Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Russia will spend 318 billion rubles ($10.7 billion) by 2015 on its nanotechnology industry as President Dmitry Medvedev tries to wean the country off its reliance on commodity exports.

“Our post-crisis economy should be based on knowledge and innovative technologies, not on Russia’s natural resources, as boundless as they may be,” Medvedev said in a speech broadcast on state television today.

Medvedev said that Russia has the world’s largest state fund dedicated to developing nanotechnology, the study of extremely tiny materials or devices with applications in medicine, energy and electronics. Russia’s nanotech industry is projected to have sales of 900 billion rubles by 2015, he said.

“We want to become a leader in this process. We have the intellectual potential, the organizational possibilities and the financial possibilities,” Medvedev said.

Private business is “extremely inert” in investing in the new technology, Medvedev said, adding that the legal framework is sufficient after Russia’s post-communist chaos of the nineties. Just waiting until commodity prices recover and then sitting back would be “disastrous” for the economy, he said.

Russia’s competitive advantages in developing nanotech are its educational system, large domestic demand and government support, Medvedev said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lucian Kim in Moscow at lkim3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 6, 2009 04:45 EDT