The eleventh International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS 2013 held in Zhukovsky, Moscow region, came as one of the most eventful in terms of conferences, meetings and partnership agreements signed in the entire history of events held by the Skolkovo Foundation’s Space Technologies and Telecommunications Cluster.
The Space Technologies and Telecommunications Cluster held several conferences under the aegis of MAKS 2013, including Russo-European cooperation in the field of aerospace innovations. European cooperation generally ran as a common thread through the entire business agenda of the Foundation at the International Aviation and Space Salon. Among the fundamental achievements was the signing of an important agreement for cooperation among the Russian aerospace clusters on August 27, 2013 and the birth of a Eurasian Aviation and Space Cluster Partnership. Symbolic as it is, the signing of this document, joined by the French aerospace clusters ASIS and Pegas, took place in the Samara region pavilion. This region is by right considered to be one of the leading centres of the Russian and global aerospace industry.
The round-table discussion dedicated to Cluster development prospects was attended by a number of the Foundation’s key residents as well as some important persons representing industries deemed as priority by the Cluster, among them, Vladimir Gershenzon (Scanex, an investor into Sputniks resident), Mikhail Simonov (RosKosmos), Mikhail Kaigorodov (the Russian Ministry of Communications), Igor Golovnev (State Scientific Research Institute of Aviation Systems).
Ten of the Foundation residents were either represented at the Foundation’s pavilion, or were representing themselves. Virtually all of them spoke of their presentations at MAKS as being most fruitful. The technologies they offered were of great interest both for experts and for the general public. The Foundation stands have always been hard to make your way to. In the meantime, at the field of the Lavochkin Flight Research Institute the visitors were amazed with a modern airship presented by Experimental Design Bureau “Atlant”, Full HD broadcast of MAKS performed by “RTI“ from the altitude of the airship flight and the operation of automated independent security systems in open terrain demonstrated by SMP Robotics.
The residents held a number of important meetings and signed a number of strategic agreements. Thus, Aerob signed a breakthrough agreement on joint business development with the French Solon Tech. Airbus announced the beginning of involvement of another Skolkovo resident Datadvance in software development. And, finally, all market participants welcomed the possibility of the Soyuz spacecraft with laser ignition provided by Spectralaser – also a Skolkovo resident – being launched in 2015 from the Vostochny Cosmodrome.