Skolkovo today celebrated another milestone passed, as it awarded its 500th company participant status.
At the country's largest economic forum, the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Skolkovo granted participant status to its 500th company, the Israeli company Parasight. Skolkovo’s development is a key topic at the Forum and interest amongst investors, media and the public was high.
Parasight joins the biomedical cluster and will research technology to significantly improve the quality and speed of diagnosing complex diseases, while reducing costs. Simply put - a technology that identifies parasites and other objects in the bloodstream, through tests that currently all but impossible. Skolkovo Foundation President Viktor Vekselberg announced that as the 500th resident, Parasight will have the right to stay in the first Skolkovo building, the Cube.
The Foundation used the Forum also a platform to launch the so-called “Supermarket of Start-Ups”, another innovative form of interaction between investors and fund young companies. There were many noteworthy visitors, including the President of Finland, who was shown around by Pekka Vilyakaynen, Adviser to the President of the Foundation.
According to Mr Vekselberg, the stream of innovative business proposals remains both high and very stable. "We plan that 100,000 Innovators will work Skolkovo" - he said. He added that in order to get to 500 participants, experts had reviewed more than 10,000 applications, and this work continues.
Other Skolkovo activities included a meeting between Mr Vekselberg and Sberbank President German Gref. During the meeting Mr Vekselberg emphasised the importance of supporting the oil and gas industry, but also the need to diversify the economy. Mr Vekselberg also stressed the benefits of Russia's accession to the WTO. "Joining the WTO is like removing an aching tooth: painful, but it must be done. This is a two-way process: the world is opened to us, but we also must open ourselves to the world."- said Mr Vekselberg. He added that working on the Eurasian economic space, the government should not repeat the mistakes of the EU, referring to the need to pay more attention to the creation of institutions to support business, strong financial mechanisms and the relevant laws governing interaction.