NOVOSIBIRSK, August 1. /TASS/. Developers of Russian drones, who want to become leaders on this market, must create vehicles for which the infrastructure will be built and not vice versa. Special Representative of the Russian President for Digital Development, Director General of the Platform of the National Technology Initiative Dmitry Peskov expressed such an opinion on Tuesday.

"What is a monopoly? Setting is when infrastructure is created for you. If airports, drone ports are built for your type of engine, if the number of kilometers between points is calculated based on the power of your engine and how much the drone can fly, then you are a monopolist," Peskov said.

The expert urged technology entrepreneurs to think about their product strategy from this prospective.

"Otherwise, you will be thrown out at some of the previous stages. <...> Drones are materialized AI. From the point of view of business, we will work not according to the rules of aviation, but according to the rules of the IT industry and telecom. Business models will go from there. Those who think with the logic of aviation and automotive industry will go bankrupt first. Those who build services will go bankrupt second, platform builders - third. Because advanced players are building ecosystems, and those who are capable are already making settings," he said.

Peskov also noted the need to fight the cognitive traps that entrepreneurs and investors often fall into when developing projects. This is the expectation of a guaranteed customer for decades to come and the conviction that receiving a grant or building a production facility is the ultimate success of the business. He pointed out that such approaches were imposed on the Russian market in the 2010s, along with a methodology for determining the technology readiness level, which "deceives everyone and turns everyone in the wrong direction."

"It assumes that if you build a factory and start production, then you are fine. <…> The problem is that in this model you will never control your own market. You will never have entrepreneurial sovereignty, you will not earn extra real big money. And you will always be hostages of decisions that other people will make in big offices not in our country.<…> In fact <…> [successful Western companies] create a monopoly," he concluded.