The Elecard Group, a Tomsk, Siberia based provider of software products for audio and video data compression, encoding and transmission, has launched the production of an innovative home multimedia device, RIA Novosti reported last Friday.
The new device, named Elecard iTelec, will combine a digital TV receiver with a payment terminal as well as access to e-government and other interactive services.
The components of the device are provided by Taiwanese and Chinese partners of Elecard Group.
Elecard is a resident of the Tomsk Special Economic Zone, a government sponsored industrial platform to promote foreign direct investment in the region.
Located 3500 km from Moscow, the Tomsk region has a rapidly growing high tech sector. Innovative production in the region, including a hefty 50% coming from universities and research institutes, generated over 40 billion rubles, approximately $1.4 billion, in 2010, a figure that translates to 15% of the gross regional product. The share of high tech production in the economy of the region was below 1% just ten years ago, Governor Viktor Kress said in an innovation conference earlier this year.
Nokia Siemens Networks and Micran, a producer of microwave telecommunication and measurement equipment, launched the production of LTE base stations in Tomsk earlier this month.
