State-owned companies to allocate money for Skoltech but not for innovations

The Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Oleg Fomichev said that the government will not oblige state-owned companies to allocate a portion of their money for state projects in innovation, as it was decided on creating the endowment fund of Skolkovo Technological University (Skoltech).

Recall that in the spring of 2012 it was decided that state companies with their own innovative development programs are required to allocate money to the endowment fund of Skoltech or 1% of the budget of the programs, or 3% of their net profit under Russian GAAP. According to the Government of the Russian Federation, it will allow to accumulate 30 B RUR in the endowment fund in three years.

But this mechanism doesn’t imply to support other projects, including state ones in the field of innovation development. It was a one-time decision to build the endowment fund of the new Technological University - Fomichev said.

According to him, when it comes to creating technological university like MIT (USA) from scratch, it is not possible to manage without an endowment fund of private money.