Viktor Vekselberg, president of the Skolkovo Foundation, and Kevin Turner, chief operating officer of Microsoft Corporation, announced plans for further collaboration in developing support programs for innovative start-ups in Russia, and summarized the results of their first year of collaboration.
In a joint press conference today, Viktor Vekselberg, the president of the Skolkovo Foundation, and Kevin Turner, the chief operating officer of Microsoft Corporation, announced the expansion of their support program for innovative start-ups in Russia. Support for start-ups was among the primary goals set for the collaboration between the Skolkovo Foundation and Microsoft that they confirmed in the declaration of intent they signed a year ago. The Microsoft/Skolkovo joint press conference took place at Microsoft’s major technology conference, TechEd Russia 2011.
Qualified start-ups that have received a Microsoft seed Foundation grant1 and that have become Skolkovo residents can now receive a matching grant from the Skolkovo Foundation, so grants for start-up projects determined by the selection committee of the Microsoft seed Foundation committee will be eligible for co-financing.
What’s more, Skolkovo residents will be able to register for the Microsoft Action Pack Subscription (MAPS), where they can access a wide variety of software for internal use, including licences for Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010, Windows 7 Professional and a full range of other Microsoft products2, along with free technical support. Skolkovo residents working on software development will have the unique opportunity to subscribe to Microsoft Action Pack Development and Design, which will give them access to needed resources for analyzing and testing their work.
Skolkovo resident companies will be offered the opportunity to join the Microsoft Partner Network for free as a Community member, which will give them access to business consulting and allow them to post their information in Microsoft online catalogues, giving them access to thousands of potential clients.
“Microsoft is one of Skolkovo’s strategic partners”, Viktor Vekselberg, the president of the Skolkovo Foundation, observed. “We are pleased to announce this expansion in our collaboration today. By 2012, we plan on transitioning to Microsoft maintaining a permanent organizational presence in Skolkovo in the form of a centre for research and software development. I am certain that our joint operation will give a fresh impulse to the development of an innovative ecosystem.”
“Russia is a strategically important country in the world arena, a centre of innovation, economic growth and entrepreneurial talent”, Kevin Turner, the chief operating officer of Microsoft, stated. “We are proud of our investment in the development of innovative Russian business, especially in support of start-ups. Today we are happy to announce the expansion of the program for new Russian companies, the latest milestone in our partnership with the Skolkovo Foundation.”
An example of this mutual support was the company Speereo, the first company to receive joint Foundations from the Microsoft seed Foundation and the Skolkovo Foundation. In a ceremony, a Speereo representative was presented a check for 1,500,000 rubles from the Microsoft seed Foundation and a matching grant from the Skolkovo Foundation
Speereo is engaged in the development and implementation of voice command systems. Speech recognition systems in Russian and English enable the user to “communicate” with technological systems in simple and easily-understood language. Thanks to unique mathematical algorithms developed by Speereo, the system can operate without internet connection, with an unlimited vocabulary, regardless of the peculiarities of the pronunciation of the speaker and presence of background noise. Some possible applications of this technology are in automobiles (navigation controls, multimedia systems, communication); education (training and testing of material learned using a conversational, interactive system); mobile technologies (telephone controls, call centre systems, voice interactive dialogue for incoming calls).
A practical example of the development of Speereo technology was the POItry project, an application combining simplicity of voice communication with the potentialities of geolocation with modern mobile platforms. The POItry network permits leaving spoken comments about restaurants, cafes, places of interest; finding, listening to and reading comments, screening opinions about Points Of Interest, and exchanging opinions with others. Users have the following options available: maps, spoken comments with availability of voice-activated search, participation in interest groups, screening systems, statistics and ratings.
“We are thankful to Microsoft and the Skolkovo Foundation for the high regard they have for our work and for their financial and technological support. This is a great honour for us and the best testimony of the viability of our work. The grant will be the cornerstone of the future development of the project, the success of which you will be able to appreciate in the very near future”, Konstantin Lamin, the General Director of Speereo Company said.
Background information
Skolkovo Foundation President Victor Vekselberg and Microsoft Director Steve Ballmer signed the protocol of intent, which determines the direction of cooperation between the Parties, on November 1, 2010.
During the year, active work was carried out on all fronts.
In March 2011, the Parties signed an agreement on strategic cooperation in the field of educational development in the future innovation city.
In September 2011, with the participation of Microsoft and the Ministry of Education and Science, a competition for the future concept of the “Skolkovo School” was announced – a project based on the idea of individualised education and effective training techniques. The aim of this initiative is to create an educational model that could serve as a prototype for a mass-scale Russian school. The competition’s commission selected 33 of the 200 applications received from various regions of Russia, Belarus, Latvia, the UK and the USA. The finalists shall be determined in the spring of 2012. Together with the Skolkovo Foundation, they will finalise the concept of the school of the future innovation city.
Also during the year, the Parties worked together to develop research programmes and technology education programmes (with the participation of Russian universities and research institutions). Together with the Skolkovo Open University (SOU), two summer schools were organised as well as a lecture series involving 30 renowned scientists and top managers from Microsoft.
Microsoft continues to engage its partners in Russia and abroad in order to develop the concept of the Skolkovo research projects. In October 2011, Microsoft and the Skolkovo Open University delivered a course on technological entrepreneurship in the IT sphere within the framework of the school’s programme. The knowledge that this course gave the Russian students will be useful to them in their studies and in their future profession.
Microsoft is participating in the construction of a unified Skolkovo IT-infrastructure, including data centres and cloud services. The Skolkovo Foundation was provided the “closed” specification of a state-of-the-art data Microsoft processing centre and related international expertise from the company. At present, work is actively being carried out to establish a Microsoft software development centre on the territory of the innovation city. The first results thereof are expected in the spring of 2012.
Support for innovative start-ups is one of the key areas of cooperation between Microsoft and the SkolkovoFoundation. Since the end of 2010, a Microsoft Seed Financing Foundation has been operating, which implements grant support for innovative start-ups at no charge. During the Foundation’s work, it has received over 230 applications satisfying the basic quality criteria, of which 20 have been selected for financing. To date, the Foundation has already supported six Russian projects in the amount of USD 410,000.
Microsoft has traditionally supported start-up technology companies, helping to create the necessary economic and infrastructural conditions for the development of the Russian IT industry. Thus, since 2008, the BizSpark programme has been operating in Russia, the benefits of which have already benefitted more than 2,500 companies. The BizSpark programme represents a unique opportunity that Microsoft offers start-ups, starting with free access to modern tools and technology Foundation right through to financing, comprehensive marketing and business support to help companies promote their solutions on the market.
In addition to that, Microsoft’s arsenal also includes a similar programme for students (DreamSpark) and web studios (WebsiteSpark). Under these programmes, students attending Russian universities, future young professionals and talented entrepreneurs benefit from the free use of a broad range of tools to advance their own development.
In order to apply to participate in the selection of projects for the Microsoft Seed Financing Foundation, you can visit the website http://ms-start.ru/rusfund.
1 The grants are provided with the administrative and technical support from the U.S. CIVILIAN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION (CRDF).
2 Licenses are granted for the following products:
A full list of licenses for subscribers to the Action Pack Solution Provider is available at https://partner.microsoft.com/rus/program/40112699.
Skolkovo Foundation
The Skolkovo Foundation for Developing a Centre for Researching and Commercialising New Technologies is a non-profit organisation founded at the initiative of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in September 2010. The Foundation’s objectives include mobilising Russia’s resources in the field of modern applied research, and creating a favourable environment for scientific research in five priority areas of technological development: energy and energy efficiency, outer space, biomedicine, nuclear technology, and computer technologies. The project envisages the creation of a Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (SIST), research institutes, business incubators, a centre for technology transfer and commercialisation, R&D centres. It also entails establishing the representative offices of foreign companies on its territory, as well as residential buildings and social infrastructure, in addition to the subsequent dissemination of the positive experience and best practices obtained from this project to other innovative regions of Russia. The activities of the Skolkovo innovation centre are regulated by a special law, which offers special economic conditions to its residents.
Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the global leader in the sphere of software, services and Internet technologies for personal computers and servers.
The Microsoft Corporation develops and manufactures a wide range of software products, including desktop and network operating systems, server applications for client-server environments, desktop business applications and office applications for users, interactive programs and games, tools for Internet work and development tools. In addition, Microsoft offers interactive (online) services, publishes books on computer topics, manufactures peripheral equipment for computers, and is engaged in research and the development of new computer technologies. Microsoft products are sold in over 80 countries, have been translated into over 45 languages (including Russian), and are compatible with most PC platforms.
The company Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited (MIOL) handles the licensing of Microsoft products in the Russian Federation, as is the case in all other European countries. All references to proposed conditions are made on the basis of the commercial offers from MIOL.
Since November 1992, the Microsoft representative office has been operating in Russia (as of July 2004, known as “Microsoft Rus” LLC). It has been actively promoting its software, developing its partner network, introducing its products, localising innovative solutions, and developing the IT market in Russia.
More information about Microsoft and its products is available on Microsoft’s web servers.
Microsoft, Windows, Azure, SharePoint, Windows Phone, SQL are registered trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Tech∙Ed
The International Conference Tech∙Ed, held annually by Microsoft, brings together IT professionals. Activities are held under this brand in key regions of the world, involving leading industry experts and representatives from development teams at Microsoft headquarters and those company employees responsible for product direction and implementing solutions among major clients. Participants in the Tech∙Ed conference gain the latest information about the present and future of the company’s entire technological platform and also receive intense training, expanding their understanding of modern technologies, products and ideas, which helps both large and small businesses to assume a leading position in the industry.
The conference will take place on November 9-10 in Moscow at the "Crocus Expo" Exhibition Centre. Participants in this event will have the opportunity to:
The key speakers at the conference will include such well-known experts as Thomas Schinder, Scott Shnol, David Cheppell, Rafal Lukavetski, Richard Riley, Brian Syurasi, Jay Schmelzer and others.
To obtain more information about the conference Tech Ed Russia 2011, visit the website http://msteched.ru.
Contacts
Press service of the Skolkovo Foundation
Roman Shcherbakov
Tel.: (495) 967-01-48, ext. 2260
Fax: (495) 967-01-96
E-mail: RSherbakov@corp.i-gorod.com
Press service of Microsoft in Russia
Irina Meshkova
17B Krilatskaya Street, Building 1, Moscow 121614
Tel..: (495) 967-85-85
Fax: (495) 967-85-00
E-mail: a-irmesh@microsoft.com
Media representatives may learn and discuss the latest Microsoft news on the company's official blog and the website ms4press.ru http://www.microsoft.com/rus/newscenter/.
For more information, contact the PRP Group - A Weber Shandwick Affiliate Company at microsoft@prp.ru or by telephone at (495) 937-31-70.