President Dmitry Medvedev opened the meeting of the Commission for Modernization and Technological Development of Russia’s Economy in Tomsk by announcing that he had ordered the creation of an analog to Silicon Valley in Russia – a Research and Development Center that was to become a test site for the implementation of new technologies.
The President requested the heads of major companies present at the meeting to submit “breakthrough projects” in their industries proposing the development of fundamentally new, state-of-the-art products within two months.
The President emphasized that the time had come for private business to join forces with the government to achieve a common goal – to modernize the country.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev: “To put it bluntly, private business always has a lot of complaints about the government. Many of these complaints are justified. But in fact, it’s abundantly clear that the government has shown itself to be a reliable partner in the crisis. The government has not left private companies to the mercy of fate.
And today when we speak about the problems of innovative modernization of the economy, I hope we’ll be able to understand one another and formulate a plan of specific measures and policy bases for the long-term outlook.”
