One of Russia's largest high tech companies is becoming a partner of Skolkovo Foundation. This is a landmark event for the Skolkovo project, Skolkovo Foundation's BoD Chairman Viktor Vekselberg noted
Participants in the BoD meeting held on December 16 approved the provision of a land plot with a total area of nearly 20 ha to Yandex for the construction of the company's campus. It is expected to host a data processing center, labs, offices, Yandex corporate university, school and preschool educational institutions and other facilities. Campus construction is expected to take 10 to 15 years.
It was announced at the Skolkovo Foundation's BoD meeting that Yandex is willing to launch phase one of the campus in the near future. Its expected total area is at least 20,000 sq m. Simultaneously, Yandex will be developing the overall concept of the campus, determine the time limits and procedure for relocating its subdivisions to Skolkovo.
Skolkovo Foundation Chairman Arkady Dvorkovich and Skolkovo Foundation's BoD Chairman Viktor Vekselberg. Photo courtesy: Sk.ru
Skolkovo Chairman Arkady Dvorkovich shared the Foundation's plans for coming years. "Indicators are now much more ambitious than previously, more specifically, due to the enactment of Skolkovo's exterritoriality law and the possibility of interacting with a greater number of startups and partners nationwide," A. Dvorkovich said. For example, the number of project participants is expected to exceed 3,000 by late 2022. It is the principle of exterritoriality that will trigger considerable growth in the number of participants, that will be underpinned by regions, the Foundation Chairman reported.
Viktor Vekselberg, "Skolkovo Project keeps on developing successfully; this year has proven successful for sure from the standpoint of commissioning of landmark facilities within the innovation center."
According to him, the revenues of the project participants are expected to grow significantly, too. Positive trends have persisted for three years. This year, the revenues of participants can possibly exceed 70 bn rubles, A. Dvorkovich said.
Viktor Vekselberg informed the Board members that Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Skolkovo Foundation signed a five-year cooperation agreement. "It's a welcome sight – if parties are willing to find a subject matter to agree on despite all the difficulties they're facing, they end up finding it," V. Vekselberg stated.
The agreement entails continued joint scientific, educational, and innovation activities with participation of the professors, teachers, researchers, students, and post-graduates of Skoltech and MIT for the development of previously achieved results. According to an estimate by Skoltech President and RAS member Alexander Kuleshov, cooperation with MIT is among the crucial components of the institute's long-term strategy. "It facilitates the achievement of our common goal of propelling Skoltech towards top positions globally in science, education, and innovation," A. Kuleshov emphasized.
Summarizing the year 2019, Viktor Vekselberg said, "The project [Skolkovo - Sk.ru note] keeps on developing successfully. This year has proven successful for sure from the standpoint of commissioning of landmark facilities within the innovation center."
It is one of these facilities, the research and development center of Tatneft, that hosted Skolkovo Foundation's BoD meeting. The Board Chairman noted in this regard that it is by now a good tradition to hold meetings at the R&D centers of partners.
Arkady Dvorkovich, "The Foundation's strategic indicators have become more ambitious, more specifically, due to the enactment of the exterritoriality law."
The RDC of Tatneft will conduct a broad range of research and development activities for manufacturing plants from among the Tatneft group members." According to an estimate by Tatneft CEO Nail Maganov, "the opportunities we were offered by Skolkovo have affected positively our stable operation as well as the promotion of the company." "It gives us a good chance to site a whole range of our company's research subdivisions across a variety of business lines," Mr Maganov said.