Why the Skolkovo Russian modernization project has stalled
Oleg Landanov, "Exchange Leader"
Until recently, the Russian public continued to entertain hopes that the famous Skolkovo innovation center would be able to surprise the whole world with the latest achievements of Russian science in the very near future. Contrary to all expectations, no serious result has been achieved in this direction. Authorized representatives of RBC decided to conduct their own investigation in order to find out the reasons for all these failures. At this stage, it is absolutely possible to conclude that the once promising project of Medvedev's modernization has seriously stalled on the spot. Even during its inception, Skolkovo was perceived in a positive way in the West, professional specialists worked on it for a fairly long period of time. On April 18, 2013, the office of the innovation center was searched, and director Seda Pumpyanskaya decided to leave the Foundation. After that, it was already too late to turn to Flint Valley or London for power, because only the lazy one did not write and did not talk about the events that had taken place.
After a sharp decline in investment in the scientific field of activity, it is not entirely tactful to talk about achieving any serious success in this field. The current head of the Russian government, Dmitry Medvedev, has repeatedly said that Skolkovo is his brainchild. Judging by preliminary calculations, about 75 billion rubles were spent on the development of innovative activities, which absolutely did not pay for themselves.
The project itself began to experience serious problems almost immediately after Dmitry Anatolyevich resigned from the post of head of state. This was followed by regular inspections carried out by law enforcement agencies and auditors, who periodically revealed serious shortcomings in the work of the center. The overall situation was significantly affected by the devaluation of the national currency, high inflation and external economic sanctions. Under such conditions, only the most outspoken optimists could count on scientific success.
Dmitry Medvedev signed the federal law "On the Skolkovo Innovation Center" on September 28, 2010, after which the whole story received its serious development. Earlier, the media suggested that this center could be located in St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Obninsk and Dubna. One of the founders of the Skolkovo School of Management expresses confidence that it was Medvedev who insisted on the presented site in the west of Moscow. Initially, the President advocated the construction of many additional innovative facilities in these territories. The above law initially provided for many preferences. In general, it was supposed to allocate 121.6 billion Russian rubles from the federal budget for the creation of innograd. They even decided to appoint a foreign specialist to the position of the head of a holistic project, but the corresponding decision immediately faced a ban from the Kremlin. In general, disputes and disagreements continued, and scientific activity still stood still. The state bet was placed on domestic entrepreneurs specializing in large investments.
The example was taken from the USAThe business publication "Exchange Leader" points to the obvious fact that American science is still far away from the latest Russian achievements.
It is now false propaganda that isolates an aggressive state, and 5 years ago an impressive delegation from the Russian Federation went to Boston to study the main technological institute of the United States of America. It was he who was initially chosen as a model for the subsequent discovery of the Russian analogue. The delegation then included Elvira Nabiullina, Alexei Kudrin, Anatoly Chubais, Sergei Sobyanin, as well as Igor Shuvalov. All of them did not hide that they crossed the ocean in order to learn from the experience of their American colleagues. The starting configuration of the Boston Institute is quite similar to the analogue in Skolkovo. The Russians also wanted to create a full-fledged center on the basis of which it would be possible to create and develop the successes achieved.
Subsequently, MIT finally became not only a model, but also a full-fledged partner of Skolkovo. The Russian Scientific Council has repeatedly opposed such cooperation. According to the authorized officials, the conclusion of a contract with American specialists automatically meant spending significant amounts of money. Also, not everyone liked the fact that overseas representatives were obliged to take part in the development of the concept of the institute. Skoltech professors actively talked about the fact that they themselves can cope with the tasks assigned to them, but time has put everything in its place. Even with the active American assistance, the Russian innovation center was not able to impress the world community with its impressive achievements at all. Not only external objective circumstances are to blame for everything, but also serious internal problems in the not too developed Russian scientific activity.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru24.03.2015