Skolkovo, a major international tech hub on the outskirts of Moscow, is planning to launch a center for innovations and IoT in healthcare in the fall of 2019.
The center will focus on pivotal issues like reducing mortality rates, combating cancer and chronic diseases, and bringing digital technologies in healthcare in Russia. The priority goal is to raise the average life expectancy to above 80 years by 2030.
A memorandum pledging to launch the center in October 2019 was signed by the Skolkovo Foundation and leading Russian and international companies as part of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, which took place earlier this month. Skolkovo partners include global biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneka, Nokia, high-tech pharmaceutical company R-Pharm, Russian Post, and Sberbank.
The NYSE-listed QIAGEN, a global provider of sample and assay technologies for molecular diagnostics and pharmaceutical research, and Stentex, a Moscow-based manufacturer of coronary stents and catheters, were also announced to be partners to the upcoming center.
The Skolkovo center will follow in the footsteps of AstraZeneka’s life sciences parkin China, which is based in the city of Wuxi in southern Jiangsu province. The park aims to nurture innovation by bringing together local and international companies, government, and medical and academic institutions to help create a world-class healthcare innovation ecosystem.
“The Center for Innovations and IoT in Healthcare will be an open innovations platform that will promote cooperation and unite experts from leading Russian and international companies. Based on the model of our highly successful center in China, it will help create an innovative healthcare system in Russia,” said Irina Panarina, Director AstraZeneka in Russia and Eurasia.
“We believe that, thanks to this center, Russian patients will get access to the most efficient solutions and technologies to improve their quality of life and increase life expectancy,” she added.
Earlier this month, Skolkovo resident Intellodzhik attracted 100 million rubles (more than $1.5 million at the current exchange rate) in a Series A round for its Botkin.AI startup that diagnoses cancer.
