Νew Technologies and Innovation Development in Russia

MOSCOW, July 15 (RIA Novosti) – The Russian government approved a roadmap Monday for the domestic IT industry in an apparent move to boost the country's development in innovative spheres and diversify the economy away from raw material exports.
The roadmap for 2013-2018, developed by the Communications Ministry on the orders of President Vladimir Putin, stipulates the development of IT research, infrastructure and specialist training and the creation of tax and legal benefits for IT companies, the website Digit.ru reported on Monday.
“The IT sector needs a breakthrough. We need to raise the level of education in the IT sector, expand research in this sphere – both with the help of domestic higher education establishments and scientific organizations, and by creating new world-class research centers – as well as improve new mechanisms for supporting the IT business and exports of Russian high-tech products,” Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told a government meeting on Monday.
“As a result, IT growth rates should exceed Russia’s average GDP growth at least threefold; this is what we can legitimately count on,” Medvedev said.
Russia’s GDP grew only 3.4 percent last year – the lowest figure since the deep recession of 2009 – on weak demand for Russian exports in Europe.
The number of high-performance IT jobs should exceed 600,000 by 2018 and the output and export of domestic IT products and IT services should have doubled by that time, the premier said.
Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov, who was present at the government meeting, said Russia’s IT exports were expected to grow from $4.4 billion in 2012 to $9 billion by 2018, according to Digit.ru.

Technopolis GS is a unique private innovation cluster in the Kaliningrad region, which creates an ideal environment for the initiation, development and implementation of innovative ideas. Technopolis GS includes production zones, a research center, a business incubator and a residential area. GS Group is the general investor and initiator of the project. The project aims to establish close cooperation between Russian science and economics, as well as creating conditions for talented young Russian professionals to achieve self-fulfilment and benefit their country. Technopolis GS is located on in a special economic zone in the Kaliningrad region.

Technopolis GS is a modern city where high-tech plants successfully operate, a comfortable infrastructure is being built, and a favourable environment for self-fulfilment and continuous growth for both technical and creative professionals is being formed. Together they make up the so-called "creative class", a layer in a society thinking in terms of the future and creating it now.

The objective of the project is to create a new effective pole of innovative development for Russia.

Technopolis GS includes:

a production area: the large-scale production of innovative Russian products;
a scientific research centre: a platform for the generation of new ideas,  and project development by talented Russian specialists;
a business incubator and venture fund: the conditions for the establishment and growth of prospective young businesses based on the projects developed by Russian and foreign teams, idea generators;
an education Center: for training specialists for the Technopolis;
a residential zone: a European style landscaped community;
Complexes with cultural and recreational facilities and offices for residents: consumer, cultural, recreational infrastructure supporting the lifestyle of the creative class, plant workers, residents and visitors to Technopolis.

Technopolis GS enterprises:

GS Nanotech is a micro and nano-electronics research and production centre. Its production capacity is 10 million microchips per year. This is the only Russian company providing encapsulating services to foreign customers. GS Nanotech production will allow for the packaging and testing of memory modules, single-chip and multichip microprocessors and other electronic components in PBGA, PQFN packages and others.
The public company “NPO “Digital Television Systems” is a contractual production site which provides services for the surface mounting of motherboards and electronic equipment assembling. This plant is the largest radio-electronic production facility in Russia.
LLC “Prankor” is a manufacturer of TV antennas and frames. Its production is unique for the North-West region of Russia with production output per month of more than 300 thousands items.
The First Cardboard Factory is a modern enterprise producing a wide range of products from corrugated cardboard.
IHBF “White Key” is an integrated house-building factory, a manufacturer of comfortable and affordable cottages planned individually with modular technology. Built to produce affordable and comfortable accommodation in the Kaliningrad region, the plant assembles houses, decorates, puts together furniture and sanitary ware sets in an industrial setting.
The following objectives have been achieved in the Technopolis today:

integrated economic development of the Technopolis, the improvement of its social infrastructure, the creation of conditions for encouraging innovative activities;
development and expansion of the electronic industry cluster. Technopolis GS will include seven high-tech factories, five of which have already been built and are operating;
the testing of a model of innovative development for a small Russian city which can later be used to rebuild the economy of other small towns in the country;
The Technopolis has created new jobs. The number of employees working at the plants exceeds 2,000 people (as of December 1, 2012). There are plans to create at least 1,500 new jobs in the main production and 1,500 in the service sector.

Project background

In 2007, in Gusev, for the first time in Russia, was established a production of set-top boxes for receiving satellite and terrestrial television broadcasts. Several months later, the General Satellite Corporation started building a plant in Gusev to manufacture household electronics products. The agreement between the mayor of Gusev, Nikolay Tsukanov, and the president of the General Satellite Corporation, Andrey Tkachenko, was signed in 2008, in order to create a modern industrial park in the city. The idea was approved by local authorities and was presented at the International Investment Forum "Sochi-2008".
The decision to locate the new production facilities in Gusev, according to Andrey Tkachenko, was made for two reasons. First, the experience of the first similar plant that had been working in Gusev as part of the special economic zone - the official residence of the Corporation - was successful. Second, the administration of the city took a great interest in cooperation for the creation of Technopolis and in a comprehensive solution to the problem of the territory development.

In 2009, two plants, JSC NPO Digital Television Systems (DTS) and Prankor, Ltd., were run - their products have no analogues in Russia. The plants produce set-top boxes for receiving the satellite and terrestrial TV broadcasts, and the production conveyor ensures a complete production cycle: starting with the motherboard and all the way up to the case and the satellite antennas as well. Formerly, most of these devices in the Russian market were imported, usually from China.

Project mission

To create in Gusev a new effective pole for innovative development of Russia.
Project objectives

comprehensive economic development of Gusev, improving its social infrastructure, creating conditions for the development of innovative activity in the city and transformation of Gusev into a Technopolis toward 2013.
establishing in Gusev a radio-electronics industry cluster. The Project envisages the construction of 5 high-tech industries, 2 of which are already running.
testing an innovative model of small cities development in Russia, which can be applied to revive other towns in the country, according to the Project results.
Investments

Total investments in the Project (2008–2013): 5 billion rubles.
Until the February 2010, invested: 1,5 billion rubles.

Technopolis area

400 hectares. Over 3000 jobs.

Project milestones

2009:
— Opening the Plant for the household radio-electronics products' manufacture;
— Commissioning the Plant for manufacturing metal and plastic products by stamping.

2010:
— Opening a Factory for the production of corrugated cardboard and packaging;
— Commissioning the House-Building Plant.

2011:
— Erection of the first stage of the cottage settlement in Gusev;
— Commissioning the social and business center of Technopolis.

2012:
— Inaugurating a microelectronics Factory (microprocessors assembly and casing);
— Construction of the second stage of the cottage settlement in Gusev;
— Integrated land improvement and social infrastructure construction;
— Opening a branch of SPSU, organization of educational and research process at the University's Education and Research Complex.

2013:
— Inaugurating a printed circuit board producing Plant;
— Setting on foot a Customs Warehouse.

The anticipated outcomes of the Project

Development of new industries in Gusev
-Household radio-electronics manufacturing Plant
-Television antennas and case manufacturing Plant
-Corrugated cardboard and packaging producing Factory
-House-Building Plant
-Microelectronics Plant.

Creation of Educational and Scientific Research Center
-Design Bureau
-University Educational and Scientific Park (UESP)
-Venture Fund for supporting and implementing research and development accomplished both within Technopolis and outside of it
-Business Incubator – Industrial Park (BII).

Social and economics outcomes for the city and region
-increase the level and quality of life for the city and district residents;
-strengthening innovation and business activity in the Kaliningrad region;
-creating in Gusev a new Kaliningrad region growth pole.[11]

National-scale results
-formation of a modern radio-electronics industry cluster that can be an engine of innovation development of the branch;
-testing an innovative model of development of small cities in Russia according to the example set by Gusev;
-formation of a complex enterprise that can provide for the mobile digitalization of Russian TV;
-creating an innovative growth pole and attracting Russian and foreign investments into domestic high-tech industry;
-formation of Russia's image as a technologically advanced country.

The Los Angeles-based University of Southern California (USC) has plans to collaborate with the Skolkovo innovation hub, the Skolkovo Foundation announced last week.

Charles McKenna, professor of chemistry and vice dean for natural sciences at USC, is reported to have visited Skolkovo’s main techno-park last week to take a look at its microanalysis and prototyping lab, talk to executives at Skolkovo and Skoltech (Skolkovo University for Science and Innovation), and also meet residents of Skolkovo’s biomed cluster doing research in areas that are of interest for the American university.

According to Mr. McKenna, during his visit he purposed to assess and agree upon prospects for collaboration, especially in the area of start-up development and research activity. As the USC vice dean put it after his meetings, the partners want to jointly create “a new chemical compound in innovation development.”

MOSCOW, July 24 (RIA Novosti) – A decision to set up a branch of Russia’s Skolkovo high-tech hub in Belarus will be made before the end of this year, the secretary of the Russia-Belarus union state said Wednesday.
“We discussed the issue of creating a Skolkovo branch in Belarus as a structure that would work jointly with Skolkovo on innovation projects,” Grigory Rapota said.
“There is a strict instruction to resolve this issue before the end of this year, and I believe it will be resolved.”

Skoltech, Skolkovo’s university of education and technology, has launched its second Center for Science, Innovation and Education to focus on advanced hydrocarbon exploration and production technologies, the Skolkovo Foundation website announced.

A classic example of private-public partnership, the Center will focus on a variety of segments, including hydrocarbon exploration and production; geothermal energy; and carbon dioxide sequestration aimed at isolating carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and reducing the greenhouse effect. The Center will be expected to meet specific technology needs that Russian oil and gas producers have.

The Attorney General’s Office of Russia has discovered new embezzlement cases in the operation of the Skolkovo Foundation, RBC daily reported, citing a source in the Office.

The prosecutors who have conducted a thorough investigation indicate multiple cases of “unrestricted spending” and a “lack of diligence” in the work of some executives at the foundation that runs the development and operation of Skolkovo, Russia’s government-sponsored innovation hub just outside Moscow.

“The Skolkovo Foundation management has failed to ensure proper supervision of the ‘innovation city’ development project, which has resulted in unrestricted and way too excessive squandering of funds to the detriment of the state,” the Attorney General’s Office pointed out.

The prosecutors estimate that unwarranted spending, including new large-scale embezzlement, has cost Russia’s federal coffers an astronomical $4bn.

Appercode, a project developed by a resident of Novosibirsk’s Academpark in Siberia, was pronounced the winner of te federal BIT tech project competition. The news came last week during Moscow’s international Open Innovations forum, the Academpark website announced.

Appercode has developed a platform to create mobile apps interfaces, which is said to enable a three-to-five time reduction of the time and cost of developing such interfaces for the iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Windows 8 powered devices without any loss in their quality. The project is reported to have outshone more than 1,500 other contenders for the first prize from 80 cities of Russia and the former Soviet Union.

A reported 64 projects have applied for participation in an innovation project competition being held by the authorities of the Yamal-Nenets region in Northwest Siberia, Alliance-Media reported.

Most applications reportedly came from the IT and tourism sectors (13 and nine projects, respectively).

In addition, regional innovators are seeking government support in pushing their projects in food and light industries, ecology, energy saving and alternative energy, public utilities, housing construction in the Extreme North conditions, transportation, and road building.

Alexander Korsakov, a young scientist at Ural Federal University (UrFU) in Yekaterinburg, has been awarded this year’s Russian Youth Prize for Nanotechnology for the development of brand new fiber optic probes for infrared interferometer spectrometers, the UrFU press service announced.

Developed just recently, the new probes have already been put into production at UrFU’s Innovation Infrared Fiber Technologies Center.

An automated eco-friendly and energy-efficient coal burning project, developed by EcoEnergia in Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk, has got to the top of the new Russian Startup Rating (RSR), the KRITBI innovation business incubator announced. EcoEnergia is a resident of this Krasnoyarsk-based incubator.

The project has been given a ranking of AA-90, which means “high probability of success.”

All projects, screened in accordance with a special RSR methodology, fell into three categories: new materials and equipment (High-Tech), biotechnology and medicine (BioMed), and IT, including Internet and mobile start-ups.

EcoEnergia ranked among the leaders in the High-Tech category. Its project aims to create an automated system that pre-treats and helps burn at thermal power stations the coals of the Kansk-Achinsk Coal Basin in Siberia.

Over the next ten years the Ulyanovsk Nanotech Center in the mid-Volga area wants to launch as many as 96 new start-ups generating about $1.4bn in aggregate revenue, Alliance-Media reported, citing a statement by Governor Sergei Morozov of the Ulyanovsk region.

The governor announced the plans during the Open Innovations international forum that was held last week in Moscow.

The recently launched Ulyanovsk Nanotech Center in the mid-Volga area is supporting about 30 high-tech projects, regional news agency Media 73.ru reported.

According to Andrei Redkin, the CEO of the Center, an overall investment the company has raised so far is already twice the amount the Ulyanovsk region once paid to build the Center.

The region allocated about $6m. The overall tab for the project ran up to almost $40m, with Rusnano, Russia’s nanotech giant, providing most of the funds.

Scientists from St. Petersburg and Silicon Valley are collaborating to grow super-thin nanodiamond film to be used in new generation electronics, the Vesti TV website reported.

The research is being conducted on the premises of St. Petersburg State Electrical Engineering University, a leading educational and R&D hub bearing the historical abbreviation of LETI. Based on microscopic films and nanodiamonds, which the scientists grow right in their labs, the team wants to lay the foundation for brand new computers and mobile phones.

Sberinvest, an investment arm of Sberbank, Russia’s largest savings bank, has unveiled plans to assist the Kaluga region in Central Russia in developing its innovation bioindustry segment in agriculture. An agreement has been reached between the company and the region’s agricultural authorities, Sberinvest announced.

Four more Russian regions will receive over $60m in federal co-funding by the end of next year to build their own high-technology techno-parks, as Russia’s eight-year techno-park funding program continues, the Russian Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications announced last week following the completion of its open tender for Russia’s regions.

This time, the winning regions include Moscow, the Sverdlovsk and Penza regions (in the Urals and in Central Russia, respectively), and the Republic of Mordovia in the mid-Volga area.

Rusnano, Russia’s largest nanotech company, has shut down Nitol, its poly-Si production project in the Irkutsk region in Siberia which has brought multibillion ruble loss, Russian business daily Vedomosti reported.

According to Anatoly Chubais, the president of Rusnano, Rusnano’s decision to close the Nitol project in the town of Usolye Sibirskoye has been backed by the Russian Government.

However, Rusnano will continue to tap into renewable energy technologies and is expected to launch a new project in Usolye to manufacture components for solar generation equipment. This will be a focus on much deeper processing rather than just making raw material which Nitol did, Mr. Chubais said.

The decision to start a new endeavor stems from the Russian Government’s recently adopted seven-year strategy aimed at supporting renewable energy in this country. The $230m effort is expected to have an IRR of 31%, Rusnano reckons.

flamming_python wrote:L0L

$4 billion? Not bad, not a bad heist they pulled off at all.

Somehow, I had my doubts that this sort of highway robbery was still possible in Russia today; for a project with so many international connections and investors, and with such a high-profile, aiming to show the 'new Russia'. Hell, Medvedev even took the trouble to appoint one of Russia's richest men to head it, Viktor Vekselberg, undoubtedly under the logic that since he already has so much money he wouldn't bother trying to steal a bit more.

Well I see I've been proved wrong.

I guess what's encouraging, is that it's been uncovered, and the guilty parties (at least some of them), will be punished.

Inter RAO, one of Russia’s leading electrical energy companies with a broad international presence, announced last week that it is developing innovation technologies to cut its operation costs.

On the premises of the Kostroma Heat and Power Station in Central Russia, the energy giant has launched its innovation start-up called “Inter RAO – Coating Application Center.” This is the first project brought to fruition by Energy Without Borders, an R&D fund set up by Inter RAO back in 2011.

Sibtochmash, an industrial developer in Omsk, in Siberia, is pushing its technology to manufacture nanoceramics-based parts of any complexity, portal Innovanews.ru reported.

Using their new proprietary method is said to enable the processing of ceramics, a fairly fragile material, into a nanomodified material strong enough to be used even in the defense sector.

For example, the Siberian company manufactures turbine blade rods, a kind of product that has never before been made from ceramics.

Igor Zinkin, the CEO of Sibtochmash, has strong faith in ceramics as a material of the future to be eagerly sought in the market.

The company is also developing a 3D printer to work with ceramics; the printer is currently being tested.

Roselectronica, the federal umbrella company for Russia’s radio electronics manufacturers, is setting up Electronica-Siberia, an R&D and production cluster bringing together four Siberian assets, Roselectronica announced.

The new cluster will feature three Novosibirsk-based radio electronics companies, including NPO Vostok, the Oksid radio component factory and the semiconductor instrument maker, as well as the Research Institute of Semiconductor Instruments in the neighboring city of Tomsk.

The three Novosibirsk assets will be integrated on one industrial platform, for which a new production complex is being built in the region, and the existing facilities are being revamped.

Energoprom, a sizable Russian industrial group which is part of international Renova Group run by Viktor Vekselberg, has agreed with SIGMA.Novosibirsk, a new nanotech center in Siberia, on joint implementation of new carbon material development projects, Delovoy Kvartal – Novosibirsk reported last week.

In addition, the partners are reportedly in talks over the setup of an engineering company that would focus on Energoprom’s main R&D areas, including the development of anode material for lithium-ion storage batteries, new graphite/carbon components for aerial contact wires used by electric public transport, large siliconized graphites for nuclear energy and metallurgic projects, and others.

A new high tech production line is being set up in Mordovia’s city of Saransk, in the mid-Volga area, to manufacture polycrystalline silicon, silicon wafers, photocells and solar modules for solar energy projects, the official website of the Mordovia government announced.

The new line will be launched on the premises of Electrovypryamitel, a local factory in Saransk.

Tatarstan in the mid-Volga area may expect a new Russo-Saudi project over the next two years, aimed at developing Russian-based production of world-class glass reinforced plastic pipes, announced Compozit, a Russian developer and manufacturer of composite material based products and the Russian partner in the international project.

Scientists in Tyumen, in Northwest Siberia, are developing “an artificial brain.” The actual implementer of the project is TASO, a resident of the local high technology park, announced the official website of Tyumen State University, the parent organization for TASO.

TASO is a high-tech developer of artificial cognitive systems. It was set up two years ago by a team of neural networks and software developers associated with Tyumen State University.

The company hopes to create a brand new class of artificial cognitive systems that it refers to as “TASO NeuroLEGO.” This is expected to become an engineering system capable of learning new knowledge, recognizing images, analyzing information it receives, and ultimately having the ability to ‘

President Vladimir Putin of Russia wants the Russian Government to consider changing the very principle of funding scientific research. His decree was published on January 15 on the Kremlin website among other presidential statements made in the wake of the December 20, 2013 meeting with members of the Presidential Council for Science and Education.

“For the purposes of optimizing the use of budgetary funds” the Russian Cabinet is now expected to develop a mechanism of financing fundamental research primarily through targeted budgetary grants rather than funds allocated for broad national programs, according to the decree.

In addition, Mr. Putin wants the Cabinet and the Russian Academy of Sciences to develop, by May 1, suggestions for a program of increasing salaries for scientists who “have achieved exceptional results in their research.”

Also, the Russian Ministry of Science and Education is expected to develop mechanisms of government support for Russia’s scientific journals.

Scientists at the Moscow-based Lebedev Physical Institute (LPI) have developed a device to get nanopowder from metal oxides and carbon, a material useful in a range of sectors, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.

A research team led by Dr. Mishik Kazarian is said to have designed and made an operational prototype of a system enabling acoustoplasma discharge in liquids, which is a powerful electrical discharge that alters the properties of plasma when acted upon by some external ultrasound ‘irradiation,’ thus causing an increased rate of particle transfer in electrodes.

DisplAir, the inventor of an interactive airborne display with full-scale multi-touch support based in Astrakhan, in the Lower Volga, has decided to scrap its old display production strategy and move to licensing its own technologies to other companies, innovation news portal Venture Business News reported.

As was aired most recently, an unaffordable level of expenses required to set up shop has prompted the Astrakhan developer to opt for an effort to improve the technology and start licensing it for use by other companies in their consumer products. In this new strategy, DisplAir is closing its office in Astrakhan, leaving only its R&D department to go on with the project.

“The board of directors fully supports the company’s new strategy and is ready to render as much assistance as needed to keep it going,” said Alexander Chachava, a managing partner at LETA Capital, a Russian VC fund, and board member at DisplAir.

Sputniks (Satellite Innovation Space Systems), a private Russian aerospace systems developer and resident of Skolkovo’s space and IT cluster, has launched in Moscow its ground-based data reception and microsatellite control complex. At the moment, the complex is being tested when receiving signals from third-party satellites, the Skolkovo Foundation website reported.

Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) in Siberia announced last week the launch of its new web-based catalog, inno.tpu.ru, describing the university’s best innovation projects and providing contact information about the developers. This is a bilingual website, with all the main project data fully available in English as well.

As of today, the new website highlights about a hundred projects in various fields, and the list will be updated and augmented on a regular basis, TPU promises.

The catalog contains what TPU considers its scientists’ most advanced innovation solutions. They are structured and featured using a user-friendly interface.

Each solution page on the website has visualization functionality and offers a concise, yet fairly exhaustive summary explaining what goals the project pursues, what technical characteristics and specific competitive advantages are, and what the current status of project development is.

Using sophisticated interactive functionality one can contact the developers of each of the projects listed. Customers, both current and potential, can not only familiarize themselves with existing projects but also fill out an online form to request research that they specifically need.

The solutions listed on the new website cover eight research areas, including biotechnology and medical instruments; rational use of natural resources; IT and instrument making; surface modification and new materials; nondestructive inspection; water purification; energy and energy saving; and mechanical engineering.

In addition, inno.tpu.ru offers users TPU’s plans for participation in technology exhibitions and contact information for TPU spin-off companies, and also enables people to establish business relationships with the Siberian university’s leading scientists.

The TPU department behind the initiative is its Tech Transfer Center, an intermediary between university developers and potential customers.

According to the Tech Transfer Center, the new website is pursuing a dual goal of promoting TPU researchers’ products across the globe and also helping the developers themselves. TPU scientists can tap into the opportunities that inno.tpu.ru offers to get help in pushing their projects, doing marketing studies, and developing their innovation businesses.

zino wrote:T-Platform redeemed

for the joy of our hi-tech experts!  

http://expert.ru/expert/2014/04/russkie-vse-taki-idut/

Kudos to the american agencies in that case!

Regardless of the reasons that led to the inclusion of "T-Platforms" in the U.S. blacklist, it is clear that the preservation of our industry and depending on the goodwill of Defense Americans and their allies makes our technological sovereignty quite arbitrary. This dependence exists in almost all sectors of industry innovation - from machine tools to microelectronic chips. And this dependence should be overcome.

the most critical technologies should be developed within the country."

AlfaT8 wrote:

zino wrote:T-Platform redeemed

for the joy of our hi-tech experts!  

http://expert.ru/expert/2014/04/russkie-vse-taki-idut/

Kudos to the american agencies in that case!

Very interesting, from what i have been able to make out of the rough google translation it seems that the company plans to fight to the end.

This quote summarized the article nicely.

Regardless of the reasons that led to the inclusion of "T-Platforms" in the U.S. blacklist, it is clear that the preservation of our industry and depending on the goodwill of Defense Americans and their allies makes our technological sovereignty quite arbitrary. This dependence exists in almost all sectors of industry innovation - from machine tools to microelectronic chips. And this dependence should be overcome.    

Although this quote is interesting to.

the most critical technologies should be developed within the country."

Not sure which country, but i am hoping it's Russia.

I've mentioned this before, and i find Russia's development in the area of computer electronics to be abysmal, at least when it comes to the civil industry, where is Russia's Intel, Nvidia or AMD, i know MCST Elbrus is around, but i just don't see them making much of an effort to compete with the big players, i mean hell even there own military has started importing toughbooks and such from abroad and in a number of cases even using Windows systems for them, listen i am not saying that Russia should produce everything locally, but not being able to produce your own computer equipment indigenously would in the near future lead to the countries demise.

Overall i hope Russia doesn't miss the train this time as we begin transitioning from digital to quantum computing.

Robotized mining machinery will become a Russian reality in 2017 already, claimed Kliment Trubetskoi, a Russian academician and the mastermind behind the Smart Quarry project. The Skolkovo Foundation website quoted him as saying that last week at a ceremony, receiving the Demidov Prize, one of Russia’s most respected awards in R&D and industry.

The Smart Quarry project calls for the full automation and robotization of Russia’s mining sector.

The effort was supported in the summer of 2013 with a $600,000+ grant from the Skolkovo Foundation. The recipient of the grant was VIST Mining Technology, a resident of Skolkovo’s IT cluster developing Mr. Trubetskoi’s idea into an actual business project.

According to Dmitry Klebanov, VIST’s director for development, the company added to the grant its own funds to finance the further development of its IT-enabled driverless rock haulers and remotely controlled handling machinery for open-cast mines.

In early May 2013, the company announced the completion of a series of successful testing of VIST’s first self-contained BelAZ truck robot.

VIST’s R&D plans include the development and testing of the beta version of its special software. The Skolkovo resident is also expected to continue the development of methodology and special software for the servicing of self-contained machinery and the creation of mathematical algorithms for automating an excavator and boring rig’s operation.

Longer-term plans include partnerships in developing safety rules for companies running self-contained machinery in mining.

The Penza regional government in the mid-Volga area is expecting to launch by this coming September what the administration refers to as “IT Village,” Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing Governor Vasily Bochkaryov of Penza.

The IT Village has been announced as an advanced information technology college for senior high school students to open on the premises of the region’s boarding school-lyceum for gifted children. As the project unfolds, the future college will have both IT and biotechnology to focus on, Governor Bochkaryov thinks.

“We may get a plus to our image by both helping kids develop their talent and promoting software products to be used in our construction, industries, and agriculture,” he said.

According to the governor, the IT Village project will encourage the setup of small innovation companies. Longer-term plans are to admit gifted children from other regions to the college as well.

Scientists in Irkutsk, in Siberia, have come up with a device that enables people to charge their cell phones and other mobile gadgets when walking on the city streets, the Skolkovo Foundation website reported.

The device called AeroGreen has been developed at a local company, Aeroenergotech, and Yuri Kriulin, one of the alumni of Irkutsk State Technical University (ISTU) is reported to have been the key inspirer behind the effort.

It is a wind-solar unit capable of collecting solar and wind energy and transmitting it by wire into mobile phones, tablets, or laptops. Power in your phone is off suddenly, but you need to make an urgent call? The AeroGreen is expected to help you within minutes, and you won’t have to pay for that, the developer claims.