On July 24, 2012 Stanislav Naumov, Skolkovo’s vice-president, on behalf of the Foundation, and Marat Nazarbekov, head of the Kyrgyzstan State Service of Intellectual Property and Innovation under the government of Kyrgyzstan ("Kyrgyzpatent"), signed a cooperation agreement, aimed at further development of the infrastructure of innovations, science and technology development in both countries.
Under the signed agreements, the Foundation will assist Kyrgyzstan in implementation of innovative projects, which correspond to priorities of five Skolkovo’s clusters. According to the text of the agreement, the Foundation and the Kyrgyzstan’s state IP Service will provide each other with advice and expertise in the area. They will also assist each other in education and training of personnel, as well as establishing links between academic and business structures and will facilitate exchange of information in the technological sphere.
The agreement was signed within a framework of official visit of Kyrgyzstan’s prime-minister Omurbek Babanov to Russia. Prior to visiting the Skolkovo’s technopark, the Kyrgyz prime-minister met with his Russian peer Dmitry Medvedev. Then Babanov paid a visit to Skolkovo’s techno-park, where he met with some residents of the Foundation.
Babanov examined a virtual model of the future innovation city, made by one of its residents, “Vizerra” (interactive 3D models). He also visited offices of "Sputniks" company (satellite communications) and the Laboratory of microanalysis.Cooperation with the CIS countries is one of the priorities for the Foundation and its being carried out as part of the Interstate CIS program, aimed at 2020 in the field of innovative collaboration. The main directions of the Program have been identified at the meeting of CIS heads of government, which took place on May 30 in Ashgabat, capital of Turkmenistan.
When speaking at the official signing ceremony, Skolkovo’s president Viktor Vekselberg, expressed hope that the Kyrgyzstan’s talented professionals and scientists will some time come to work or to research to Skolkovo. "We would really like to see that ... young people from Kyrgyzstan, choosing whether to go to the Silicon Valley in America, would go a bit closer - to us, in Skolkovo," - he said.
And previously, according to a decision of the CIS Economic Council, Skolkovo was assigned the role of the operator of the program. Additionaly, in accordance with the decision of the conciliation committee of the CIS countries (held on June 20, 2012), there will be Skolkovo’s representative offices opened in Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus and Armenia. The Foundation will also significantly strengthen its presence thorugh the network of the Centers of Russian culture and science, located in the CIS countries.
Also, the Foundation decided to expand its expert panels to include leading scientists from the CIS countries. To date, the Foundation has received over 50 applications from them. The initiative to develop the innovative ecosystem in the CIS has already yielded its results. In Belarus there’ve been an agreement reached between the Foundation and the State Committee for Science and Technology of Belarus. Meanwhile the Belarusian side declared its intentions to set corporate R&D centers of Belarusian companies at Skolokovo’s Innograd. And as part of the framework agreement on cooperation in innovation between Armenia and Russia, signed by Rossotrudnichestvo (state body in charge of cooperation within the CIS) and Ministry of Economy of Armenia, the later declared its intentions to provide some of its most promising scientific and technological projects to get Skolkovo resident status.