silicon-valley

Hopes are pinned that the very first residents of coming Silicon Valley of Russia move into their premises by 2014. It is a Moscow suburb which is site of Russia’s version of Silicon Valley. Skolkovo district has been selected by the Russian authorities and administration as site for a huge science park. Government is planning to invest around billions of dollars into nation’s technology industry. Geographically, it is a drowsy sleepy, rural area around 20 kilometres west of central Moscow, where wealthy Russians have dachas, or holiday homes. The park will be constructed on land owned by Russia’s ministry of agriculture near the village of Nemchinovo. At this small place there is a bus stop and kiosk selling newspapers and snacks.

However, to make it an IT city and venture government has purposed many attractions as Tax breaks and funding is proposed for selected companies. The project is also autonomous with its own water and power supplies - amenities that can often be frustrating to secure for Russian companies. The Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg is in charge of the place and hopes to have Noble Prize winners from that place. Moreover, a new business school is into making at the corner of Nemchinovo, with upmarket houses and flats nearby. Konstantin Sonin, a professor of economics at the New School of Economics in Moscow, though optimistic about the potential of the project yet has warned, “there is a danger that it will go the old Russian way - everything that is going to be built is going to involve a lot of corruption and bribery that will drive up the cost of everything”.

The city is under construction on hopes that one day it would become home to companies like as Kaspersky Lab that is one of the a few international Russian technology firms. Kaspersky Lab was started without any government help in the 1990s. Its co-founder, Natalya Kaspersky expressed his opinion on this project. “We do not have a long history of business experience here in Russia and there are not plenty of funds ready to invest in technology,” she says. “So, without government help it is hard to get started.”