The Russia’s government has signed an anti-crisis plan to restructure the economy in part through innovations, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich told a meeting of regional officials on Wednesday.
Russian news agency TASS reported that plan will require 1.375 trillion rubles (approximately $20 billion at the current exchange rate), including budget expenditures, state guarantees and spending from the oil wealth National Welfare Fund.
Speaking at a plenary session of a conference devoted to regional development at the Skolkovo Hypercube, Dvorkovich noted that the fledgling high-tech sector would play a key role in helping Russia out of its current difficulties.
“Significant elements [of the anti-crisis plan] are devoted to restructuring the Russian economy through innovation,” Dvorkovich said.
“I hope you can help us realize the country’s technological and industrial potential with the help of innovations,” he told the assembled officials, who represented 79 of Russia’s 83 regions.
Skolkovo president Viktor Vekselberg underlined that “Skolkovo has been conceived and is realized as an international project,” and that “all elements of [its] activity – university, startup support and promotion, key partnerships – have an international dimension.”
“It is an inevitable fact that today the scientific, industrial and innovative world is global,” Vekselberg continued. “Of course, all our projects should be a part of this global world. Despite the fact that the recent [international political developments] have made our communication with this global world and our partners more complicated, we should not take the decision to focus exclusively on the internal market. I do not expect that Russia will be isolated from the international scientific and innovative communities.”
Source: combined materials from the Skolkovo Foundation
