With Russia seeking to develop ties with Asian tech industries, a number of its key tech players this week are holding a “Business Week” in Seoul, South Korea, expecting to attract over 500 members of the Korean and Russian scientific and business communities.
In addition to this conference of multinational businessmen and officials, the program of this three-day gathering features an exhibition as well as meetings between businesses in a variety of formats.
Nine resident companies of Skolkovo, the international tech hub, will be showcasing their innovative technologies at the Business Week expo. These are ABBYY, ASD Technologies, C3D Labs, ExoAtlet, Intersoft Eurasia (DO-Ra), iridium Mobile Luminescent Innovative Technologies, MobilityLab/WorksPad, and Prognoz.
On Thursday, Sept. 10, a special meeting will gather Russian software outsourcing companies together with representatives of Samsung. They will review opportunities for collaboration in the field of operating systems, in particular the Tizen OS, which Samsung supports actively.
““Korean companies are renowned leaders in microelectronics, and Russian companies can add value with potentially industry-leading software solutions. It’s the ideal time to integrate unique programming algorithms with innovative electronics in new gadgets,” commented Igor Bogachev, VP, Executive Director of the IT Cluster of the Skolkovo Foundation.
“The most promising fields in the IT industry include business analytics, the Internet of Things and robotics, and these are all areas where we can expect significant growth in the coming years,” he added.
The Seoul Business Week is organized, on the Korean side, by the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI), the Korea Institute for the Advancement of Technology (KIAT), and the Korea Techno-Venture Foundation (KTVF). The Russian organizers are two major state-own organisations: RVC, the fund of funds for innovation, and the Skolkovo Foundation, which is responsible for the completion of Russia’s international tech hub on the outskirts of Moscow. Also involved is Russia’s IT outsourcing association RUSSOFT.
Business ties with political stimulation
Ties in technologies between the two countries are not new. Some of the Russian companies participating in the Seoul event — including ABBYY LS, Prognoz and ASD Technologies — already have a significant local presence and will look to strengthen their foothold in the Korean market and beyond. Their current partners include giants like Samsung, LG Electronics and LG CNS, according to the Skolkovo Foundation.
On the venture side, several Korean funds have shown some interest in the Russian market — even though their deals in Russia, if there have been any, went largely unnoticed. This past summer, however, Russian fintech fund Life.Sreda inked a memorandum of understanding with Marvelstone Partners, a Seoul-based investment group. The two partners intend to launch a $20 million fund targeting fintech startups in South Korea and other Asian countries. Marvelstone will share its expertise in Asian markets while Life.Sreda will support the startups with its fintech expertise and international networks.
A major impulse to develop these ties has come from the Russian government. In 2013, in a meeting in Seoul, Russian President Vladimir Putin encouraged greater economic integration with the Pacific Rim countries and prioritized partnerships with South Korea in the field of high technology.
In further talks, the two governments identified information technologies, biotechnologies, new materials, shipbuilding, robotics, aerospace projects and nanotechnology as key sectors for cooperation. Preliminary agreements were reached in a further Seoul meeting in October 2014.
Another major area of interest for Russian tech players in Asia is Singapore, where several Russian venture funds have already invested, as reported earlier by East-West Digital News.
Update Sept. 9, 2015: Among the deals signed during the Business Week is that of C3D Labs with SolidEng. This major South Korean software developer and vendor will distribute the C3D Labs geometric model technology locally.
