Skolkovo needs broad support across Russian government and society to inspire similar projects and foster a true culture of entrepreneurship, the renowned American engineer and scientist Arden L. Bement has told sk.ru in an interview.
Bement, 82, is a former director of the National Science Foundation, where he managed the sole federal agency that finances research and education in all areas of science and technology and oversaw a budget of more than $6 billion.
He has the inside track on Skolkovo’s operations as a member of the board of trustees at Skoltech, the new Moscow tech university that’s growing with a helping hand from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Bement is now director emeritus at the Global Policy Research Institute at Purdue University, Indiana.
Skolkovo's logo in Russian
Skolkovo was designed to create and empower a generation of innovators. What’s most critical to its success?
“Skolkovo has to expand; Skolkovo has to be seen as a beacon throughout the country. There need to be several Skolkovos developed in a short time. That’s a trend we’re seeing across the world: It’s a brush fire right now that every country is pursuing. Russia’s going to have to run just to keep up.”
How long before the Skolkovo project starts paying off?
“I wouldn’t get too anxious, it’s going to take time and it’s going to take sustained investment. It can’t happen in fits and starts; it’s got to be a steady achievement. Skolkovo by itself will do good things but it won’t realize the full synergy of the community interaction and the connections with industry and
Bement was appointed by President George W. Bush to oversee the National Science Foundation in 2004
other Russian universities. All those connections have to be achieved, they have to be networked, and as has often been said, Skolkovo is not just a place, it’s a vision. It’s an attitude that the entire country has to adopt and embrace. It’s beginning to happen – there are things going on between academies in Novosibirsk, Kazan and several other universities like Nizhny Novgorod and St. Petersburg – so the momentum is beginning to build. But one has to take the whole picture into account, not just one university.”
What is your opinion on what Skoltech has achieved since it has been in operation?
“Skoltech has become an operating global institute with officers, faculty and students recruited against the highest standards from around the world. Both the new faculty and the students have received special training in innovation and entrepreneurship at MIT. Three centers for research, innovation and entrepreneurship (CREIs), two in bioscience and one in electrochemistry, have been established also and two more, in energy and quantum materials, are pending approval. The administrative team has been in place for some time and is now working at top efficiency. Moreover, most of the performance metrics for the first three years have either been met or exceeded. The students are clearly outstanding. I have met a couple of them personally. And the reports that I get, which are mostly unbiased, are that these are truly outstanding students. They’re the cream of the cream, they’ve been very carefully selected, and they would compete well in almost any university in the world.”
That would seem to set the country in good stead.
“At an innovations conference in Moscow a few years ago, the enthusiasm and energy level in terms of getting involved in new business startups, new ventures, and to help grow the economy, was truly impressive. I’m very high on the potential in Russia for economic development. Skolkovo and Skoltech are feeding talent into that economic engine. But to create jobs and build the Russian economy, changes are going to have to be more widespread.”
How important is Skoltech’s role in international collaborations?
“Skoltech was conceived as a global institute from the outset. Its outlook is accordingly international and focuses on bringing global technology advancements to Russia. Through Skoltech’s Centers for Research, Education and Innovation program, Skoltech will discover new technology concepts and generate intellectual properties that will have high market value in world markets.”
What about Skoltech’s reputation outside Russia?
“Skoltech is not really that well known in the U.S. I wouldn’t say it’s unknown; I think in the top academic circles people know about it. They know what the impact is for MIT. They’re looking at it, because it is relatively unique. A lot of universities have sought to retrofit the Skolkovo model into their existing academic programs but that retrofit is more cumbersome in some respects than starting out from a clean sheet of paper and building it to accomplish these things right from the start. Skolkovo has that advantage in Skoltech, but the full advantage will not be realized until the whole Skoltech community is up and operating.”
What’s your opinion on the cost of the Skoltech’s MIT partnership weighed against its potential benefit?
“At first I was highly skeptical about the high costs of this project. But the Skolkovo Foundation, the Ministry of Finance, the Skoltech board of trustees and the foundation’s Science Advisory Council have been providing rigorous oversight and audits of the value received. MIT’s reputation is being imported into Russia and, of course, you have to pay for that. But an appropriate analogy would be comparing a handcrafted Faberge egg with a mass-produced similarity. You’re paying for the name and reputation but also for the quality and craftsmanship of the product.”
How important is the collaboration with MIT?
“MIT is one of top institutes of technology in the United States and the world. It has gained its reputation through graduating top talent for all sectors of the global society, creating important scientific and technology discoveries and starting new business enterprises in many places around the world. It also has a wealth of experience in innovation and entrepreneurship in that has been recognized by Russia’s leaders as having high value to Russia in diversifying its economy.”
Is there natural market demand for Skoltech?
“From my observations there is a large amount of slack to pick up in Russia. Skoltech will take several years of nurturing and development to fully reach its potential. As for where Skoltech fits in the global science community, this is a good question, but it’s much too early to answer.”
What do you see as Skoltech’s competitive advantage in modern education?
“Skoltech, to my knowledge, is the only institute designed ab initio to educate leaders with a solid grounding in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education at the graduate level and to integrate this education with experimental learning in the practices of innovation and entrepreneurship. In the process of this learning, the students will be involved in frontier research. These graduates will be in very high demand around the world. A key issue that I worry about is how to develop the incentives, career growth paths and innovative environments that will encourage them to build their careers in Russia.”