Thursday, June 23rd; 4:30PM – 8:00PM
K&L Gates, State Street Financial Center  
Roundtable Participants include:

Elena Gilyazova, Vice Governor of Perm and Minister responsible for Innovation and the Economy
Congressman William Delahunt, President, The Delahunt Group
Cynthia Bouthot and Daniel Satinsky, Russia Innovation Collaborative, Authors, Perm Innovation Roadmap

Perm Company Participants:

Prognoz
Business intelligence and business performance management systems. Clients include World Bank, IMF, OECD, Coca Cola, Boeing, American Express and more.
Pirate Pay
Cloud-based prevention of illegal media downloads. First seed grant from Microsoft Russia. Member Red Herring top 100 European innovative companies 2011.
Macroscop
Video data processing and interactive video archiving for IP-based video surveillance. Member of Virtual Skolkovo. Awarded national innovation award by President Medvedev.
National Monitoring Center
Established home security service company with operations in video services, medical monitoring, and security and fire alarm services.
ECAT
Venture funded start-up in clean tech and air purification technologies with a focus on catalysis, pure technologies, air treatment, and fluid dynamics

To register for this program, you can send an email to:  rsvp@russiainnovation.com

Other panel members where included Dmitry Akhanov, President, Rusnano USA, Clay Lowery, Vice President, International Government Affairs, CISCO Systems and Oleg Svintsitski, Senior Vice President, Siguler Guff & Company. 

Edward Verona, President, U.S.-Russia Business Council, and Panel Moderator (seated) and Daniel Satinsky, Partner, Russia Innovation Collaborative

Cynthia and Daniel along with Sergey Eremin, Microsoft Russia at GTS – a great event filled with lively discussions and great networking. 

Global Technology Symposium - March 23-25, 2011

Cynthia Bouthot and Daniel Satinsky, partners in Russia Innovation Collaborative, will be heading to the west coast to attend The Global Technology Symposium, which will be held March 23-25 at the Rosewood Sand Hill in Menlo Park. GTS is the leading investment conference on venture capital, technology, and entrepreneurship in emerging markets. Since 2004, the Symposium has brought more than 300 selected opinion leaders in business, finance, technology, and policymaking to Silicon Valley, where they share insights into the opportunities and challenges of globalization.

The US Russia Business Council is organizing the opening commercial session of the Forum, dedicated to a discussion of the development of substantive innovative collaboration between the United States and Russia. The USRBC panel session, “U.S.-Russia Collaboration in Innovation: From Silicon Valley to Skolkovo and Beyond,” will be held from 9:30-11:00am on March 29 in room 902 of the Hart Senate Office Building.

U.S.-Russia Collaboration in Innovation: From Silicon Valley to Skolkovo and Beyond

Moderator: Edward S. Verona, President and CEO, U.S.-Russia Business Council
• Dmitry Akhanov, Head, Rusnano USA
• Lorraine Hariton, Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs, U.S. Department of State
• Clay Lowery, Vice President, International Government Affairs, Cisco Systems, Inc.
• Oleg Svintsitski, Senior Vice President, Siguler Guff & Company
• Daniel Satinsky, Partner, Russia Innovation Collaborative

The main goal of the World Russia Forum is to discuss and generate new ideas for the development and broad expansion of U.S.-Russia business, political, science, education, and cultural cooperation. Among the Forum’s speakers are American and Russian leading political leaders, businessmen, scholars, and foreign policy experts.

To register and review the Forum agenda please visit here

For more information about the Forum, please contact the event’s organizer, Edward Lozansky, at (202)-364-0200; in Moscow (495) 695-3021 or e-mail: Forum@RussiaHouse.org.

Satinsky and Bouthot will follow-up with a return visit to Tomsk from May 26– 27 as speakers at the 14th Tomsk Innovation Forum, “Innovus 2011” (www.innovus.biz).

In the picture are left to right: Cynthia Bouthot, Veniamin Kizeev, Director, Poligon of Engineering Entrepreneurship, TPU, Daniel Satinsky and Dr. Stepan Khachin, Director, Institute of Engineering Entrepreneurship of TPU

To show that models for success exist, I would like to highlight three that I encountered on a recent trip to the Perm Krai. These companies illustrate different routes to success for Russian technology companies – commercialization of university knowledge, transformation of a Soviet enterprise and entrepreneurial adaptation to the 2008 downturn through entering new technology sectors.

Prognoz

Among the pioneers of university-based commercialization is the company “Prognoz,” a developer and provider of business intelligence software solutions, analytical and forecasting systems and decision support systems in both Russian and international markets. Headquartered in Perm and founded in 1991 by Dmitriy L. Andrianov, a professor in the Economic Cybernetics Department of Perm State University, the company emerged from a university project at PSU.

Prognoz gradually found success in the Russian market, mainly through projects with Russian regional governments, then with Russian Federal Ministries and later with large Russian organizations like the Bank of Russia and Gazprom. Beginning foreign sales only in 2006, the company has grown so rapidly in international markets that it now makes a significant portion of its revenue from them. Prognoz customers include 3M, CNBC, Oxford Economics, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, BASF, Bayer, Syngenta, AGCO and international agencies like the World Bank, IMF, OECD, the African Development Bank and the World Health Organization.

PNPPK

A different challenge for the Russian economy has been the transformation of Soviet-era enterprises into modern companies that both utilize and produce high-end technology. The prime example of successful transformation from old to new that should point the way for other similar former Soviet enterprises in Perm is the Perm Scientific-Industrial Instrument Making Company (“PNPPK”).  PNPPK was founded in 1956 under the Ministry of Aviation as an instrument production facility for rocket and space technology.  By 1960, it was a major producer of gyroscopes for missile flight control in military and space applications. The collapse of the central planning apparatus meant separation from the design bureaus that guided technical innovation in the Soviet period and led to difficult times for PNPPK.

In response, PNPPK had to create its own research and development capacity through recruiting former Soviet-era specialists from around the country and through close collaboration with Perm State Technical University and Perm State University in developing training programs for young specialists. The capacity developed through its own R&D facilities has resulted in new generations of navigations systems for civilian and military aeronautical, marine and terrestrial applications. While the majority of sales are in the Russian market, PNPPK has developed foreign sales and expects these to increase based on the growing strength of its R&D.

Silicon Perm

The creation of Silicon Perm illustrates adaptation by Russia entrepreneurs to the economic crisis of 2008 and to world-wide trends in technology. The company was formed by Perm entrepreneur Vyacheslav Potantin in response to the drop in orders for his electrical utility construction company “Electrotechnical” during the crisis. Partially financed by RUSNANO, Silicon Perm will begin production of microelectronic grade polysilicon by the first quarter of 2013. The polysilicon will be sold to customers inside Russia and in Taiwan, India and Saudi Arabia. Silicon Perm has had discussions with my company, Russia Innovation Collaborative, regarding U.S. market entry.

Silicon Perm is the anchor for development of an industrial park in the town of Dobryanka that will be called “SMART Perm.” The industrial park will include three industrial clusters: microelectronics – producing polycrystalline silicon, monocrystalline silicon ingots and silicon wafers; LED – producing sapphire wafers, super bright LEDs and LED lamps; and equipment for electrical and power sector – producing energy-efficient motors, Li-Ion batteries and superconductors.

The timeline of success

A few conclusions are obvious when examining these success stories. Neither Prognoz, nor PNPPK were overnight successes. Each required 10-15 years of sustained activity to reach the levels of success that they currently enjoy. It is too early to say about the success of Silicon Perm, but it is safe to say that it will also take some period of time to build a successful business and industrial park. In all three cases, strong leadership has been critical. Lastly, all three are market-oriented and look to both the Russian market and international markets for measuring the quality of their production and for potential customers.

Former Congressman Delahunt mingles with other participants after the event.

Ilya Ponomarev’s presentation centered on the measures that the Russian government has taken to promote innovation in Russia, including establishing Rusnano, Russian Venture Company, Skolkovo Foundation and related changes in legislation and public policy. The panel discussion focused on this topic from a business point of view, including the seriousness of the Russian government, the reasons why business and universities in Massachusetts should be paying attention to the new opportunities, and the advantages and obstacles to doing business in and with Russia. Most speakers agreed that Russia is at a unique historical moment in which it is opening to a serious dialogue with foreigners and foreign companies and establishing conditions for real business cooperation in diversifying Russia’s economy.

The audience that turned out for the event was more than 60 people, despite a winter storm that day. It was a very mixed group of business people, professionals, academics and political figures, most notably former U.S. Congressman William Delahunt and President Pro Tem of the Massachusetts State Senate Stanley Rosenberg. Much of the audience stayed for networking and informal conversation after the formal program ended.

The event was organized by the Russia Innovation Collaborative and sponsored by the U.S.-Russia Chamber of Commerce of New England, the U.S.-Russia Business Council and GGA Software Services.

To see the presenation from the program, please click here.

Artem Razumkov with President Medvedev

The Skolkovo Foundation announced its choice of 16 innovative companies as “residents” of the Skolkovo project in a ceremony in Moscow on December 14. One of the companies chosed was Satellite Innovation, a Perm-based company that enlisted Russia Innovation Collaborative as its foreign partner. The specific project that Satellite Innovation submitted for the Skolkovo competition is called “Macroscop,” an innovative new technology for IP-based video surveillance and video archiving. RIC is participating in the Macroscop project as a partner for business and market development.

As a Skolkovo “resident,” Satellite Innovation will be accorded certain administrative and tax privileges and will receive financial support in the form of a grant from the Skolkovo Foundation. In return, the company promises to establish its R&D facilities within the boundaries of the Skolkovo complex when construction is completed.

The company was represented at the Moscow ceremony by its CEO Artem Razumkov, who received the certificate of residency from Viktor Vekselberg, president of the Skolkovo Foundation and then received a national award for innovation from President Medvedev.

In his first posting he writes about his participation as a member of the team of authors of the 2010 Yaroslavl Road Map 10-15-20 report. Daniel was the principal author for the section on Russia.  You can view his contribution here.

By: Daniel Satinsky for Modern Russia

At this year’s Yaroslavl Global Policy Forum, I joined colleagues from the New York Academy of Sciences for the release of the Yaroslavl Roadmap 10-15-20, a comprehensive look into Russia’s innovation policy.  The report examines the innovation policies of Israel, Finland, Taiwan, India and the U.S. and applies key learnings to the Russian market.

The Russian government is currently implementing new policies to modernize Russia and to promote innovation; old institutions are being reformed, new institutions are being created, and new policies to promote innovation are being adopted. However, we found that Russia has not yet succeeded in creating an independent, self-sustaining innovation ecosystem. In fact, opinions vary widely in Russia about what policies to follow and indeed whether such a transition is even possible.  

In our report, my colleagues and I attempted to determine the best road to take and which policies to adopt in order to accelerate the creation of a knowledge-based economy. After examining the experiences of other countries, the report presents an overview of the Russian innovation environment and concludes with a set of 15 recommendations for Russian policy and 20 pitfalls to avoid over the next 10 years. 

Highlights from the recommendations include:

• Define and create mission-oriented grand challenges based on the needs and strengths of the country.

Russia needs to identify specific areas of technology where, based on competitive advantages, it can become a leader.  Examples of these industries are: energy; communications, transportation, telecom, and space technology; biotechnology and life sciences; and IT and supercomputing. 

• Establish a long-term political commitment to meet the grand challenges.

Long term political commitment is critical to success.  To demonstrate the commitment, Russia should establish national Chief Technology and Chief Information Officers and create an audit committee to review progress. In parallel, initiate an internet-based national dialogue on the grand challenges and progress being made in addressing them.

• Establish a balance between large and small companies and between multinational and domestic companies with the understanding that all are necessary drivers for a successful innovation system.

Continue developing the innovation infrastructure through techno parks and the Skolkovo Project that recruit all sizes of companies and the mix of multinational and Russian companies necessary for a rich and complex innovation ecosphere.

• Provide early-stage funding and business services to help develop new technologies and traverse the infamous “Valley of Death.”

Develop government funding to support early-stage companies in the period of product and company development in which they pass from basic research to proof-of-concept and investment-ready status. This period is often referred to as the “Valley of Death,” due to reluctance of private investors to fund this necessary stage of a start-up company’s development.

• Promote the culture of entrepreneurship.

Popularize entrepreneurship as a positive career path. Develop acceptance of “failure” as a necessary aspect of entrepreneurship and a prerequisite for later success. Support business education and mentoring programs for young entrepreneurs.  

As an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization, the New York Academy of Sciences presents a view of international best practices that is not distorted by any business, organizational or political interest. The Yaroslavl Roadmap 10-15-20 is available for download in English and Russian either at the Russia Innovation Collaborative (www.russiainnovation.com) or the New York Academy of Sciences (www.nyas.org).

You can read the posting here

After the Forum Dan stayed  in Yaroslavl as an official guest to participate in the ceremonies marking the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the founding of Yaroslavl.

Dan and Ellis Rubinstein, President of the NY Academy of Sciences

Ellis Rubinstein participating at the Global Policy Forum's Roundtable

President Medvedev taking part in the Yaroslavl Jubilee

Yaroslavl Jubilee Fireworks