The Open Innovations forum in Moscow next month can usher in a new era of science and technology cooperation between Russia and China, Skolkovo Foundation president Viktor Vekselberg said Tuesday.
The international conference, to be held at the Moscow Technopolis on October 14-16, will be headlined by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang.
Skolkovo is a co-organizer of the event and is arranging for several of its resident companies to exhibit their innovations.
“In today’s circumstances it is very important for the Open Innovations forum to open the doors to full-scale cooperation with our Chinese partners,” said Vekselberg, speaking at a Moscow-Beijing video conference at the headquarters of the Rossiya Segodnya state news agency.
“We understand perfectly that China represents huge potential, huge risk, massive ability to implement the latest technology into the real economy,” he added.
Vekselberg, far right, speaking at the Moscow-Beijing video conference at Rossiya Segodnya on Tuesday.
Skolkovo is playing key role in bringing Russia and China economically closer, Vekselberg said.
“Skolkovo supports direct contact with the Chinese science and technology ministry, which is responsible for planning the process of developing and commercializing innovations in China,” and also with other key institutions, Vekselberg said.
“Active negotiations are being held on joint projects with Huawei, joint projects between the Foundation and the Beijing Z-Park technoparks are developing. … A whole host of Chinese companies, including Huawei, are planning to open research centers at Skolkovo,” he added.
“These relations, it seems to me, have huge potential.”
At the forum, Skolkovo resident Georesonance is to sign an agreement with Chinese company Fortuna Technology for a joint venture to develop Russian technology that degasses coal layers and methane production to improve safety for Chinese miners.
Considering the size of the Chinese mining market, the fact that Russian technology is being adopted is an “important signal” of domestic innovative talent, Vekselberg said.
Additionally, Skolkovo resident Optogard Nanotech is to deepen its cooperation with Shandong Trustpipe Industry. The Russian startup recently signed a deal with Shandong Trustpipe Industry to provide technology that toughens the metallic surfaces of pipes using cutting-edge laser plasma.
Vekselberg also urged cooperation with China extend to the field of education and the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology.
“We plan for Chinese scientists to enter the Board of Trustees of Skoltech and also become participants in our research and educational activities,” he added.
More broadly, Vekselberg praised the forum as the ideal environment to allow cooperation to flourish.
“These forums traditionally take place with the participation of leaders of nations and large companies, but I would like to point out one principle feature of this conference,” said Vekselberg, speaking at the headquarters of the Rossiya Segodnya state news agency.
“It will become a place of interaction, contacts, exchanges of opinion by the specialists, including young experts, scientists, and creating direct links between companies and advancing interesting ideas into the marketplace,” he added.
Vekselberg said the importance of such forums should not be underestimated. “We don’t have enough forums today. Open Innovations, in my view, is a very significant investment in the innovation component of everyday business,” he added.
The benefits of investing in innovation were visible at Skolkovo, Vekselberg said.
“Today Skolkovo is more than 1,000 resident companies, it is more than 23 billion rubles in revenues that these companies receive,” he said. “These companies aren’t manufacturers – they conduct only research and development activities. I believe that these are impressive figures for what are literally the project’s first years of existence,” he added.
“I would also like to note that we have managed to attract in the region of $400 million of co-investment. That’s a big figure if you consider that our companies are generally at the initial stage of development, making only their first offerings in the sphere of innovations and technological solutions. Such a great volume of co-investment instills us will confidence that we have robust interest from business to invest in innovations in our country,” Vekselberg said.
Over four years, Skolkovo residents have filed for more than 1,000 patents, received more than 400, and, as Vekselberg said, 40 of them were received outside Russia.
“We are having difficulty breaking into international markets,” he acknowledged. “But I want to stress that the potential of Skolkovo and other development institutions and big corporations in Russia is huge.
Vekselberg recently returned from a Skolkovo board meeting in India, where he promoted the foundation as the ideal vehicle to propel Russian-Indian trade forward.