Gazprom plans to build its own Skolkovo analog

Gazprom has decided to create its own Skolkovo analog, Izvestia newspaper has reported today. Gazprom's innograd will be smaller than it’s analogue and will work on improving the technical component in the segment of gas production and transportation. As the sources close to the initiators of mini-innovation city creation reported to the newspaper, the decision to start work was mostly tough: production of natural gas is becoming increasingly difficult. According to Izvestia, Gazprom is already looking for a place to build its mini-Skolkovo, the main candidate for building is Troitsk near Moscow.

Innovation, as noted by the sides, will help Gazprom not only to compete with other companies and even gas-producing countries, but also to improve efficiency and profitability of many projects.

A moderate internal restructuring will be carried out to do this: it is planned, for example, to redistribute functions among monopolist’s departments.

According to Vladimir Yakushev, the Scientific Secretary of VNIIGAZ, all the scientific part of the gas monopoly was in charge of the department of strategic development of Gazprom’s headquarters, now the innovations will be taken up by the created Prospective Development Department.

In addition, as Izvestia found out, special centers will be created in Troitsk joined to Moscow, where Gazprom Transgaz Moscow headquarters is situated. These centers are to focus on innovative developments for gas transportation and the projects in related sectors.

Establishment of the centers is expectable, but they will be of general significance, rather than regional. All this takes place within the Gazprom’s program of innovation development, which aims at technology development and innovation improvement. Some perturbations take place, and some of the structures will be replaced to the area of Gazprom Transgaz Moscow, situated in Sosenki, and technological and testing centers will be created, - Yakushev explained.

It should be noted that Gazprom has its scientific and technical complex, which consists of several institutions. They all operate in different segments of gas industry and develop various technologies according to their specificity. However, the state concern plans to strengthen the innovation component of gas transportation and production segment of the branch.

The management of Skolkovo innovation center considers Gazprom’s idea to create its own innovation city to be sound, however, they suppose that the goals of the company are not yet clear. Mikhail Lifshits, the chairman of the Skolkovo Technopark Board of Directors reported on this to ITAR-TASS news agency correspondent, commenting on today's news about the plans of Gazprom.

Corporate research centers is an absolutely normal phenomenon existing around the world, and Gazprom’s plans are very good, - Lifshits said.

Lifshits added that he is not afraid of competition between the two centers. There is no competition between the projects of Gazprom and Skolkovo, because in the first case we are talking about the corporate research center, and in the second - about the international project, which aims at raising the generations of commercially-oriented scientists and researchers and the return of the brain to Russia.