A Russian company in Limerick hacks a window into the nano world

Limerick is the home to the headquarters of the Russian company NT-MDT which manufactures devices for study of objects on the nanoscale, which are the size of a molecule. This company is managed by Denis Stoiakine, who has lived in Ireland for 14 years now and his company is one of the largest representatives of Russian business in Ireland. He received his Bachelor’s degree in business at the University of Limerick and, when he was hired the company NT-MDT he successfully worked as an insurance agent.

Denis notes that company creating relationship with the Russian-speaking community in Ireland. Company recently support publication of the book “Russians in Ireland” and Denis became a member of Coordination Comity for Russian – speakers in Ireland.

The NT-MDT company was founded in the year 1990 in Zelenograd which is the microelectronics centre of Russia. It provides researchers tools that can solve a variety of tasks in the field of nanoscale science. The company is one of the largest manufacturers of scanning probe microscopes which allow you to «see» objects which even the most powerful optical microscopes cannot discern. For 20 years the company installed over 2000 devices in the scientific and industrial centres of Europe, Asia and North America.

Irish NT-MDT Office is located in the technology park adjacent to the University of Limerick. During the boom the business in this technology park was very productive but nowadays, in places it resembles a ghost town with empty offices, abandoned rusting hangars. Part of the multinational corporations that had plants and offices there have migrated to countries where labour is cheaper. NT-MDT but have been here for 8 years and isn’t going to leave.

In the spacious reception area we were greeted by the charming Anna Baturina from Ukraine. 

The Irish headquarters of NT-MDT based mainly as logistics centre since with so many foreign clients it is much easier to work from Ireland than from Russia, where customs clearance could take months, and as customer support base. However recently, the centre has also become a design bureau. Now the Irish are developing designs of microscopes and other instruments that are in the head office of the company in Zelenograd. «All the knowledge and know-how belongs to Russian scientists and engineers, and we are their hands, so to speak,» says Denis.

According to him, the Russian school of design is inferior to the Irish and therefore more profitable companies hire local specialists. «Russia has always been a strong in science and ideas,» says Denis. “But had never thought about making devices look beautiful, and producing them cheaply. How much money was needed was how much money was given so this area is not well developed in Russia. Irish engineers, however are experts in both creativity and production. When they are developing something, always look at the effort required and cost involved in producing it. Engineers in Russia do not know work like that.»

Victor Posudnevskiy