Practical steps: Finnish organizations and Skolkovo companies

Signing Cooperation Agreement in November 2012. On the photo: Dr. Anna Nikina, Head of Development, Technopark “Skolkovo”, and Kari Vähä, CEO, Yrityssalo.

On 11 April Technopark “Skolkovo” held a practical session with Finnish companies and business support and development organizations. “Skolkovo” companies learned about Russian-Finnish partnership in the area of innovations and instruments for business development. B2B-meetings, planned and organized in advance, proved to be the most effective way for building contacts between “Skolkovo” companies and Finnish guests.

Owing to the partnership development between Technopark “Skolkovo” and Finland, twenty “Skolkovo” companies visited Finland with the first business trip at the end of 2012. The program was effectively organized to include joint and individual events for each company. During the trip Technopark “Skolkovo” signed a Cooperation Agreement with Yrityssalo (Centre for development of entrepreneurship in Salo, Finland) that fostered effective development of our partnership, which is vitally important for companies and businesses. During his presentation today, Alexey Bersenev, development director of Tenzosensor, told us about the results of the trip to Finland and how it helped him to improve product marketing for European customers. The company launched negotiations with potential customers with the support of Finnish partners of Technopark “Skolkovo”comments Dr. Anna Nikina, Head of Development at Technopark “Skolkovo”, initiator of partnerships with and organizer of the event.

Feedback from companies on the preliminary results of negotiations:
We have found B2B meetings at Technopark “Skolkovo” to be one of the most productive events for finding efficient business contacts. Finnish companies, which participated in the event, demonstrated their genuine interest in partnerships with the Russian side. We held successful negotiations with them and hope for our future cooperationAlexandra Zotova, financial advisor to “BBU Pharmaceuticals”, “Skolkovo” resident. The event turned out to be very interesting and, certainly, useful for us. We conducted successful negotiations with Medaffcon, Tekes and Centre for Economic Development. We hope that with their help we will be able to find partners in FinlandAnton Efimov, OOO “Snotra”, “Skolkovo” resident.

We would like to extend our gratitude to the organizers of B2B meetings with Finnish companies and development organizations at Technopark “Skolkovo”. Our participation in the event has allowed us to move to the next level of our product promotion. We will continue negotiations with our new Finnish contactsMaxim Holin, “Quantum Pharmaceuticals”, “Skolkovo” resident. B2B meetings were well-organized and it was a pleasure to notice how active the companies of “Skolkovo” are in international networking. Excellent event to hear the latest news about development of Technopark “Skolkovo”, explore its premises and meet with innovative “Skolkovo” companiesTaina Kalintiv, “Sarus”, Finnish company for business development. The event of 11 April has exceeded our expectations! It has opened new opportunities for us to partner with Russian biotech and diagnostics companies, such as Snotra Llc., BBU Pharmaceuticals, Allied Innovations and Quantum PharmaceuticalsYarmo Hahl, Finnish company “Medaffcon”. During B2B meetings we managed to discuss various cooperation alternatives with Russian companies. We will continue to explore them in more detail and hope to find concrete ways of fruitful cooperation for both, Russian and Finnish partiesElvi Metsaranta, Finnish company “Crown CRO”. This event is a great continuation of our partnership cooperation with “Skolkovo”. As Anna Nikina mentioned at her seminar presentation, it is good to see practical actions for establishing partnerships between Finnish and “Skolkovo” companiesKatariina Ylieskola, Finnish business development organization “Yrityssalo”, partner of Technopark “Skolkovo”.

The event seminar featured key speakers from “Skolkovo” and Finland. Dr. Anna Nikina opened the seminar with her presentation on international activities of Technopark “Skolkovo” and opportunities for companies. Eduard Kanalosh, director of Investment department of “Skolkovo” Fund, shared the latest news about investment climate in Russia. He also noted that 33 active Russian investors, which cooperate with “Skolkovo”, participate, at the average, in four “Skolkovo” projects, while there is only one “Skolkovo” company that is in portfolio of 19 foreign investors of the ecosystem.

Maxim Kiselev, Development director at Technopark “Skolkovo”, mentioned that “Skolkovo” is still a very young project that is closely working with more experienced development organizations, such as Rusnano, RVC as well as regional organization for promotion of innovations. Representatives of Finnish companies – Katariina Ylieskola, Yrityssalo, and Pia Kähärä, Sarus, - shared their experience in supporting companies when creating commercially successful products and launching to foreign markets.

Please use the following link to access seminar presentations: docs.google.com

Additional information:

Dr. Anna Nikina
Head of Development, International Programs and Partnerships
T +7 (495) 967 0148 ext.2491
M +7 (916) 304 6060
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LI Technopark Skolkovo LLC
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