Russia’s leading automobile manufacturer AvtoVAZ is exploring ways it can interact with Skolkovo’s ecosystem, from incorporating the technology of its startups to contributing to conferences, the foundation’s senior vice president Vasily Belov told sk.ru.
Skolkovo's senior vice president for innovations, Vasily Belov. Photo: sk.ru
Belov spoke on the back of a trip to Tolyatti, the Volga city where the factory is based, of 49 Skolkovo startups to probe avenues of cooperation with the Lada-maker.
“We took the 49 startups whose products and services could, in our view, be of interest to AvtoVAZ,” Belov said. “Several of them were immediately marked out as having potential, and I think in a couple of months we’ll see the implementation of their solutions at AvtoVAZ.”
“Alongside that, we’re hoping to attract our colleagues (from AvtoVAZ) to the Startup Tour and the Startup Village,” Belov added.
“It’s early to talk about concrete formats, but we’ll settle on them soon and then AvtoVAZ will really become part of our ecosystem,” he said.
Belov expanded on his impressions of the AvtoVAZ production line and how things have changed under the presidency of Sweden’s Bo Andersson in the interview, which can be read here (Russian)