MOSCOW, December 15. /TASS/. The experience of the Skolkovo Foundation has proven the success of the joint work of government agencies, businesses and young innovative companies on creation of new high-tech enterprises in Russia, Viktor Vekselberg, Chairman of the Skolkovo Foundation Board of Directors, Head of the Skolkovo Innovation Center, said on Tuesday.
"Now Skolkovo has almost 2,800 participants with a combined revenue of more than 100 billion rubles ($1.4 bln) last year alone. When we just started building the Innovation Center 10 years ago, many did not believe that we would be able to achieve such results. But in December 2010 we received 11 companies that became first participants in the project. Over the past decade they have grown into successful enterprises, and a high-tech city has been built on the former vacant lot outside the Moscow Ring Road. Our experience has shown that the format when the state, innovators and business operate on an equal footing is very effective," Vekselberg said as quoted by the foundation’s press service.
"Of course, I don’t want to part with the participants who have become part of our team. Therefore, we hope that our cooperation will continue, simply in a different capacity," Vekselberg added.
The report notes that by the end of 2020, 11 companies will lose their status as a participant in the Skolkovo project due to the expiration of a ten-year period.
First companies of Skolkovo Foundation
The STM Center for Innovative Development, established by the Sinara-Transport Machines holding, was one of the first residents of the Skolkovo Foundation. Now the STM holding has become an industrial partner of Skolkovo with its own research center.
"We have significantly expanded the areas of our work on products. Now it is not only locomotives, but the entire rolling stock, including track equipment, urban public transport. We also made a significant emphasis on digitalization. We are working with Skoltech, start-ups and business accelerators at a new level," Evgeny Zuev, General Director of the STM Research Center said as quoted by the press release.
The Research and development center for thin-film technologies in energy sector, which is part of the Hevel Group of companies, has grown from a startup into a full-fledged research center over the ten years of its participation in the Skolkovo project.
"The Skolkovo Foundation rendered invaluable support in the creation and development of the first scientific and technical center in the field of solar energy in Russia. Thanks to the Foundation, the center gained access to unique laboratory and metrological equipment for working with thin films, which significantly expanded the infrastructure capabilities of research and development services ," Igor Shakhrai, general director of the Hevel Group said as quoted by the statement.
Over the ten years of its participation in the Skolkovo project, the Russian Quantum Center has opened 15 state-of-the art laboratories.
"In a short time, RQC has not only taken a leading position in scientific research, but also developed high-tech commercial products, including ultrasensitive sensors, solid-state photomultipliers, femtosecond lasers and an ultrasensitive magnetic cardiograph, designed for financial, telecommunications, medical and other industries. Definitely, the most ambitious task that we will continue to solve in the next four years is the creation of a quantum computer on different platforms, including software and algorithms, as part of a joint project with the state corporation Rosatom," Ruslan Yunusov, General Director of the Russian Quantum Center said as quoted by the statement.
About foundation
The Skolkovo Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 2010 and acting as the managing company of the Skolkovo Innovation Center. The purpose of the foundation is to support technological entrepreneurship in Russia and commercialize the results of research activities.
The number of Skolkovo residents has already exceeded 2,700. The Fund provides them with a range of services necessary to bring developments to the Russian and international markets.