Four years after the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) was founded, the startup university has finally moved into its own purpose-built campus, and has succeeded in luring accomplished Russian diaspora scientists back to Russia after periods of up to 20 years abroad.
Some of them say they have returned for love of the country they left behind, and an opportunity to shape its scientific and technological future. They have also been enticed by the goals of the Skolkovo project, which are nothing less than to create a Silicon Valley-type ecosystem in a quiet Moscow suburb.
One of the most prominent scientists to be lured back to Russia by the Skoltech project is Artyom Oganov, who specializes in computational materials discovery, which he describes as “a revolutionary field promising major technological innovations and discoveries in materials science.”
This article appeared in The Moscow Times and can be read in full here.