U.S. technology multinational Cisco Systems is relocating its entire Russia and CIS operations to the Skolkovo Innovation Center under a provisional rental agreement signed Wednesday at the Hypercube.
Cisco's Jonathan Sparrow, left, and Ivan Zvyagintsev, the general director of Stolitsa. Photo: sk.ru
The telecoms giant, one of Skolkovo’s first partners, currently has its regional headquarters in the western Krylatskoe Kholmy district of Moscow, but will soon boast its own office at Skolkovo.
The office is part of a new IT cluster building being constructed by a subsidiary of Bin Group, which belongs to the Gutseriev family, renowned investors and developers in Russia and abroad. The building, set to open in 2017, is the result of a three-way deal signed in 2013 by the subsidiary, Stolitsa, the Skolkovo Foundation and Cisco Systems.
The signatories to the rental agreement inked Wednesday were Jonathan Sparrow, Cisco vice president for Russia and the CIS, and Stolitsa general director Ivan Zvyagintsev.
In an interview with sk.ru, Sparrow said the agreement was an important step in the creation of an ecosystem that will help the national economy advance.
“I think it’s very important for Russia. … For the development of the Russian economy, for society. If you want good jobs, good prospects, you have to diversify and modernize the economy and keep people here,” Sparrow said.
“If you want to keep attracting large businesses – either home-grown or international – you need to continue to have an expanding and growing GDP. You need to develop these long-term plays. And this (agreement) is a classic example of a long-term play,” he added.
“Cisco has confidence and faith in the long-term plays that technology represents, and that’s why its here.”
Asked what Skolkovo, and, more broadly, the Russian startup community stood to gain from Cisco’s full-scale amalgamation into the Skolkovo ecosystem, Sparrow said it would send an important signal.
“It’s very good to demonstrate to other large Russian and non-Russian companies, that one by one, the big players are lining up, participating, taking office space, and supporting this endeavor,” he said.
“Secondly, when you have startups, the community that goes along with the startups in close proximity with large businesses, the programmers and startups begin to understand what they should be focusing their efforts on, so they can find the next big idea that’s going to be a hit in three to five years. Right now, I’d say that’s one of the big things that’s lacking in Russia. If you want to have that proximity, the guys from here have to go to California, to Berlin or whatever. So hopefully, we can help bring some of that (ecosystem) here to Skolkovo,”
The project, which is under the stewardship of French firm Valode Pistre Architects, is the latest contribution to the Skolkovo Innovation Center from Bin Group. In 2012, Bin Group signed a deal with Skolkovo president Victor Vekselberg to build a 30,000-square-meter multi-purpose transport hub that will house a rail service from downtown Moscow and provide access to a shopping and entertainment complex across a nearby highway, a total 4 billion ruble investment.
Skolkovo chairman Andrei Burenin said Cisco’s much-anticipated move to Skolkovo was “an indicator of the quality of our work.”
“Cisco understands the opportunities that being located at the Skolkovo Innovation Center represents,” he said.
Bin Group co-owner Said Gutseriev, meanwhile, noted: “Huge work has gone into this agreement. Huge thanks to Skolkovo and to Cisco for their faith in us.”
As Skolkovo vice-president Alexander Chernov noted in opening remarks, Cisco is one of Skolkovo’s oldest partners.
In 2010, the year Skolkovo was created by government decree, Cisco CEO John Chambers first announced to the St. Petersburg Economic Forum the company’s intent to partner Skolkovo.
“The last five years has seen very active cooperation,” Burenin said. “Cisco is one of our top three key partners who play a day-to-day role in the life of the Skolkovo Foundation. So the company has witnessed our project first-hand, it has seen the direction we’re moving in.”