It’s already partnered with more than 30 US and European companies, now the Russian Skolkovo Foundation is targeting Chinese companies for its technology park.
The Skolkovo Innovation Center was created based on a mandate from the Russian government and a $5 billion grant. Skolkovo has been called “an international intellectual capital” or Russia's Silicon Valley. The park is divided into clusters: IT, biomed, energy efficiency, and nuclear technology companies; service providers; and the Skolkovo Institute of Technology, a research graduate university founded in cooperation with MIT.
On Tuesday, an agreement was signed with Beijing’s Zhongguancun Science Park during Russian president Vladimir Putin’s state visit to China, with the aim of attracting Chinese corporations such as Huawei and Lenovo. Skolkovo's president Viktor Vekselberg told China Daily that ideally these companies will establish their R&D centers at the park, and he hopes VC companies will invest in Skolkovo’s developing technologies.
Vekselberg also sees this as an opportunity for Chinese companies to involve Russian scientists in their research, increasing their access to the competitive Russian consumer market and technical talent pool.
Skolkovo’s vice-president Seda Pumpyanskaya told China Daily that the foundation wants to expand towards Asia, in hopes that Skolkovo can continue without government funding for the next five to seven years.
Source: acceleratorgazette.com