HELSINKI, Finland - Russia’s chief proponents of innovation took to the silver stage Tuesday at Slush 2014, Europe’s biggest startup conference, to share the secrets of entering the Russian market.
From left: Galitsky, Viljakainen, Dvorkovich, Sitnikov and Chikhachev. Photo: sk.ru
Leading Finnish entrepreneur Pekka Viljakainen, an advisor to Skolkovo president Viktor Vekselberg, led a question-and-answer session - billed as a “fireside chat” - that also featured Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, the man tasked with helping wean the Russian economy off oil and gas and onto innovations.
Viljakainen, one of Russia’s most vocal supporters as a business destination, kicked off the event by advertising the Russian Startup Tour, an initiative that sees the Skolkovo Foundation tour Russia in search of promising innovation-based startups.
“It’s a shortcut to the biggest market in Europe, for example in internet usage,” Viljakainen said of the tour, which runs February through April and takes in 10 Russian cities from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok.
The tour ends in Moscow in June with the Startup Village, the sister event to Slush, where the best startups from across Russia battle it out in pitch sessions to win investment and, possibly, residency with the Skolkovo Foundation.
“Russia is not only Moscow and St. Petersburg,” Viljakainen said. “Russia is 10 times zones and we are organizing a massive startup tour in our third year so we can meet entrepreneurs and invest all over the nation,” he added.
Dvorkovich, for his part, said the Startup Tour was one part of the government’s wider project to transform the Russian economy.
Asked by an audience member about when exactly to enter the Russian market, Dvorkovich was unequivocal.
“Those guys should just come to Russia and start a business, there is no obstacles for that. Consumer market is not growing so fast at the moment, but it’s still good.”
“If he will wait, he will lose. There is competition. Other people are coming and starting business,” he added. “We are trying to make entrepreneurship fashionable.”
Indeed, coming to Russia is the only way to enter the market, noted Dmitry Chikhachev, cofounder and managing partner of Runa Capital – efforts to do so remotely or half-heartedly are clearly doomed.
“It’s very hard to do business in Russia from outside of Russia. You need to get to know people. You are investing in people,” Chikhachev said.
Alexander Galitsky, another venture investor and probably the leading expert on the subject in Russia and surrounding countries advised potential incoming companies to research the Russian regions before the big cities.
A cornerstone of the Skolkovo project is its university, the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech), which launched in partnership with MIT in 2012.
Skoltech vice president Alexei Sitnikov, in Helsinki on a faculty recruitment drive, stressed that the institute was thriving, showing that the global innovation process was above politics.
“Universities are not involved in politics. We now see a surge in Skoltech on behalf of international students. We continue to aggressively hire faculty,” Sitnikov said.
“We are not affected, we are challenged, but that is good so you can come through the challenge and emerge stronger,” he added.
Skoltech is continually broadening its international cooperation, Sitnikov said. “MIT is our principal partner but we are open to many international parterships,” he added.
Rounding off the discussion, Dvorkovich invited everyone in the crowd of thousands to the Startup Village.
Skolkovo is at Slush with 53 of its resident startups, which are seeking market knowledge, partnerships and investment.