HELSINKI, Finland - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich says his country has something to learn from the Finnish innovation process.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich. Photo: sk.ru
Dvorkovich leads Russia’s efforts to diversify the economy away from natural resources, and is part of a government delegation attending Europe’s biggest tech conference in Helsinki this week.
“Here at Slush they’ve managed to attract a very wide spectrum of participants in the innovation process. Entrepreneurs, financiers, researchers, young guys who are working at their companies,” Dvorkovich said.
“We’ve started to do this with the Startup Tour and the Startup Village. But we’re only at the start of our journey. Slush has been going now for several years, and we see the serious success it has achieved,” he added.
Slush started earlier Tuesday and has already attracted a record 14,000 guests, having started out as a gathering of 300 businesspeople five years ago. It is the most visible manifestation of Finland’s booming tech sector.
Answering a question on what Russia has to learn from its Baltic neighbor, Dvorkovich said: “First of all, the method of organizing the process (of innovation-developing), how the system is built.
“How disciplined everything is, how there is total freedom of creativity here. We are in the process of working on these things. Sometimes we are found wanting in these areas,” he added.
Slush ends Wednesday.