During his visit to Peru, the Chairman of the Skolkovo Foundation visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and met with representatives of Peruvian innovative companies and universities. He also met separately with Jaime Pomareda, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of this South American country.
Talking about Skolkovo, Arkady Dvorkovich emphasized the Foundation's role in putting together a number of legislative bills on the topic of operating the digital economy. This work, he said, reached beyond Russia’s borders. To this end, Mr. Dvorkovich said, he was happy to share with his South American colleagues the texts of the prepared legislative proposals.
Arkady Dvorkovich with Jaime Pomareda, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru. Photo: Sk.ru.
Speaking of other strong points of Skolkovo and its participants, Mr. Dvorkovich mentioned the projects that had something to do with various applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning: “This technological platform has been developing quite fast,” he said. Quantum devices, photonics, energy-efficient technologies, such as small grids, are some of the directions in which Skolkovo resident companies moved ahead considerably. Skolkovo research also focuses on innovative solutions in such traditional economy spheres as oil and gas recovery, said Mr. Dvorkovich. This sphere, he said, was of considerable interest for Peru, the first country in South America to start oil recovery projects.
Addressing his Peruvian colleagues, the Chairman of the Foundation said that green resource-saving and reutilization technologies could be of special interest to both countries and that collaboration in this area was quite possible. Partners could also be potentially interested in Skolkovo research on new materials and 3D printing.
Space technologies and large data present yet another important direction in active international cooperation that Skolkovo maintains with various corporations, including Boeing and Airbus.
Speaking about international cooperation in science, Mr. Dvorkovich mentioned effective interaction between the Foundation and the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology and MIT, Munich University of Technology, universities of Singapore and a number of other universities. “We would be very happy to cooperate more actively with universities in Peru,” the Chairman of the Foundation said.
At the meeting in the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Photo: Sk.ru.
Talking about concrete steps that could be taken as soon as this fall, Arkady Dvorkovich mentioned the softlanding program, inviting Peruvian startups to take part in it. Skolkovo, Mr. Dvorkovich said, will be happy to create cooperation roadmaps in the fields of energy, agricultural and space technologies as well as in development of new materials. Yet another project which could be of mutual interest to both countries is the Smart City project, which includes a wide range of various technologies, from IT to transport and environmental protection.
Putting the roadmaps together would take no more than 3 months, Mr. Dvorkovich said. Startups, industrial companies and universities could come together for this project.
Jaime Pomareda, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru, said that Skolkovo was a great example of a project that successfully combined scientific research and creation of innovative technologies. Mr. Pomareda said that in his opinion cooperation with Skolkovo had a great future.