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From darkness to light, from sorrow to joy—words for all times! Is Skolkovo a viable competitor to Silicon Valley or a complete failure?
An in-depth analysis of Skolkovo, Russia's attempt at a Silicon Valley, exploring its ambitions, challenges, and controversies.
Key Takeaways
- Skolkovo failed to become a true competitor to Silicon Valley despite significant investment and initial hype.
- Corruption and mismanagement severely damaged the project's reputation and investor trust.
- Government support and tax incentives alone were insufficient to replicate Silicon Valley’s success.
- Political shifts and international tensions further hindered Skolkovo’s development.
- The Russian innovation ecosystem still faces challenges in retaining talent and fostering startups domestically.
Summary
- Skolkovo was launched in 2010 as a multi-billion dollar project to create a Russian Silicon Valley near Moscow.
- The project attracted major international IT companies and Nobel laureates but became notorious for corruption scandals.
- Skolkovo offered favorable tax incentives and easier entry for foreign specialists to stimulate innovation.
- Despite initial enthusiasm and government backing, the project struggled with financial irregularities and loss of investor confidence.
- Political changes and geopolitical events, including the Crimea crisis, negatively impacted Skolkovo's progress.
- The infrastructure remains largely unfinished, with only one major building completed and poor landscaping.
- Many Russian entrepreneurs prefer to launch startups abroad due to better opportunities and market conditions.
- Official statistics claim growth in resident companies and revenues, but skepticism remains about real success.
- The project’s future is uncertain, with competing innovation initiatives emerging in Russia.
- The video includes interviews with investors, startup CEOs, and experts, providing a comprehensive view of Skolkovo’s rise and fall.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction: Skolkovo’s Ambition and Controversy
- 02:33Initial Plans and Location Choice
- 05:28Government Support and Tax Incentives
- 08:48Early Success and International Partnerships
- 12:03Political Changes and Decline
- 16:58Current State: Infrastructure and Challenges
- 21:17Resident Experiences and Startup Environment
- 29:17Conclusion: Lessons and Future of Russian Innovation
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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Until the end of 2010, the first projects of the innovative Skolkovo will receive their funding.
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The multi-billion dollar project was supposed to show the whole world the achievements of Russian science, but it became known not so much for innovations as for corruption scandals.
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The Skolkovo Foundation in the center of Moscow was searched today. The decision to conduct it was personally presented by the operatives to the head of the fund, Viktor Vekselberg.
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The city almost immediately became a meme and an object of ridicule. A special kind of flies are high-calorie meat flies.
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They not only live longer, but also have the highest egg production. But supporters of large-scale construction urged skeptics to be patient.
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They say, Silicon Valley did not immediately become the way we know it now! Indeed, it all seemed to start well: international IT giants became the investors of Skolkovo, such as Microsoft, Samsung, Cisco, and Nokia.
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We decided to make such investments not only out of a desire to help Russia, but also for the sake of developing our own business.
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But years have passed, and the project still lives almost entirely off budget funds, that is, your money and mine.
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Skolkovo will be, be sure! Today everyone seems to have forgotten about the grandiose brainchild of Dmitry Medvedev.
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What happened to the Russian Silicon Valley? Why do Russian entrepreneurs leave to launch startups in the West anyway?
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Is being a Skolkovo resident profitable or shameful? I went to the center of Russian innovations, talked to investors and startup CEOs, and now I will tell you everything.
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And in return, I humbly ask you to give me a million—not dollars, but just likes!
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And also subscribe to my channel and click on the bell. It's not that I'm so worried about it; it's just that YouTube algorithms are so capricious, and they are waiting for your reaction so that the video gets promoted better.
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On the creation of a Russian innovation center in the Skolkovo settlement, next to the business school of the same name, President Medvedev announced in March 2010.
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"Well, not so long ago we discussed the issue of building an ultramodern scientific and technical center or such a city." For the construction of an analogue of Silicon Valley, about 400 hectares of federal lands were given.
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Earlier it was assumed that high technologies would be developed in Tomsk, Novosibirsk, Dubna, or Obninsk.
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That is, there are already existing scientific clusters, where you would not have to create something large-scale from scratch.
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Choosing the nearest Moscow region, better known as the location of dachas and country houses of the Russian elite, Medvedev explained this way: "We will build in the place where we have a good groundwork in order to do it quickly."
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"Speed is of particular importance, so we will build it in Skolkovo." Initially, it was planned to allocate several billion rubles from the budget—within five or six.
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"The money is significant, but Skolkovo is confident that the costs are justified." To convince the company to participate in a somewhat dubious undertaking, they were offered an unprecedentedly favorable tax regime.
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Skolkovo residents do not need to pay taxes on profits, property, land, and VAT—if companies send a notification to the tax office and renew it.
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Residents are offered a reduced rate for insurance premiums—14% instead of the base 30.
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And all this until the accumulation of profits of $10 million. "Well, so that there is motivation to do this, to create business from scratch, to be motivated to take risks and achieve a win." However, a number of experts even then doubted that
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such measures will be enough to implement all the "wishes" of the project's ideologists. Pyotr Medvedev, partner of the auditing company Ernst & Young, explained his skepticism in a commentary to the Kommersant newspaper as follows: “Looking at the Silicon Valley experience that we are trying to replicate,
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there people started their business not because of benefits, but because they received orders from the state, which they were able to jointly fulfill.”
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Another important feature of the legal regime being created at Skolkovo is that it became easier for highly qualified foreign specialists to enter the country.
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It was indeed possible to attract world-renowned scientists to work in the fund. For example, Roger Kornberg, a Nobel laureate in chemistry.
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He became a co-chairman of the scientific council of the foundation along with Zhores Alferov—a Soviet physicist and also a Nobel laureate in physics.
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True, other stars of world science flatly refused to work at Skolkovo. A 2010 Nobel laureate in physics, Andrey Geim, who emigrated from Russia in the 90s, answered the invitation to the fund as follows: "I do not care. Have your people gone completely crazy there?
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They think that if they give a bag of gold to someone, they can invite everyone?” The scientist doubted that Skolkovo would make a second Silicon Valley: “For me it sounds the same as if in the 90s they would have created an electrovacuum Skolkovo,
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when trains have long gone from vacuum tubes and switched to transistors. Same here." The Russian authorities, in turn, tried to convince everyone around that there is absolutely no reason to doubt the possibility of implementing the idea.
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"Regarding Skolkovo, I said that everyone will be held accountable, who scolds Skolkovo. This means that there will be Skolkovo, be sure!" And things really seemed to be going well.
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The fund managed to attract the world's largest companies to work. During the first two years of its existence, Skolkovo agreed to establish research centers with more than 20 international companies, including Microsoft, Siemens, Johnson & Johnson, IBM, Ericsson, and Boeing.
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"Russia has excellent engineers, and there is fertile ground for the development of innovative technologies." The Russian partners of Skolkovo became TNK-BP, Sberbank, and LUKOIL.
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But then something went wrong. In 2012, Vladimir Putin became president again, who treated Medvedev's hobby for new technologies, to put it mildly, condescending.
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"Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin took office as President of Russia." And a year later, a more or less positive image of the Russian Silicon Valley, which existed in the West, was actually destroyed.
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Various financial irregularities were found in the fund; the world's largest mass media wrote about the searches in Skolkovo.
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"Another high-profile case has got new details, related to the Skolkovo Foundation. Searches took place in his office today." According to the vice-president of the fund, Seda Pumpyanskaya, after that "the investments ended." But they haven't really built anything yet—
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only a building called "Hypercube"! Foundation of the main objects of the future miracle-city can already be seen from the roof of the only finished building called "Hypercube."
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At the same time, the idea of creating a technological valley on the basis of Moscow State University began to be discussed.
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The Innopraktika Foundation took an active part in the project, headed by Katerina Tikhonova—a number of media outlets call her the alleged daughter of Putin.
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In fact, they put an end to Skolkovo. Then the Crimea case happened, and then the war in the east of Ukraine.
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Vladislav Surkov resigned from the position of head of the fund's board of trustees—the actual curator of the project.
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The Russian Ministry of Finance demanded to cut funding for Skolkovo by 20-40 percent. Foreign investors weren’t too interested in the project, but when you look at the official figures from the fund, they seem to live in a parallel reality, and they are doing well.
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The number of resident companies has grown 100 times over 10 years, the companies' revenues are growing steadily.
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Whatever criterion you take—they all outdo themselves! By 2019, they planned to attract 20.
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They wanted to create 32 thousand job places, but they created 37 thousand. They planned to obtain 150 patents abroad, but in fact, 205 were issued.
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And then you pay attention to the amount of private investment - and everything falls into place.
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Medvedev announced the following figures last year: over 10 years of the foundation's existence, about 130 billion private rubles have been invested in the development of the Skolkovo infrastructure and 56 billion rubles of budgetary funds.
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True, initially the project leaders promised to attract almost 3 times more private investment by 2020 - 360 billion.
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To compare - in May alone of 2020, Silicon Valley companies attracted nearly $8 billion in venture capital investments - that is, almost 600 billion rubles.
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In one month! And in Skolkovo they could not collect so much in 10 years!
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As for the amount that Skolkovo received from the Russian budget, then, according to RBC journalists, it seems somewhat underestimated.
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Back in 2015, they counted 75 billion rubles of budgetary investments. Of these, almost 18 billion were spent on the Skoltech campus, and the same amount for infrastructure.
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As for patents, this is not an indicator of innovation, rather, it is an indicator that they are very easy to obtain today.
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According to Igor Drozdov, Chairman of the Skolkovo Management Board, about 90% of all patents in the world “do not work”, and only 10% are in demand.
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They promised to complete the construction of the city by 2020. Well, let's see what these billions eventually turned into.
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You can't just get here from the street. You can enter on foot here, but you cannot enter by car, because the Skolkovo territory is closed.
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At the same time, it is very strangely closed, because taxis are only allowed by Yandex or Uber, and, for example, only Delimobil is allowed as far as carsharing.
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For example, you can come by Yandex taxi, And you can't come here using a Yandex carsharing service.
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These streets are without trees, with this awful tile, see how the intersection is done, yes, completely wrong.
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This is not how intersections are done nowadays. This is a huge parking lot being built on the left.
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And this is a “boulevard” And it would seem that at least the boulevard could be green!
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But no, trees grow here every 30 meters, which, of course, is not enough, look how awful the landscaping is.
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Everywhere is asphalt, tile, concrete. And this contrasts with what we are used to seeing, for example, in Europe.
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When we talk, of course, about the urban environment. It looks more like some Russian city districts of the early 2000s.
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Note how pleasant it is to walk along this boulevard. I really want to take a walk along this boulevard in the evening.
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Actually no, of course, I'm kidding. Site development plans are very ambitious, if you look at the map, then such a wonderful city should really appear here.
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But it's not clear when it will appear and whether it will appear at all because the construction is almost completely stopped now.
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Here, only a few objects are being built, there is some rare construction equipment, and most of these buildings generally look abandoned.
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That is, the building on the one hand is almost ready, for example, the one behind my back, but it is clear that no construction work is being done there.
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There should also be a new residential area, there are construction cranes, but again the construction is not in the process, the cranes do not move.
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It is unclear if this may be due to the coronavirus or this particular project is frozen.
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But I don't see any active construction here. and it is not clear how they will build all this and when.
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Such is the funny detail that also says a lot. When we enter the main building, the local technopark, we are greeted by two huge rusty Skolkovo logos.
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Although the building is seemingly new, and it is generally not clear why at least the logo cannot be kept in order.
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- Well, welcome to the technopark. Technopark is the heart of the Skolkovo innovation center.
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This building was built just 4 years ago. And from the very first day it was filled with residents.
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These are the tech companies that are engaged in research and development and sales of these technologies in the field of information technology, industrial technology, new materials, these are technologies related to biomedicine and agriculture, and technologies in the field of energy efficiency.
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Here are the guides who conduct excursions for 25 thousand people a year. For adults and children.
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We earn a little on this. In other rooms, potential meetings with investors are held, with customers, with corporations, pitches, brainstorming sessions, corporate strategic sessions are also held here.
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For some reason, they assume the thinking process goes well here. I am in charge of the community of residents.
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Of their development. Here I am measuring my own success how much the companies that reside here grow faster than those companies that are not located here.
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Well, because they are picked by the same experts, according to the same rules, regulations, but at the same time, thanks to all those possibilities, those services that we have developed here, we are seeing a multiple increase in comparison with those companies
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which are located in other technoparks in Moscow or anywhere in the business centers. The more places we have where one person can meet another person, the better conditions we create for the growth and development of our residents.
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That is, I believe that a startup accountant girl can get acquainted with the employee of the grant service at yoga, go together and then drink a smoothie and solve the issue, which they would never have solved together, if they had not met.
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Although they sit in different buildings. Here. So we are right here. This is a technopark.
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Everything highlighted in green is already built. Here we have the second stage, it has already been designed, its construction should begin.
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We are looking for a source of funding. What was first and foremost was built with budget money, with the money of the Ministry of Finance, the second stage will be already with the help of private investments.
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What else was built with the money of the Ministry of Finance - with all budget money.
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This is Skoltech, our Institute of Technology. Created in the image and likeness, and in collaboration with MIT, where more than a thousand students study, at the same time, for such a number of students, there are 200 professors.
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All training is in English only, training is free, only master's degree, undergraduate is in plans. There are also postgraduate studies.
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All students are divided into groups, the scholarship for a graduate student reaches 70 thousand rubles.
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A gymnasium was also built for budget money. And a technopark. All other objects are private.
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Here are startups, in all other buildings, if these are not social infrastructure facilities or Skoltech, are corporations.
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Why do we need it - more than 150 corporations cooperate with us. Both Russian and foreign majors.
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We use this tool to weave the solutions of our residents into the technological chains of corporations.
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Corporations come to us in droves and say - please show us what you have, please select a set of technologies for us for implementation in our organizations.
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So, these are the streets and roads, they belong .. Which department is responsible for them?
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- They were recently handed over to the Moscow government. We are part of Moscow.
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Behind the fence is the Moscow region, and this is Moscow. - This is Moscow. - We pay taxes to Moscow.
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- But this money that you give out to companies... - We are not giving money anymore. - That is, you are no longer helping.
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- Financially, we practically do not help anyone. Grant funding this year... - It stopped.
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- It has practically stopped. - That is, you are now just like an office center.
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- I talked for an hour and a half that we are not just an office center, and now you are telling me that we are an office center.
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- No, well, I see, you are a special office center. - Not a single office center helps to hire staff or attract investment.
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- Listen, okay, you are there helping to attract... - We are a service company. - Okay, you are a service company, I mean in principle, that is, in principle, it is an office center with some extra services.
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- Office and laboratory center interested in the development of its residents. - Interested in the development of its residents, yes, but what we see there, you gave 100 million to this company and to that...
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- We no longer do it. There is a micro-grant program that allows us to issue, well, to be honest, little money for startups, up to 5 million rubles per year.
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To protect intellectual property, to create prototypes, before it was tens, hundreds of millions... - I see, if tomorrow you find yourself on your own, this whole thing be profitable commercially?
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- It will. We are already operationally viable. We already live without government money. The innovation center still needs state funding, but every year government funding is steadily declining.
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And our revenue is growing exponentially. - When at the very beginning of Skolkovo, Medvedev was still a president, there were burning eyes, everyone wanted it, there was a lot of such claims as "We are making the Russian Silicon Valley",
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after so much time, do you think it worked out in principle or not? - Fundamentally it worked out.
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160 billion rubles was our revenue last year. Revenue of our residents. 19 billion investments have been attracted.
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Silicon Valley was created in the 40s and 50s. I think we are going at a good pace.
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These startups just didn't exist 10 years ago. And today there are 3000 of them.
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- Do you have any statistics on how many of your startups leave Russia? For example, to the real Silicon Valley?
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After you. - It’s probably wrong to say that they are really leaving. They are opening offices - and that's okay.
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It is usual when a company has a development office in Novosibirsk, an office or laboratory in a technopark, because here it attracts Russian investments, and enters the Russian market, and at the same time has representative offices in Singapore or Silicon Valley.
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Group-IB today opened an office in Dubai. - People who achieve something here, do they owe you something, or they can just pack their stuff...
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- We do not participate in their share, they can leave at any second. - That is, there are no obligations.. - No.
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- Do they have to work for five years after that.. - No. We just have a lease with them and a few more contracts, which we administer.
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But if not for Skolkovo, I am convinced simply, I am dead sure, it would be even worse.
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Many people stay here, thousands, If they did not have the opportunity to realize themselves here, they would have left.
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- And there is some kind of reverse story, well, many of our.. - What, come back?
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- Talented people are leaving somewhere.. No, are there some programs to attract, for example, people from Kazakhstan?
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- Yes. - From India, from China ... - From Italy, from Finland. There is a program, we call it soft landing, we didn’t come up with such a word.
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Companies from abroad, not even necessarily with Russian founders, but with Italian or Finnish or Kazakh ones..
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They come here often register a legal entity here, transfer intellectual property rights here and do business from here.
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World-renowned architects were involved in the design of Skolkovo. The French company AREP became the developer of the master plan for the innovation city.
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I can't say that I really liked it myself, but of the other projects presented, it was objectively the strongest and most thoughtful one.
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However, little of the original plan eventually came to fruition. - I act as a functional customer.
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In this case, your recommendations will, of course, be very valuable, as a major specialist in this field.
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- The problem here is that everything is so bad, if you look at the entire street and road network, which is here, it looks very strange.
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On the one hand, there is a building, there is modern architecture, and you can see that it was a special order.
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And then some old Soviet builder comes along from some research institute, and says - now we will make these streets...
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- According to the standards. - Well, not even according to standards, this is some kind of Moscow of the 90s.
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The Luzhkov style, absolutely everything was done wrong. Starting from bike paths, crossings, the profile of this street, and in general everything.
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So that no one even doubts that you are not in Silicon Valley, they thought what could they do to bring people back down to earth.
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Like, people can look at all this and think they’re not in Moscow. So they painted the hatches in the most disgusting green color that they could find at a warehouse.
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I was already worried that there would be no parking under the window Everything is in place there.
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Everything is fine. I am relieved. You cannot buy apartments in residential complexes in Skolkovo, you can only rent them. And not everyone can do it.
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It is assumed that only members of the ecosystem should live here. That is, employees of resident companies, as well as teachers and students of the Skolkovo University of Science and Technology.
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Apartments are rented with furniture and household appliances. In general, everything is like in Europe.
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- Hello. - Hello. - This is my wife. - I’m the wife. - Nice to meet you, my name is Ilya.
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So, how many square meters are there? - About forty. - Do you live here?
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- Yes. We live and work here. We work at the technopark. - This is the first time I see such a clean apartment where people live.
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- Thanks to the wife. - Hahaha. Everything is so clean! Who broke the window?
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- Do I need to tell honestly? - Yes. - These were the repairmen. - Oh, these were the repairmen.
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- They were repairing.. - Is there an exit to the balcony? - Yes. - Not from here, right.
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How many times have you scolded the architects for not making a door here? - We? - Straight away.
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- Right after we moved in. - You began to search for the exit to the balcony.
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- Yes, well, it is very illogical. There is an exit in the bedroom, but not in the kitchen.
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- Oh, there is a door in the bedroom, but there is no exit to the balcony here.
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- Are you renting or have you bought it? - Yes, we are renting. - For how much?
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- Well, 60 thousand rubles. - 60 thousand! - 60 thousand 750 rubles, to be exact.
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Utilities included, the use of a local taxi, and of course the location is the best for work, because there is literally a technopark right next to us.
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10 minutes on foot. - It was just like that? - Not like that. - Okay.
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- We’ve bought some additional stuff. But essentially .. - Was there a palm tree?
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- No.. - Oh, so you bought the palm tree. - This is IKEA, thanks.
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- But the table, the chairs were here? - Yeah, right. - In Tetris, all the furniture, appliances are good enough.
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That is, we have Palisade, new buildings, still little inhabited, people who go there to look at the apartments, who want to move from Tetris, they don't like all household items.
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Everything is much cheaper. - You really look like an exemplary family, like in North Korea, you know when they show achievements, they are also in such empty apartments, where there are not even cups.
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- We have .. But, by the way, the advantage - we have a lot of storage space.
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- Do you have cups? - Yes. - Show where your cups are. Now we will check, if all the cups are the same...
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- Not only cups, we have tea. Ta dah! - Alright, now I believe. There is a booze at the end, a hidden stash.
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- Welcome - Show us how you live. - Come on in. - So, and you live in this amazing cottage.
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- Yes, that’s right. We have been working here since 2012, and living here since 2017.
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Since the last year my daughter has been going to a kindergarten here. In general, I run my company, my startup has been here since 2012.
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- Judging by the calendar.. - No, it has nothing to do with this. - Counterintelligence Service.
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- It has nothing to do with this. - Clear. And do you rent this cottage?
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- Yes. Well, it is already the 4th year. We are satisfied, as they say, inside and out.
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- The house was like that from the beginning? - Oh, well, basic furniture. We have bought something, of course, something was done on our own, something with our own hands, due to the fact that we have a small child.
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A cat too. Everyone was comfortable, at ease, so yes, the basic stuff was here.
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- How many square meters is this place? - 150, in my opinion. - And how much is rent? - In my opinion, at the moment it is about 180 thousand rubles.
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- Well, the prices are like in Moscow. - Of course, we are in Moscow.
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- And all the cottages that are here - are they all taken? Nothing is free at the moment?
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- Not a single available townhouse, not a single available cottage, especially during the pandemic, everything was packed.
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But it's convenient, I walk 15 minutes to the office. It takes crossing the field for the child to get to school - So you don't leave here at all?
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- Only to see older children in the city. Then yes. Well, again, if something is necessary.
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Like household necessities. To go to the clinic, somewhere else. Because, in principle, the entire infrastructure is close at hand here.
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That is, now you have jobs, a good school... - Good accommodation. It is convenient.
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Since we have cars, in general we do not suffer from transport problems, but people use buses.
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And they use the central road. No problem. - What are the disadvantages of living here?
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The pros are clear. - As far as cons - well, probably the problem of growth.
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Because when the housing is new, it is clear that certain engineering problems arise. But anyway it is solved quickly enough.
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Considering that we have settled down here, we have no such engineering problems. There are other problems... Purely infrastructural, related to being here on the territory, because sometimes absurd decisions are made, not clear why they make them.
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- Well, for example, what exactly? - Well, from the latter, may Rinat forgive me, yes, the urban environment was given to the Skolkovo Technopark.
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It's hard for me to imagine that the Strogino Technopark dealt with problems in the Northwestern Administrative District.
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Here is a very strange solution, because on the one hand we see such nice townhouses, good architecture, high quality materials inside.
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But on the other hand, finding myself on the street, I see some very strange urban environment.
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For example, they had absolutely no idea where people would park their cars. Therefore, the inhabitants of these townhouses park these cars literally under the windows.
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The entire inner passage that could have been a boulevard is all littered with cars.
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Cars drive onto these lawns there, and it looks just disgusting. Although initially it was possible just to think it over, to make some sheds for cars, or some garages, some trivial things.
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For some reason, this was not done here. One of the main problems of Skolkovo, is in fact that we have a new city here, a new city, which is being built literally in an open field, specialists are involved here,
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fashionable architects were attracted here, there are no high-rise buildings. That is, all housing is small and medium-rise, like in Europe.
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But going out into the street, we see complete nonsense.. If residential buildings and office centers were designed by famous architects, and they really look good, then the urban environment, these streets and public spaces everything that connects these beautiful buildings was designed by some
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moldy grandfathers from some provincial design institute. Everything is so shabby, outdated, look, we are now moving to a sidewalk, made from such a cheap concrete tile, which is all already collapsed.
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There are weird lawns here, this is supposedly a bike path. With some awful intersections. Curbs are everywhere.
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In general, the urban environment was done like this in the early 2000s. It certainly does not fit in any way with this modern city, which was going to be built here.
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And notice, they haven't planted a single tree along the roads here. That is, it's all empty, there are trees, but they are closer to houses, somewhere else.
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There is not a single tree along the roads. Now, just for comparison, look at how new areas are being made, for example, in France.
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In the suburbs of Paris, what the new neighborhoods look like and as they say, feel the difference, see the streets in Skolkovo and streets, for example, in France.
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There is a Skolkovo gymnasium behind me. By the way, the most ugly and unattractive building here as far as architecture.
Speaker A
It can be seen that they decided to save money on the architect. Unlike the rest of the projects, because they're really cool.
Speaker A
So, the Skolkovo gymnasium is good, children study according to the international baccalaureate system. After graduation it will be possible to enter European and American universities.
Speaker A
The results will be recognized, it's pretty cool. But the problem is that it is not free.
Speaker A
There are discounts for residents. And it costs 30 or 50 thousand, there is different data.
Speaker A
If you are not a Skolkovo resident, then almost 130 thousand rubles. It is quite expensive.
Speaker A
But still, it’s a big school, with a good, high-quality education. Another thing is that people here do not know how to work with relief at all.
Speaker A
Although the relief is not so visible here, in principle, everything is on the plain.
Speaker A
But there is some. But even here they could not make the exits from the entrances on the same level, they have made some awful lift for the disabled, there are curbs, steps, stairs, ramps here and it is very strange.
Speaker A
It would seem why was it impossible to invite architects who can deal with this relief so that it is not a negative factor, and, on the contrary, find some advantages in this.
Speaker A
But to make exits from the entrances with ramps, these weird lifts, which will never work - this is a disgrace.
Speaker A
You can't do that in 2021. And here, by the way, you can clearly see why this permeable covering for lawns is impossible, that is, even in Skolkovo it does not work.
Speaker A
It is impossible to walk on it, it is uncomfortable in heels, even in ordinary shoes, besides, grass does not grow there, and where cars drive there is a source of dirt, dust, and there is no beauty in it.
Speaker A
Please don't do this. And by the way, even in Skolkovo, they cannot put things in order with parking.
Speaker A
We’re going into a large park and again, the first thing that catches your eye is the absence of trees.
Speaker A
That is, giant lawns, and for some reason they do not plant trees here I don't know, maybe some of the CEOs here are afraid of trees?
Speaker A
Maybe some fortune-teller predicted to them that they will find death under a tree? And they said - there won't be a single tree in Skolkovo!
Speaker A
Agree with me, it looks a little bit empty. So, here is some kind of cool playground all of a sudden.
Speaker A
Yes, look here - a cool playground, there are some dolphins over there, children playing with sand, natural materials, everything looks great here.
Speaker A
So, we arrived, one might say, in the heart of the Skolkovo landscaping, there is some pond with amazing paths, a playground, in general, everything is cool.
Speaker A
But we arrived, and what do we see here? Next to us is the most fashionable toilet.
Speaker A
So I often scold Russian landscaping, that they do not think about a person's need to go pee.
Speaker A
In human conditions. Yes, to change the baby's diaper or something else. Well, a person should feel good, after all, it was not in vain that we conquered space, we can now pee normally, not under a tree.
Speaker A
And here in Skolkovo, they say that it is possible. At the same time, the toilet is not some kind of construction booth, look, how nicely they made it, they made such a wooden fence around it.
Speaker A
Beautiful. Such a Scandinavian toilet. Let's see what's inside. Inside, the magic is already slowly disappearing, because there is already some kind of booth, but still, the main thing is that there is a toilet.
Speaker A
So that's it. In Skolkovo, so that no one thinks that they are in Europe, dear comrade resident, you will still have to pee under the tree.
Speaker A
Do not forget your roots. The ramp. I don't know what it is, this is just an illustration of a Skolkovo career.
Speaker A
You are a resident, and you go like that, it’s a Skolkovo springboard, and the toilet doesn't work.
Speaker A
So we arrived at the pond, it's really cool here, I say it without any irony, cool improvement, the only thing that brings us back to the sinful Russian land are these inventory numbers.
Speaker A
So that no one steals the lantern. Because beauty is beauty, and the inventory number is in the most visible place applied by a caretaker with a stencil.
Speaker A
Let's go and see what we have here. Of course, the sign "Swimming is prohibited" This is the ugliest sign one could find, it is here so that you understand, dear comrade, don't look around, don't look at all this beauty,
Speaker A
you're home, don't worry. You’re home. Swimming is prohibited. There’s no place in Russia without and information stand.
Speaker A
On which every tree is counted. So that no one stole a tree. We have all the drawings here.
Speaker A
It is also written what number to call. In case of emergency and fire, in case of violation of public order, an improvement object "Central Park", that’s it.
Speaker A
Only the evacuation scheme is missing. As we know, not even the most fashionable landscaping can do without an evacuation scheme in Russia.
Speaker A
What do we have here? Here are the changing rooms. So scary to go in, hah!
Speaker A
This is awful. Basically, now it's clear, hahah... I got it. Skolkovo innovations. Since the toilet is closed everyone comes to sh*t in the changing room.
Speaker A
In general, the changing room is very strangely made, it is not very clear... There is really a toilet here.
Speaker A
Nano ships roam the nano universe and people just go to sh*t in the changing room in Skolkovo.
Speaker A
Everything is in sh*t. Startups from all over the world, innovations, millions of rubles, but a burdock leaf is still the best thing.
Speaker A
You take it, wipe your *ss with a burdock.. Okay, the main thing is not this.
Speaker A
It is supposed to be a changing room. But we will now digress from the fact that this is a public toilet.
Speaker A
Vova, come here. Guys, this is Vova. Vova will conduct an experiment... We are now setting up an experiment.
Speaker A
You will go here and pretend that you are changing clothes. Go. Well, go and take off your clothes!
Speaker A
Here, look, I'm going, I want to change clothes. Well, I came to the beach after all.
Speaker A
I look - here is the changing room. So I’m walking in... Hey, go change your clothes!
Speaker A
So, I’m coming in... And so I have such a choice. To go right or left.
Speaker A
I don’t know, well, I'll go to the left. Well, I have already went to the right, I will go to the left.
Speaker A
So... - Oh! Go away! How to understand that someone is changing clothes. - Yes, there is sh*t everywhere.
Speaker A
There's really sh*t everywhere. Let’s leave. ****. Skolkovo. How awful! Alright, enough. And here it is beautiful again.
Speaker A
It's beautiful here again. Here in Skolkovo you have either black or white. Here it is amazing and here it is sh*tty.
Speaker A
There’s no between. Like our whole life, guys. In the evening it's amazing and in the morning...
Speaker A
Nice bridge... Hahahah. Well, since the safety regulations are written in blood, as we know ..
Speaker A
And not a single beautiful pond, not a single beautiful landscaping can do without these damn signs.
Speaker A
Therefore, here, of course, they put this sign "Swimming is prohibited". And in winter it was necessary to write that going out on the ice is prohibited.
Speaker A
They put up a stepladder and put a second sign on this sign, well, why bother.
Speaker A
The second one, however, is smaller. There were only A4 pieces of paper. Therefore, the caretaker stuck it on the scotch tape.
Speaker A
And so it remains. Now - the best illustration of how really good spaces are exploited here.
Speaker A
Here is the coolest playground. Is this a trash can? Oh, this is a trash can.
Speaker A
Here, in theory, they probably wanted to sort garbage. But they did not understand how to sort it.
Speaker A
Therefore, it is simple like that... Here we have a workout place, a cool playground with a stunning slide, with nets, very cool.
Speaker A
It's a pity now that my children are not here, otherwise they would be happy to play here.
Speaker A
There are trees. And it's nice to be here. Well, the trees are not Skolkovo's merit, as we know.
Speaker A
No trees are planted in Skolkovo. They seem to be saving money. All the money was spent on investments in startups, trees are not planted. And here they are preserved, these were already existing trees.
Speaker A
There is such a stunning walking loop. On the water. It's all very cool, it's beautiful.
Speaker A
It's beautiful here, when you look, you really have that impression again that you are somewhere in Europe.
Speaker A
Or in America. It is very beautiful here. But over there is a sh*tting site.
Speaker A
It's like salted caramel. It would seem, what the f*ck, why salt caramel, but anyways...
Speaker A
Please, note again, guys, how the street is designed. This is not some densely populated suburb where there should be highways, big roads.
Speaker A
This is such a small town, where there are students, teachers, children, where there should be a comfortable and safe environment.
Speaker A
And least of all you expect to see some kind of highway here, with a bump stop that they put on highways, so that if the truck takes off at a speed of 150 km/h there would be some protection.
Speaker A
There are endless fences again, why, what for? And this sidewalk, you are walking along some kind of highway, it all was designed from scratch.
Speaker A
There was nothing here. They could not make normal streets in an open field. Look how wretched, unpleasant this street is.
Speaker A
Take a look at its profile. Why was it impossible to make some beautiful street, like in France, like in Holland, like in England.
Speaker A
That is, there are a lot of examples of how to make cycling infrastructure, how to make pedestrian paths, it would seem that you are making a city from scratch.
Speaker A
You invite expensive architects here, billions are invested here, money is poured in this project.
Speaker A
These people tell how good everything here is. But there is no toilet, there are no safe crossings, there are no normal sidewalks.
Speaker A
There is no barrier-free environment. That is, we cannot make some basic things. On the one hand, we tell how we are going to fly into space and we have a bunch of some kind of patents, on the other hand we wipe the *ss with a burdock.
Speaker A
And we, friends, are continuing to look for a working toilet in Skolkovo. So far, there are only inventory numbers on the lanterns, and another toilet, also a fabulous fence.
Speaker A
These boards, in general, everything is in the Scandinavian style. Let's see... So, the famous Skolkovo springboard.
Speaker A
A way to success. - Hello! F*ck you! It doesn’t work. It doesn’t work. Maybe we'll get lucky in the next booth?
Speaker A
Let's go. Let's go. Maybe a miracle awaits us in the next booth! Nothing. Toilet doesn't work!
Speaker A
There’s sh*t! Hahaha. *****. They sh*t right here. Behind this chic Scandinavian wall. Sorry friends. And I think why it stinks and flies are flying.
Speaker A
I have an idea. Of course, I am not a Skolkovo resident yet, but I got an idea for a startup.
Speaker A
I would even like to send an application to the Skolkovo website. I want to make working toilets here.
Speaker A
It seems to me that my project is doomed to success and their independent commission must step in and vote unanimously for me, to give me money.
Speaker A
Because it seems to me that everything starts with normal bathrooms. A technopark in Silicon Valley began to be built around Stanford University.
Speaker A
In Russia they decided to go their own way namely, to abandon the idea of building it next to the already existing scientific centers in Novosibirsk or Dubna.
Speaker A
And they built the university from scratch. In 2012, the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology - Skoltech recruited the first students for the pilot master's program.
Speaker A
Massachusetts Institute of Technology took part in its creation. One of the most prestigious universities in the world.
Speaker A
Three years ago Skoltech moved to a new building. Here it is now behind my back.
Speaker A
It was designed by superstars in the world of architecture, a Swiss bureau Herzog & de Meuron.
Speaker A
For you to understand, they designed the Tate Modern gallery in London and Beijing National Stadium.
Speaker A
Better known as the Bird's Nest. Well, in general, they have a lot of cool projects around the world, and actually one of these objects is located in Moscow.
Speaker A
After graduating from Skoltech, someone makes their own startup and becomes a resident of Skolkovo.
Speaker A
Others go to work in Yandex. Only a few dare to engage in science in Russia.
Speaker A
And some pack their bags and go abroad. The rector of the institute Alexander Kuleshov admits - "If you recall, then one of the goals that were set before the launch of Skoltech, was to stop the brain drain.
Speaker A
I can't say that we have completely dealt with it, but we have definitely stopped something.
Speaker A
But the question here is different: the problem is not that they are leaving. The problem is that they do not come back".
Speaker A
The building itself is very cool, it is true that it is not very visible from the street, you need to go inside, where there are such transitions, and so that again no one would forget that we are in Russia,
Speaker A
here are amazing dirty doors and signs - “No parking” and “No entry”. That is, apparently foreigners park here constantly, and Russians want to enter.
Speaker A
Therefore, everyone has their own sign. Also “No smoking”. - We produce 1-2% of all the articles in the world, in international scientific peer-reviewed journals.
Speaker A
Which is little. For example, for example, the United States produces about 25-30 percent of scientific products, and China produces almost the same amount.
Speaker A
If we consider not quantitative, but qualitative indicators, I'm talking about all sciences, all natural sciences, what is produced by Russian scientists is as a rule of a lower level than the average scientific products.
Speaker A
Sounds very strange, scientific products, but nonetheless. In developed countries, quality means those magazines in which our authors are published.
Speaker A
The magazines have their own ranking, it is called the citation index, and as a rule, Russian scientists are published in the worse journals, than colleagues from Western Europe, USA, Japan. Well, for some time now, China.
Speaker A
Well, it's small because we are a small economy, and we have relatively less money here.
Speaker A
That is, it would be strange if we, funding science well, let's just say, according to the residual principle, would suddenly make some wonderful discoveries.
Speaker A
In addition, in principle, there are significantly more scientists around the world than in Russia.
Speaker A
If you view science as a search for the unknown, it is a bit like going to the forest to pick mushrooms.
Speaker A
Of course, it's good if you know where to look, but scientific discoveries are not quite like porcini mushrooms, there are no such special meadows where they grow.
Speaker A
Therefore, it takes a lot of people to search. But at the same time, they must have tools.
Speaker A
Opportunities to do this. In Russia, in fact, the conditions for scientific work are different and they are worse, compared to what is in scientifically developed countries.
Speaker A
So if we have little money, you have little money, and your working conditions are not the best, to put it mildly, then it’s strange to expect you to produce something amazing, it's not that it can't happen at all, it sometimes happens,
Speaker A
it's just likely that it will happen very rarely. And maybe it never will. But on the other hand, a lot of scientists are leaving, for example, from India, until recently, a lot of scientists have left China, mostly to the USA or Western Europe.
Speaker A
In Europe, it’s considered a good practice for a professional scientist, a young Frenchman and an Englishman, it is believed that after defending his Ph.D.
Speaker A
you will go somewhere, most likely to America. You will work there for several years, but then you will have the opportunity to return and engage in some kind of activity at home.
Speaker A
We believe that we can travel to Turkey, and therefore the iron curtain does not exist.
Speaker A
But science is largely done not only in laboratories, but also during informal communication with each other.
Speaker A
There are a lot of conferences for this, and these are not these weird conferences with international participation on promising issues.
Speaker A
This is such a Russian pastime. Yes, these are big serious conferences where everyone knows everyone and everyone knows that you need to come there, you need to talk there there you need to be heard, there you need to go to the bar with people,
Speaker A
and have a drink with them. Careers are made there, there you learn about the latest trends there you get new ideas, there you start collaborations and so on and so forth.
Speaker A
Such conferences usually take place in New England in the United States. New England means the northeastern region, there are such conferences in Colorado, in Italy, in France.
Speaker A
For an average Ivan Ivanovich, a Russian scientist, it is very difficult to get to such a conference, especially now.
Speaker A
He’d need to deal with a whole bunch of procedures visas and so on. It is clear that for scientists of these several dozen countries, which can be considered leading there are no problems of this kind.
Speaker A
I would like to make it all at least a little positive, otherwise everything turns out completely sad.
Speaker A
Maybe those who stayed in Russia settled in Skolkovo and were also able to give the world a cure for cancer?
Speaker A
Or create a working Tesla competitor? Can you name 10 successful projects of the fund right off the bat?
Speaker A
Alas, the majority of Skolkovo residents are little-known companies or even unknown to anyone. They did not take off and may never take off.
Speaker A
But there are pleasant exceptions to be proud of. - By the way, you posted your patents there. - Yeah.
Speaker A
- The idea itself is cool, but the problem is that these photographs of patents, it is clear that no one will see them, and I don’t know what kind of vision you need to see what there is.
Speaker A
It seems to me if you remake them and just write shortly - this patent is this, this and that, it would look more interesting.
Speaker A
- Initially, we were engaged in the development of tests for brain damage, strokes and traumatic brain injury with concussion.
Speaker A
In early 2020, when we learned that the world was facing the COVID-19 problem, we decided to contribute and develop our own test, a rapid test that can determine the presence of antibodies in 5 minutes, IgM IgG.
Speaker A
We started the development, but we had no money at all, that is why we announced a crowdfunding campaign on Boomstarter, and in a week we raised 2.5 million rubles for reagents, we were actually in shock, about the kind of support people gave us,
Speaker A
more than 500 people donated. Some donated 100 thousand rubles. Someone 500 rubles, in general, it was very cool.
Speaker A
After that, we had enough funds to order reagents, we made the development in the shortest possible time, a little over a month.
Speaker A
On June 16th this test was registered in Russia and we started selling it. That is, this is a completely Russian test.
Speaker A
100% of all key test components are produced here in Skolkovo. - This is a test, which they take.. - The white one, yes.
Speaker A
- The PCR test? - Yes. - Either from a drop of blood or from nose.
Speaker A
We have a total of three tests to date. That is, the systems that we have registered and I can show you how we make them.
Speaker A
- How much does one test cost? - It costs about 1,5-2 thousand rubles. - It’s the blood one?
Speaker A
- We have three test options - blood, saliva and the one after vaccination. That is, if someone has got a vaccine, we can determine the level of antibodies in a person.
Speaker A
How protected the person is. Or, for example, to measure whether they should repeat the vaccination.
Speaker A
Well, something like that. - And does someone buy them? Who does these tests? Or is it just people who buy the tests for themselves?
Speaker A
- No, in general, basically 90% are sales to hospitals, clinics, that is, for professional use.
Speaker A
And somewhere less than 10% are pharmacies. - How accurate is it? - Sensitivity is 96%, specificity - 99%.
Speaker A
That is, it is very accurate. As I understand it, all tests are approximately the same, the Koreans are already making them...
Speaker A
- Yes, the main manufacturers in the world are Korea and China. Then goes USA. That's all.
Speaker A
By and large. That is, we are competing in the market... - Well, the principle of work is the same? - The principle is the same.
Speaker A
- It’s not that I will buy a Korean one, and it will be more accurate...?
Speaker A
- I don't think so. Most likely ours will be more accurate than the Korean one. - Why?
Speaker A
- Well, because when we were developing the test, we had time to do better than the Koreans.
Speaker A
- Well, that is your development - what is it in? That is, the design, everything else - it is the same for everyone.
Speaker A
So your development is the reagent? - The main specificity of the test is inside the reagent.
Speaker A
We take gold nanoparticles, conjugate them there with antibodies or an antigen, depending on the test.
Speaker A
We use various other reagents there, and these reagents determine the sensitivity of the test.
Speaker A
- So you have a supreme recipe for this reagent.. - Roughly speaking, we have it a little better than the rest.
Speaker A
But not that it was any different by and large. - How many of these tests do you produce per month?
Speaker A
- Well, now we produce about 100 thousand, more than 100 thousand a month. There were definitely more last year and now we’re getting the CE Mark and we’re looking forward to entering European market.
Speaker A
We are planning to export. - I consider the Skolkovo project a success, firstly, because in Russia there is nothing to compare it with, there are no special analogs here.
Speaker A
There is Innopolis in Kazan, in my opinion. They are all successful in their own way.
Speaker A
PayQR is a payment service. We launched it in 2013, and in 2014 we became residents of Skolkovo.
Speaker A
But we wanted to become residents of Skolkovo, it was part of the strategy, that at one of the stages we will become residents of Skolkovo.
Speaker A
Well, in fact, being a part of Skolkovo it's just saving money. These are very large salary benefits, since our project is absolutely transparent, and the company is 100% legal work, we always paid salaries legally, well, this is real money for us.
Speaker A
The more money we save on taxes, the more money we will spend on the development of the project.
Speaker A
It doesn't make much sense to create Skolkovo analogues, with the continued existence of Skolkovo.
Speaker A
We already have, I repeat, a lot, we have Innopolis in Kazan, this is a very good worthy project.
Speaker A
I think that Skolkovo does not seek to gain any worldwide recognition. In principle, it is known in the world, but it is focused on the Russian market.
Speaker A
- I can say that Skolkovo is a very serious tool in helping Russian startups.
Speaker A
I am truly incredibly grateful to them for the support they gave. Support sequence in investments is insufficiently developed, it is generally a global problem of the Russian market.
Speaker A
What if some startup raised money, well, it's in the pre-seed stage, then further one can accordingly immediately understand, who is the pool of potential investors who will give money for the round A, or who is the pool of more serious investors,
Speaker A
who will give money for the round B. Because now startups in Russia even with the support of Skolkovo are an endless race for money.
Speaker A
- The problem in Russia is that you can pour money at the very beginning, but then it will not lead anywhere.
Speaker A
That is, you invested money in a Russian company, and congratulations, never in your life, well, with rare exceptions, you will get profit from this.
Speaker A
Well, and without receiving profit, respectively, then there is no automatic investment of money back into this early stage.
Speaker A
As a result, of course, this system does not work, because it is a very one-sided system.
Speaker A
I believe that the large corporations that exist now who can buy startups, they behave very tough in the market, and Yandex, Mail, well, now Sberbank has bought a lot of things, but in general they are quite aggressive in the market,
Speaker A
and so it kills, again, this whole early stage. That is, an investor comes and you show him a cool startup, and they think - Yandex will copy it.
Speaker A
Or Yandex will buy it, twist its arms and buy for negligible money. And therefore, there are very big risks due to the fact that the culture, well, in fact, is practically monopoly, the position of Yandex, Mail.ru and now there will be also Sberbank,
Speaker A
it actually kills the market. That is, I believe that now the biggest evil for the startup market is Yandex, to be honest.
Speaker A
Practically due to their monopoly position, they can twist the arms of projects, because there is no one else to sell to.
Speaker A
Congratulations, and if you don’t sell to us, we will copy you. - Well, Skolkovo is not a panacea.
Speaker A
These are just the first steps, the first attempts to form the ecosystem as a whole at the state level.
Speaker A
That is, the venture capital environment in Russia is very, very young, yes. If you take the Silicon Valley, it began to form in the 50s, we essentially began to form as a venture environment, well, in the 2000s, probably.
Speaker A
And accordingly - such a huge handicap, it is impossible to run through so quickly, in 10 years. And say that everything is fine.
Speaker A
Therefore, there are several factors here, firstly, a very small local market. And it is clear that if a product has a potential not local, but also international, it is easier to enter the international market right away.
Speaker A
And from the point of view of some broader recognition, the problem now is, it seems to me that Skolkovo fits very badly into the global ecosystem, let's say.
Speaker A
It is most likely due to the fact that, after all, such a state formation is in fact, state non-profit foundation, and, accordingly, there is a very small network, conditionally there is a fund-to-fund network.
Speaker A
That is, there is a good startup-to-startup network, but the ecosystem-to-ecosystem one is pretty weak.
Speaker A
And it seems to me that this is the part that needs to be developed through the fund, help startups to move to the foreign markets through these connections.
Speaker A
- In Russia, I am absolutely sure, people are.. I don't know, they have excessive admiration for the west, that is, it seems to them that it is easier to do business in the USA, in Europe, it’s not true. In fact, it is much easier to do business in Russia,
Speaker A
Russia is a country of opportunities. I really liked what one of my friends once said, that in fact the first million is much easier to earn in Russia.
Speaker A
The first billion is much easier to make in the United States. Yes, Silicon Valley is an ecosystem, and this ecosystem - it has grown by itself, there are many components in it, first of all there is a get-together of people,
Speaker A
a set of certain values, and in Russia, when they try to build their own “Silicon Valley”, it always starts "We will build a building, this building will be here", and, first of all, of course this approach does not quite work.
Speaker A
Second of all, I don't really believe in any system when... If the children of high-ranking officials want to be somewhere, there is unlikely to be a technological revolution.
Speaker A
This is not because children are wrong or whatever, they can be remarkably educated, wonderful guys, but it’s just that if you’re not hungry, it’s very difficult to build something new.
Speaker A
And some places for well-fed children, they do not result in great innovation. And when you give opportunities to people who are completely restless, people who passionately want to build something, but who have nothing, at this moment breakthroughs occur,
Speaker A
because I fundamentally believe that innovators are such renegades. As I understand it, a nationalistic ecosystem is being built, whose task is innovations within the country, but yes, there is a movement, and these are some special tax and legal regimes,
Speaker A
which Skolkovo gives. That is, Skolkovo provides the same education, well, this is perhaps the most successful Russian project in this area today.
Speaker A
Skolkovo has become a visual embodiment of a simple idea, that it is stupid to fill everything with money, is not enough.
Speaker A
To move from a resource-based economy to an innovative economy, it is necessary to create a favorable investment climate.
Speaker A
Instead of introducing stupid prohibitive laws and scaring away those rare foreign investors, who invest in Russia at their own risk.
Speaker A
Here is just one example of such a stupid prohibition. Since 2016, genetically modified plants cannot be grown in Russia and it is prohibited to breed GMO animals for any purpose other than scientific.
Speaker A
As a result, private investors no longer finance this research, since they will not receive any real embodiment in our country.
Speaker A
And there are a lot of such examples. But the Russian authorities continue to act the old fashioned way.
Speaker A
In September last year, the Ministry of Finance proposed to extend state funding for Skolkovo until 2024.
Speaker A
It is planned to allocate over 11 billion rubles for it annually. And in order to continue to find out what innovations our taxes are spent on, subscribe to my channel, like the videos, press the bell button so as not to miss new episodes.
Speaker A
Bye everyone!
Topics:SkolkovoRussian Silicon ValleyMedvedevinnovationstartupstechnology parkcorruptioninvestmentRussian techSilicon Valley competitor
