The Skolkovo Foundation plays catalyst this week as Russia seeks to strengthen its economic partnership with China at the Open Innovations Forum in Moscow.
Skolkovo is a co-organizer of the October 14-16 event at the Technopolis in the Russian capital, which will be headlined by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang.
“Open Innovations is being held in partnership with the People’s Republic of China, and I hope this meeting of our academic and business communities will serve to deepen cooperation between our countries,” Medvedev said in remarks on the event website.
Last year's Open Innovations Forum drew 4,500 people from 47 countries. Photo: forinnovations.org
It is the third annual Open Innovations Forum, aimed at encouraging economic growth through individual entrepreneurship and technological development.
This year’s theme is “Creative Disruption: Staying Competitive in the 21st Century.” Disrupting economies, in the sense that new innovations can reconfigure them or transform them completely, is a concept that is trending the world over.
Among the topics up for discussion are: Whether low-cost innovations from emerging markets pose a threat to markets in developed countries; how technology breakthroughs are achieved in the first place; what mega-projects may have the greatest impact on the global economy; and how companies can survive in the face of game-changing innovations.
As the creator of Russia’s biggest innovative ecosystem, the Skolkovo Foundation is playing a leading role in the debates, as well as overseeing a host of multimillion dollar deals involving its resident startups and some major Chinese companies.
The Skolkovo stand was one of the most-visited sections as last year's forum. Photo: forinnovations.org
The Skolkovo Foundation is to showcase 33 innovation projects developed by its residents. Among them is the “network in a box” 4G communications station developed by Telum for videoconference in disaster zones or remote areas and a new battery for forklift trucks developed by Ensol that could revolutionize warehouse culture. Those companies will be among 10 firms featured at the Skolkovo stand.
Elsewhere, Skolkovo Foundation president Viktor Vekselberg is to oversee the signing of major agreements that could elevate business ties with Russia’s eastern neighbor to a new level.
Georesonance, a Skolkovo Foundation resident, intends to sign an agreement with China’s Fortuna Technology Co. for the establishment of a joint Russian-Chinese company in China. The new company is being set up to introduce a new innovative Russian technology for degassing coal layers and extracting methane in China as part of a Chinese government program to ensure safe working environments for coal miners. The project is expected to generate revenue of at least $300 million over a period of five years.
Additionally, Skolkovo resident Optogard Nanotech will sign two agreements with China’s largest pipe manufacturer Shandong Trust pipe Industry (Group), which supplies pipes for all Chinese industries. Optogard develops plasma laser technologies for making super hard coatings and surface modifications as well as for delivery of innovative equipment. The total value of the two agreements exceeds $41 million.
Dmitry Medvedev and Li Keqiang meeting in Moscow last year. Photo: Government.ru.
Another highlight is that the Skolkovo Foundation plans to sign partnership agreements with the United Rocket and Space Corporation and the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications.
As for the format of this year’s event, it is divided into 16 sessions: international partnership, corporations, entrepreneurs, business environment, capital, science, education, space, biomedicine, public health service, smart computers, virtual reality, transport and infrastructure, green technologies, natural resources, and innovation as an answer to global challenges.
Events range from top-level official sessions to hot debates, from panel discussions by the best minds on the planet to lively workshops and creative mash-ups.
Earlier this month, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich noted the forum's similarity with the Skolkovo project - both provide the space for physical interaction between stakeholders that cannot be replaed by remote correspondence.
“You can’t replace physical socializing with something else," Dvorkovich said.
"This is precisely what helps create an atmosphere of trust, it’s what helps create real connections, real contact, and, at the end of the day, it’s what helps create long-term agreements. You can’t get around it,” he added.
.
The Skolkovo Innovation Center is a 400 hectare plot just outside Moscow that is to house hundreds of startups developing innovative technologies (currently numbering over 1,000), a Technopark, and the Skolkovo Institute of Technology (Skoltech), a new graduate research University established in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Also including residential, retail and entertainment zones, the innovation center is to be a key driver of growth in Russia and help diversify the country’s economy.
Aside from Skolkovo, co-organizers of the Open Innovations Forum include the Ministry of Economic Development and with the participation of the Moscow Government, as well as the Russian Development Institutes of the Moscow City Government, ROSNANO Group, the State Corporation "Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Activities" (Vnesheconombank)," Russian Venture Company OJSC, ANO "Strategic Initiative Agency," the Foundation for Small Business Support in Science and Technology, and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.
In 2013, over 4,500 people from 47 countries visited the Forum.