Skolkovo Officials Investigated in Criminal Fraud Probe

Russian authorities are investigating two Skolkovo officials after auditors uncovered suspected embezzlement of budget funds, in a setback to a plan to create a Silicon Valley-style technology hub outside Moscow.  Russia's Investigative Committee (Russia's counterpart to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation) said in a statement that it had opened a criminal investigation into the Skolkovo Foundation's finance director, Kirill Lugovtsev, and the head of the Skolkovo Customs Finance Company Vladimir Khokhlov, who are suspected to have stolen around 24 million roubles ($800,000).  Alexander Chernov, vice president of the Skolkovo Foundation in charge of communications, declined to comment on the criminal case. He said Lugovtsev had left the foundation, while Khokhlov was still in his job, but was on temporary leave.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/13/us-russia-skolkovo-fraud-idUSBRE91C0XC20130213

Multimedia Journal Aims to Attract Moscow Investment

Beginning in October, Moscow's Department for External Economic Relations will publish a multimedia journal -- available in English, Russian and German -- aimed at attracting small to medium-sized investors to Moscow.  The free journal will be available via download on iPhone, iPad and Android devices, and will also be accessible via a PDF download from the department's website. Among other things, the journal will provide an overview of economic and legal issues facing foreign investors, with particular emphasis on taxation issues and documentation required to register a company in Moscow. Alexei Sitnikov, head of the International "Skolkovo" Development Fund, believes that using this type of progressive, electronic communication (the type actively used by the younger generation of entrepreneurs and investors) will be a key to attracting foreign investment to Moscow, and to Russia in general.
http://izvestia.ru/news/533763

First Skolkovo Resident Plans Public Stock Offering

VIST Mining, the first tenant of the Skolkovo Foundation technology park to go public, hopes to raise $50 million later this year, for further investment in software development for metals companies.  According to Skolokovo vice president Conor Lenihan, "This is a great blueprint for what Skolkovo can do." It's "within the pipeline of 500 startups, even though the park doesn't officially open till next year." The recent emergence of Skolkovo may coincide with a boom in venture capital investment in Russia-based companies, which jumped fourfold to a record $276 million this year as of July 20, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Since forming Skolkovo, the Russian government has allocated about $4.2 billion for the project and amended about 200 laws to encourage high-tech investment, according to the company's website. The campus, designed by France's AREP and scheduled for completion next year, will be able to accommodate 31,000 scientists, researchers, students and entrepreneurs, and has used tax breaks and other incentives to lure commitments from global companies such as Microsoft, Siemens, Cisco and Nokia.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/skolkovo-resident-readying-stock-offering/462423.html

ICANN Expected to Approve New Russian Web Address Endings

There are currently around two dozen web address endings, but that number could soar to over a thousand within months, as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is expected to approve almost two thousand new applications, including Russian applications ending in .skolkovo, .yandex, .gdn, .tartar and even .vodka.  The Foundation for Assistance for Internet Technologies and Infrastructure Development filed applications for .moscow and its Cyrillic equivalent, but it is not only Russian companies that want to grab Russian domain names. The Vatican has filed an application for .католик, and American and Swiss companies filed applications for the Cyrillic names .сайт, .онлайн, .ком and .оюг.  ICANN is currently soliciting public comments about the new domain names, which will be considered by the evaluation panels before accepting or rejecting an application.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/more-russian-web-address-endings-coming/460538.html

Russia and China Reach Bilateral Deal on Investment, Energy and Technology

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao have signed pivotal investment, energy, innovation and technology cooperation agreements as the two leaders met during Putin’s three-day visit to China. The Chinese leader suggested that China and Russia expand their cooperation in investment, high technology, energy, large-scale projects and trans-border infrastructure as well as sub-national cooperation. Putin said Russia hopes to coordinate with China more closely to push ahead with key projects and improve bilateral cooperation, as well as continue to diversify bilateral trade, intensify mutual investment, initiate new programs on infrastructure and high technology, and increase exchanges between regions and enterprises. Among other things, Russia and China signed a cooperation agreement between the Skolkovo Foundation and the Beijing-based Z-Park. The agreement marks a transition to full-scale collaboration in high technologies between the two countries.
http://rt.com/business/news/china-russia-cement-deals-investment-046/

The Greening of Skolkovo

Under a new deal signed last week, the Skolkovo innovation hub may pave the way for sustainable construction in Russia. The agreement between government agencies and green building trade groups provides that new construction at Skolkovo will conform to international green-construction standards, which encompass both energy-efficient building designs and green waste-processing programs. The construction agreement comes on the heels of another deal between the center and the Ministry of Regional Development to open a new urban planning school that will teach green planning techniques including rainwater management, managing transport systems without fossil-fueled vehicles, and using geothermal sources and biogas from waste processing to heat buildings.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/skolkovo-to-pilot-green-construction/444353.html

Government Offices May Move to Russia's Silicon Valley

During the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, President Medvedev promoted the idea of moving government offices out of the center of Moscow. Among the eight sites currently being considered for new government offices is Skolkovo, Russia's version of Silicon Valley and the brainchild of Medvedev. The Skolkovo hub is host to scientific and production centers specializing in energy, IT, telecommunications, biomedicine and nuclear tecnology, and a wide range of international companies have been granted resident status in Skolkovo. According to experts working on the relocation project, Skolkovo is now a favorite for the relocation, along with Domodedovo.

http://rt.com/news/prime-time/moscow-officials-relocation-skolokovo/

Nokia to Open Skolkovo Research Center

Finnish communications company, Nokia, committed on Wednesday to open a research facility at the Skolkovo high-tech innovation center being set up outside of Moscow.   Victor Saeijs, CEO of Nokia Eurasia, said Russia will now join Europe, India and China as key sites of Nokia intellectual activity, and Russia will be the eighth country where the company has such a center.  The Nokia Center at Skolkovo will work in cooperation with leading Russian universities, and will employ about 25 technical specialists who will conduct research in fields such as mobile computing, nanotechnology, and quantum technology.  Although Nokia representatives declined to specify the exact amount of Nokia's investment in the Skolkovo center, total investment is expected to be in the range of "double-digit millions of dollars."

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/nokia-joins-skolkovo-high-tech-project/423593.html

International Forum of the Global Innovative Partnerships Brings U.S. High-Technology Delegation to Russia

California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, led a group of U.S. investors and high-technology business representatives to Russia for the International Forum of the Global Innovative Partnerships.  The U.S. delegation met with President Medvedev and other government officials, including representatives from Russia’s Corporation on Nanotechnology (RUSNANO), and toured the Skolkovo Innovation Center, Russia’s Silicon-Valley project just outside Moscow.   During a speech at the Moscow event, Medvedev praised the Forum and stressed the need to cultivate a climate of trust and understanding in order to develop the international cooperation necessary to bring modernization and innovation to Russian business.  As a result of Global Innovation Partnerships, RUSNANO officials project a $375 million investment from U.S. companies in Russian projects in the areas of alternative energy, microelectronics, medicine and biotechnology.  

http://eng.kremlin.ru/news/1113

http://www.rusnano.com/Post.aspx/Show/28386