Moscow Innovation Development Centre opens its office in St. Petersburg

The opening ceremony of the first representation of the Innovation Development Centre of Moscow (IDC) took place on June 20, 2013 in St. Petersburg.

On the one hand, the task of the IDC’s representation in St. Petersburg is in promoting high-tech companies of the northern capital willing to enter the Moscow market and open their offices there. On the other hand, it aims to promote Moscow innovative companies intending to start working in the North-West region, establish their branches in St. Petersburg. In addition, one of the representation’s objectives will be to conduct a dialogue with major high-tech companies in Northern Europe that plan to enter the Russian market, and assist in the implementation of investment projects in Moscow region.

According to the Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Economic Policy Andrey Sharonov, one of the challenges faced by the city authorities is the creation of favorable conditions for emergence and development of high-tech businesses. A characteristic feature of the capital is its high innovative potential. There are over 1M students in Moscow, and more than 700 organizations engaged in research and development activities. We actively support the development of innovation infrastructure and plan to set up 10 industrial parks, 5 technoparks and 3 industrial parks with more than 300 residents by 2017 in Moscow. The investment volume will total 3,863.19M RUR. Two largest innovation centers of Russia should cooperate in supporting innovative business. The IDC’s office in St. Petersburg is the first step towards a long-term cooperation in this direction.

According to the general director of the Innovation Development Centre of Moscow Konstantin Fokin, Moscow offers a lot more opportunities for innovative business development than we think.

The IDC’s office opening in St. Petersburg is the next step towards creating a basic network of Moscow representative offices in leading innovation centers around the world. It is planned to open similar offices in the U.S., Europe and Southeast Asia in 2013-2014. Their main task will be to attract promising innovative companies in Moscow, as well as to promote international development of Moscow companies.

The overall objective of Moscow and St. Petersburg is the creation of favorable conditions for the emergence and development of high-tech businesses in Russia. Two largest innovation centers of Russia should cooperate in this direction.

The IDC’s office is located in the St. Petersburg’s House of Moscow owned by the Moscow House of Nationalities, which is a subordinate institution of the Department for Inter-regional Cooperation, National Policy and Relations with Religious Organizations of Moscow.