The Communications’ Ministry has announced that more than $60 million of federal money will be given to four Russian regions to fund the development of their technoparks up to the end of 2014.
Moscow is to receive $10 million, while Sverdlovsk Oblast, which has Yekaterinburg as its capital, will get $22 million. Penza Oblast, in the Volga region, will get a further $22 million, while its northern neighbor, Mordovia, will get $11 million.
Mordovia’s technopark has already received significant government support, with $40 million from the federal budget being sent their way from 2007 to 2012. Penza also previously obtained $13 million technopark funding.
The decision to hold a competition for the future funding of technoparks came after a recent Communications’ Ministry investigation found that only 3 out of the 11 regions that received technopark funding since 2007 had managed to achieve even 75% of their goals.
In light of this, only the Samara and Novosibirsk regions (home to the Z-Valley and Akadempark technoparks) had their funding up until the end of 2014 guaranteed by the government, while the other 9 regions had to enter a competition to secure further funding.
The goal is to create 11 hi-tech clusters spread across Russia by the end of 2014, covering a total area of 300,000 square metres. The government hopes that they will host 800 hi-tech companies, and provide work for 20,000 specialists, generating over $1 billion per year.
8 of the 11 technoparks to be built within the program are now up and running: Kuzbass in Kemerovo Oblast, Akadempark in Novosibirsk, IT Park and Himgrad in Kazan, IT Park in Naberezhnye Chelny, Z-Valley in Samara and other centres in Tyumen and Mordovia. Penza’s technopark is expected to open before the end of the year.
Source: RIA Novosti / Digit.ru
