Skolkovo Foundation and Cybernaut Investment Group have signed a cooperation agreement under the auspices of the Russian-Chinese forum “Big opportunities for small- and medium-sized enterprises,” taking place in Beijing on April 21-22. The document was signed by Vasily Belov, Senior VP for Innovations at the Skolkovo Foundation, and Du Hao, Managing Partner of Cybernaut Investment Group.
The agreement foresees the creation of a joint Russian-Chinese business incubator, robotics center and venture fund.
The 1,500 sq. m. R&D business incubator will be situated at the Skolkovo Innovation Center and house at least 15 Skolkovo resident companies that are conducting research into IT and robotics, space, energy-efficiency technologies and new materials.
Cybernaut’s robotics center, which will be created in China with the help of Skolkovo’s Robotics Center, will implement a joint acceleration program for Skolkovo resident companies to ease them into the Chinese market.
Additionally, a $200 million Russian-Chinese venture fund will invest in Skolkovo resident companies that specialize in IT and robotics and also in space and telecommunication technologies.
The Skolkovo-Cybernaut agreement comes into force in the third quarter of 2015.
Arkady Dvorkovich, Deputy Prime-Minister of Russia:
“The signing of the agreement between the Skolkovo Foundation and Cybernaut Investment Group is an important step in the development of Russian-Chinese cooperation in the area of innovations. In recent years China made a great breakthrough in the development of high-tech, created large technoparks. China gained extensive experience of implementing innovative technologies in the industry, successfully developed its own high-tech, created high-tech corporations, a few of which became world famous brands. Russia, for its part, always excelled in scientific research. We have serious know-how in the area of nuclear, space and information technologies. I am certain, that by uniting efforts Russia and China can reach substantial success in the development of innovations and thereby make a significant contribution into the economic development of our countries”.
Vasily Belov, Senior VP for Innovations of Skolkovo Foundation:
“Cooperation with our Chinese partners began in 2013. During this period a whole range of important agreements were signed, providing the legal framework for a successful partnership to develop. A few of Skolkovo’s resident companies have already sold their technology to Chinese enterprises. Signing this agreement to create a joint business-incubator, a robotics center and a venture fund opens up totally new possibilities for us in the near future. We are providing the conditions for close collaboration between Russian and Chinese scientists, developers and entrepreneurs, which will allow us to develop and market cutting-edge technology together.”
Du Hao, Managing Partner of Cybernaut Investment Group:
“Cybernaut is very pleased to sign this Memorandum of Understanding with Skolkovo. Technological innovation is the key to achieve social and economic goals, both in emerging and developed markets, and is a key growth area for the strategic growth of Cybernaut. Recently Cybernaut is creating Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center in the area of "One Belt and One Road" to help Chinese companies to fulfill their innovative potential. This strategic alliance between Cybernaut and Skolkovo allows us to combine our complementary capabilities and will enable us to help more and more innovative spirits to be successful. In addition, world's rapid economic development has also created huge environmental pressures, thus creating an imperative for the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing industry. Our collaboration in the area of robotics will be the green and high-tech origination of both countries' economical development.”
About Cybernaut
As one of the pioneering investment fund in China, Cybernaut Investment Group focuses on consumer and service sectors that serves the biggest consumer market’s fast growing demands. The company invests in early and growth stage companies with strong consolidation platform value, and brings global vision and true partnership to help entrepreneurs build global enterprises. The company has invested in financial service, education, health care, consumer services, high technology, and advanced manufacturing sectors.
Cybernaut capitalizes on building market leaders in China with our global vision and strong branding supported by global billion-dollar company builder, extensive government connections and support, and strategic media partnership. The globally operating experienced team helps entrepreneurs to accelerate growth by providing: Business strategy, Founder mentoring, Execution guidance and support, IT technology platform, Fund raising and exit strategy, and Global resources. For more information: www.cybernaut.com.cn
About the Skolkovo Foundation
The Skolkovo Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in September 2010 by the Russian government with the objective of accelerating Russia’s transformation from a resource-intensive to an innovation-based economy. To achieve this objective, the Foundation is overseeing the creation of the Skolkovo Innovation Center, composed of more than 1,000 high-tech startups, Skolkovo Technopark, the Skolkovo Institute of Technology (Skoltech) - a new graduate research University established in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - and Skolkovo city, located near Moscow. Together, these entities establish a vibrant ecosystem of technology innovation and entrepreneurship. Fifty global corporations including Boeing, Cisco Systems, EADS, GE, Johnson & Johnson, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Siemens, Nokia, Samsung, and Panasonic have already recognized the opportunity Skolkovo presents by signing R&D partnership agreements with the Foundation. The cumulative revenue of Skolkovo’s startups through December 2014 reached $1 billion. They brought in more than $220 million in investment, creating 13,500 jobs and filing over 1,300 patent applications along the way. By 2020 over 2 million square meters of residential and office space will be built in Skolkovo with 35,000 people working daily in the Innovation Center. For more information: http://www.sk.ru/en
Press contacts
Cybernaut Investment Group:
Xiang Li
Mobile: +86 18511309393
Email: lxwushi@sina.com
Skolkovo:
Taisiya Yarmak
Tel.: +79166948826
E-mail: tyarmak@sk.ru