United Company RUSAL announced it was going to invest over $2bn in finding some new fields of application for aluminum and development of promising products. This is part of the global initiative on wider aluminum usage. UC RUSAL and the International Aluminium Institute are already accepting applications that meet the requirements available from their websites and invite the world’s leading universities and research centers to join in the project.

This global initiative on innovational research is UC RUSAL and the IAI’s joint project that provides for three years of selecting the best ideas and proposals that could help widen the field of aluminum’s application and use this metal’s unique properties to the fullest. RUSAL and the IAI expect projects aimed at decreasing man-caused environmental damage, enhancing industrial efficiency, use of resource-saving technologies, achieving greater safety of transport, and development of more reliable packaging. The top ten projects will be supported by grants that will enable their authors to make their ideas a reality. The new products will be fully developed and ready for the launch within the course of three to seven years.

This year, an ad hoc committee consisting of RUSAL and IAI’s representatives as well as some independent experts are to select up to three research projects that will be financed as soon as 2009. The committee will give priority to projects that could make the use of aluminum and new successful aluminum-based products more effective in the field of transport. In 2009 and 2010, the research projects will probably have to be focused on the building and packaging industry improvements, respectively.

Research centers and universities from Russia, Europe, America, and Australia are invited to apply for the grants. All applications must be submitted no later than September 30, 2008. For more information and the application form, check RUSAL and IAI’s websites: http://www.rusal.ru/gtip.aspx, http://www.world-aluminium.org/news/Latest+news.