The Skolkovo project set up to diversify the Russian economy away from energy exports has surpassed the targets set for it by the government, and its format should be rolled out around the country, parliamentary deputies and a deputy finance minister said Wednesday at a meeting of the State Duma committee for science and technology.
Duma science and technology committee chair Valery Chereshnev, left, and Skolkovo president Viktor Vekselberg at the meeting of the committee held at Skolkovo on Wednesday. Photo: Sk.ru.
The meeting was devoted to updating the federal law on science and technology, as much has changed since the current law was enacted 20 years ago. Since one of those changes is the appearance of innovations institutions such as the Skolkovo Foundation, the second part of the meeting – which was held at the Skolkovo innovation centre – was devoted to assessing the foundation’s achievements and planning its future.
“When we were planning the [Skolkovo] project, these achievements seemed unrealistic, now they are all a reality,” said Andrei Ivanov, deputy finance minister and a member of Skolkovo’s council. Pointing out that Skolkovo has significantly exceeded the targets set by the government – such as volume of startup revenues, patent applications and private investment attracted – he said the project fully deserved the support of the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament.
“It's [Skolkovo] definitely in the state’s interests,” said Ivanov.
The Skolkovo Foundation was created in 2010 as a state, non-profit organisation tasked with diversifying Russia’s energy-focused economy by creating an ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation and encouraging venture capitalism. Since then, it has given grants, tax breaks and other forms of support to nearly 1,500 startups working in the fields of IT, biomedicine, energy efficiency, space and nuclear energy, Vasily Belov, Skolkovo’s senior vice-president for innovations, told the Duma meeting, presenting the foundation’s results for 2015.
Deputy Finance Minister Andrei Ivanov. Photo: Sk.ru.
More than 17,000 hi-tech jobs have been created as a result of the startups’ activities, and their revenues were twice as big in 2015 than the previous year, despite the difficult economic situation, said Belov.
Anatoly Aksakov, chair of the Duma committee for economic policy, innovations development and entrepreneurship, said he was pleased with Skolkovo’s progress. Pointing out that Russia has several different institutions tasked with developing innovative technology, such as the Russian Venture Company (RVC) and Rusnano, Aksakov suggested it would be more efficient to transfer part of the other innovations institutions to Skolkovo.
Ivanov said the Finance Ministry fully supported the proposal, and suggested that the ministry and economic policy committee coordinate work on a formal proposal. Alexander Povalko, deputy minister for science and education and a member of the Skolkovo Foundation council, also expressed support for the idea.
Russian media has been reporting for weeks that the responsibilities of other innovations institutions could be transferred to Skolkovo.
Viktor Vekselberg, president of the Skolkovo Foundation, said the foundation was mature enough and ready to move from the format of a single territorial organisation to that of spreading its experience around the country.
“There should be at least 10 Skolkovos,” he said, adding that colleagues present at the meeting from leading science institutions in cities such as Novosibirsk and St. Petersburg were ready to implement these projects in their respective regions.
Valery Chereshnev, chair of the Duma committee for science and technology, said that Nobel laureate Zhores Alferov, a member of the committee and co-chair of Skolkovo’s scientific advisory council who was unable to attend the meeting, also supported the idea of expanding Skolkovo’s activities. The proposal is fully in keeping with Alferov’s much-quoted statement that “Skolkovo is not a territory, but an ideology,” said Chereshnev.
The committee chair said the deputies had enjoyed an exhibition of Skolkovo resident startups organised for the visit. The inventions on show included driverless vehicles, robotic prosthetic hands for children, exoskeleton systems for helping disabled people to walk, a non-invasive glucose meter and handheld device for predicting and diagnosing strokes.
Skolkovo robotics head Albert Yefimov, left, shows Chereshnev robotic prosthetic hands for children made by Skolkovo startup Motorika, part of an exhibition shown to Duma deputies ahead of the meeting. Photo: Sk.ru.
When the Skolkovo project was launched, Vekselberg recalled, its founders were convinced that there were still excellent higher educational institutions in Russia and a wealth of scientific knowledge. What was lacking, he said, were connections to help good ideas enter the commercial sphere.
“A vacuum had developed that needed an urgent solution,” said Vekselberg.
“We have all been witnesses of the catastrophic brain drain in the last 20 years,” he told the meeting. “When you go to major international corporations … in the corridors you hear Russian everywhere. They live and work there and are developing success stories for international companies, not for ours. Our main task was to learn how to create conditions for the young generations – and not only them – to see that now they can realise their ideas here … they don't need to go abroad,” he said.
Skolkovo has certainly achieved success in the “anti-migration” process, said Vekselberg.
“Many Russian specialists who left are now returning. We'd like those who've obtained experience abroad to come back and introduce that international potential here,” he said.
Vekselberg reminded the deputies that Skolkovo was conceived as an international project and remains so, regardless of political tension with the West.
Adding that the foundation now fosters nearly 1,500 “young, interesting companies with great potential, the scepticism formed around us is inapplicable,” he said. Skolkovo has come under fire from some Russian media over the cost of building the Skolkovo innovation centre on a greenfield site outside Moscow, a long-term project that is still underway.
“All startups have to go through something of a minefield, and we’ve also had a minefield to cross,” said Vekselberg.
“It wasn’t easy, but I think we’ve crossed it and are now firmly on the path of further development.”