The IT cluster was one of the first to emerge at Skolkovo and has already put together a large number of projects in various industrial areas. ALEXANDER TURKOT, the executive director of the Skolkovo Foundation’s IT cluster, toldRBC Daily how its work with strategic partners is progressing, how ICT needs to be developed in Russia, and which companies the cluster will be giving micro-grants to.
“What are the paths for development of ICT – information and computer technologies – in Russia? What role do you see for the Skolkovo Foundation’s IT cluster in this process?”
“… Skolkovo’s objective is to stimulate investment in projects with a large share of R&D, since we are currently spending two to three times less on research and development than the developed countries and even some developing countries. The logic is simple: the more R&D projects there are in Russia in the information and computer sphere, the more products will go to market, including the international market, and the greater will be the chare of ICT in the country’s gross product. Increasing the level of computerisation in the economy today is not a whim but an economic necessity. The effectiveness of the IT division is often the criterion for a company’s survival in the market. Our objective is to stimulate the application of information technologies and to cause a growth in both the production and the use of intellectual products. …”
“The Skolkovo IT cluster is one of the first areas in operation in the innovation city. You probably have the greatest quantity of projects. How is work going with them? Are there any first results?”
“We have established a steady flow of projects covering the most varied areas, from cloud computing to IT in education. We are trying to expand our geography to the maximum: we are present in the regions, we’re helping companies situated a long way from Moscow to find their way to Skolkovo. It’s a complex process – we have to sift through a lot of projects. By no means all of them can lay claim to the status of Skolkovo participant, for a whole range of objective and subjective reasons.”
“Can you sketch out the structure of the cluster? What kind of companies do you have more of, what kind do you have fewer of?”
“We try to work on the whole spectrum of our strategic areas. Of course, these don’t balance out evenly: for example, so far we have not found any interesting projects in the field of software for financial markets. Nevertheless we regard this sphere as extremely important and we shall continue to make efforts to develop it. There is a number of interesting projects to do with image, video and speech recognition and processing. Other very active areas are analytical software, data transmission technologies, mobile apps, built-in systems, cloud computing and wireless networks – we currently have more than 60 participant-projects, and this figure is growing every day.”
“Quite recently the clusters were given the right to take decisions independently on awarding micro-grants (1.5 million roubles) to Skolkovo participants. Have you already made such grants to anyone?”
“We currently have seven projects that are bidding for micro-grants under consideration, but we have not made use of this right. First, it requires a clear understanding of how the funds will be used, and for what. Second, by no means all companies are interested in grants on such a scale. Micro-grants are primarily geared towards companies that are starting and which need initial funds for organisational expenditure.”
“How are you already supporting companies that are starting up as part of Skolkovo?”
“There are two types of companies in Skolkovo. The first – and these are the majority – are those who are interested in the innovation city primarily as an ecosystem with a particular selection of benefits. These companies acquire the status of a participant project and conduct their business independently. The second type is those who need financing for their projects. Understandably, in taking the question about financing we are guided by slightly different principles than those involved in awarding that status. We try to divide our financial support equally between companies in various sectors and at various stages of development, in order to give the smaller companies the opportunity to grow and the bigger companies the opportunity to introduce a unique technology.”
“When Skolkovo was being set up, people said that there would need to be a jazz club in the innovation city, so that scientists and business people could gather there and discuss interdisciplinary issues. This was supposed to aid the emergence of synergy: has anything like this been observed yet in the innovation city?”
“There isn’t a jazz club yet, but synergy is already being observed. For example, the ABBYY company is working in text recognition and translation, and the Bazelevs firm is working in text recognition and visualisation. After meeting in Skolkovo, they found a huge number of areas of overlap, and they say that thanks to their cooperation they may be able to make savings in the order of 30% of their resources.
And that’s not the only example. We’re trying to help the participants get to know each other, and we’re keeping a close eye on the development of each project, and if we see that companies have developed common interests we try in every way we can to stimulate cooperation.
“We’re doing approximately the same thing now in the field of the fuel and energy industry. The companies approaching us have projects that are focused on the development of the same segment of industry and have partial or full synergy. To save the same development from being conducted in parallel, as a non-commercial site we give each company the opportunity to work together – this saves both time and resources.”
“Working together – for example, like Skolkovo and Sberbank?”
“Yes. The essence of the story with Sberbank is that we were planning to build our own data processing centre (DPC) on the innovation city site. We approached some major western companies specialising in that kind of infrastructure project, drew up a co-investment plan, and so on. But when Sberbank came on the scene a large part of the problem disappeared. In any event Sberbank was planning to build its own mega-DPC, and now, by agreement, part of its resources will be provided to us – a share of about 2,000 sq m of the site. Our centre will need to work on the administration of the city and the foundation and on the university, and a significant part of it will be used to service the project’s participant companies. It is planned that the DPC will be brought into operation in 2014.”
“And how do you see the whole IT cluster by this year?”
“There is a plan that we’re working to, we’re selecting projects, and we’re awarding development grants. I can say that today the number of those wishing to work with us already exceeds the figure planned for the end of the year. For example, Microsoft, Nokia, Boeing, Cisco, Intel and other companies want to locate their R&D centres with us. It is important that we ‘populate’ Skolkovo only with those who can have a practical and developing influence on the infrastructure. There are many who wish to come, and I think that when 2014 comes, we’ll have to make a choice. The main thing is not to make Skolkovo into an office centre.”
“How is work going now with your key IT partners – RIM, Microsoft, Nokia?”
“We don’t have final clarity yet with RIM – the majority of our joint projects are at the level of being studied. Active work is underway with Microsoft: there is already a team, and the areas for their R&D division in Skolkovo have been defined. I think that by the autumn we shall be announcing this officially. We’re also working with them on an investment fund to support companies in their early stages. A company that Intel has invested – Rock Flow Dynamics – recently became a project participant.”
“And are you attracting new strategic partners?”
“We are actively working with IBM and Ericsson, and we’re having talks with SAP, Oracle, EMC and others – virtually all are showing interest.”
“It was reported that the IT cluster is creating a platform with companies in the fuel and energy complex industry. Why is it you they came to, rather than to the energy efficiency cluster?”
“Our cluster is creating a model for the development of companies engaged in the field of developing software and computing methods for the needs of the industry – this is a fully independent segment of the objectives that have no direct relationship to energy efficiency. Companies such as IBM and Intel and also leading Russian higher educational establishments, academic institutions and major industry-related companies have already shown interest in taking part in such projects. I hope that in the very near future I shall be able to share more detailed plans in this area.”