGene is a start-up company in the field of molecular biology jointly formed by Sierra Ventures and the Institute of Protein Research. The objective of this California company is to commercialize the cell free protein synthesis technology developed by the Institute of Protein Research. The Institute of Protein Research is a major shareholder in RiboGene, collaborates with RiboGene on research and development, and is represented on both RiboGene's Board of Directors and its Scientific Advisory Board. The Institute's main representatives at RiboGene are its Director, Alexander Spirin, and its Deputy Director, Vladimir Filimonov. This pioneering collaboration was undertaken because of the world-wide importance of the Institute of Protein Research's discoveries. Very briefly, the Institute has discovered techniques for enabling ribosomes, the source of protein assembly in cells, to continuously and economically produce proteins in a cell-free