Duma to consider legislative guarantees of Skolkovo project.

MOSCOW, July 1 (Itar-Tass) --The State Duma will consider on Thursday
legislative guarantees of the high-tech project in the Moscow suburb of
Skolkovo.
Sources from the Duma committee for economic policy and
entrepreneurship said the first deputy head of the presidential
administration, Vladislav Surkov, Kremlin aide Arkady Dvorkovich, Deputy
Minister for Economic Development Stanislav Voskresensky, co-chairman of
the Skolkovo coordinating council Viktor Vekselberg and others would
address the Duma parliamentary hearings.
"Within the framework of parliamentary hearings we plan to discuss
particularities of the Skolkovo innovation project and work on legislation
connected with that," the head of Duma's special-purpose committee,
Yevgeny Fyodorov, said. "Skolkovo is a new type of business in Russia. It
does not exist as in such in the country yet," he stressed.
"This business is applied science geared to market orders, with
scientific ideas and development selling as rights to technology. The
Russian market economy does not use such a tool as the sale of rights to
technology. Nor do we have an industry based on them," he said.
"Skolkovo should become a school of innovative economy, a factory of
cutting-edge technology, the basis for post-industrial development on the
basis of technology," Fyodorov said.
"Ideally, Skolkovo should become a system that entices people, a place
where one wants to go, that absorbs like a sponge, and this is cannot be
done by an order," President Dmitry Medvedev said during his recent visit
to the United States and Silicon Valley where he familiarised himself with
American experience in this field.
The president said he was hopeful that his visit to Silicon Valley
would send a signal to business to develop innovative technologies in
Russia.
"This does not mean that I call for shaking up business, but it should
help. And in order to do that [attract business], we need examples.
Success stories are very important because some Russian businessmen think
that if it is less than one billion U.S. dollars, it's not a success
story, but a failure," Medvedev said.
"My visit here should give some bearings to our business as to what it
should be doing," he said, adding, "Signs and symbols are very important
in life."
Commercially successful projects cannot be selected by command. "I
have no illusion [on that score]. They should be selected by the market.
Even the most esteemed people who sit on scientific councils should only
set the direction rather then choose specific projects," he said.
"We have learned to create big businesses and spend big sums of money.
It is easier for some representatives of our big business to spend
50,000-100,000 U.S. dollars for their own pleasure than invest them in a
venture project. It's a problem of culture and perception," Medvedev said.
This is why, when creating the Skolkovo high-tech centre, "it is
important not just invite giants like Cisco or Apple over there, because
they will go there anyway just in order to have a presence in Russia, but
it is important that small companies start working there," the president
said.
Medvedev said that one of the most challenging tasks in Skolkovo is
the creation of modern infrastructure.
"One of the biggest problems is infrastructure. In Skolkovo it can be
created from scratch using the experience of developed territories.
Otherwise, we will not succeed," he said.
Another important task is the creation of an appropriate atmosphere.
"This cannot be done by decree. It's about the environment and whether one
can do research, commercialise projects and have a good team. This is more
difficult than filing it with equipment and money," the president said.
He promised that the government would create conditions that should
attract business to Skolkovo, including by offering tax benefits.
Medvedev stressed that tax benefits would be granted only to those
companies that are engaged in innovative activities.
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