There has been much in the news lately about Skolkovo, Russia’s answer to Silicon Valley. In a few days California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, with a delegation of U.S. venture capitalists, will arrive in Moscow and tour Skolkovo as a follow-up to President Medvedev’s trip to Silicon Valley last June. The Governor’s trip will no doubt help showcase California’s and U.S. industry’s interest in cooperating on innovation. At the same time, the newly awarded Nobel Prize winners in Physics, originally from Russia, have joined some of Skolkovo’s critics in panning the idea of a Silicon Valley in Russia.
Many can and have argued that trying to replicate a “Silicon Valley” anywhere else will not work. One voice in the mix is Vivek Wadhwe, a tech entrepreneur, academic, researcher and writer, who recently wrote an excellent piece, Can Russia Build a Silicon Valley? He has publicly shared his belief that Skolkovo is destined for failure, and was therefore surprised when asked to present at the recent Global Policy Forum in Yaroslavl, Russia, billed as the “Russian Davos” and hosted by President Medvedev. In his presentation he highlighted the reasons why Russia would not be able to build a Silicon Valley, but he admits that Russia is not alone. According to Wadhwe, “no other region in the world has been able to replicate Silicon Valley’s success.”
Wadhwe lays out some interesting steps to address the challenges Russia faces in building an innovation hub. First “Russia will need to start leveraging its own strengths to build a unique capability – It is home to some of the best engineers and scientists in the world.” And in Russia engineers and scientists are “often considered national heroes” unlike in the U.S. where they are considered “geeks and nerds.”
At that same forum, other presenters made their recommendations and in one entitled “Birth of a National Innovation System, ” featured in “Modernization of the Russian economy: from theory to practice”, the authors make the case that the “Skolkovo Centre becomes not only a point of entry for transnationals into Russia…but also a key hub for the formation of a national innovation network.”
This innovation network, the realization that the growth of innovation can occur not just in special zones, or cities, but at “regional techno-parks, research universities and business incubators at academic institutes,” has been recognized by the Russian Duma. An amendment to the Skolkovo legislation would extend the benefits of Skolkovo to all regions in Russia. This point was raised in the Technology Breakout section of FRAEC’s meeting of the Russian American Pacific Partnership (RAPP) in mid-September. In their report they stated that “the benefits of the Skolkovo initiative be extended to innovative companies in the Russian Far East” as a way to promote innovation.
It is clear that the US and Russia can work together on many levels to expand and grow innovation in Russia. What I found compelling was Wadhwe’s advice to connect Russia’s engineers with their counterparts in the U.S. He ends with “Imagine the good that can come from stronger ties between the engineers and scientists of all nations: new innovations, solutions to world problems, and more jobs and economic growth.”
Now that is something to think about.
