Science centre to be hybrid of Harvard and Silicon Valley

The Russian government has approved a project for the establishment of a large-scale research and technology valley in the centre of Moscow, according to a spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science.

The new facility will incorporate the Shuvalov Building of the Moscow State University, as well as the university’s library and the Russian Academy of Sciences, and will be the largest scientific and technological centre in Russia. It will include scientific institutions and laboratories, dormitories, medical centres and other infrastructure.

The facility will be known as Sparrow Hills and will be located on Sparrow Hills, hills on the right bank of the Moskva River and one of the highest points in Moscow.

It will focus on research activities and the commercialisation of scientific developments and, according to state plans, will be a hybrid of Harvard and Silicon Valley.

The initiative for the establishment of a new technological valley was first put forward by Viktor Sadovnichy, head of the Moscow State University, in 2013 and was supported by the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The volume of investments in the project is estimated at RUB110 billion (US$1.6 billion). It is planned that the new technological valley will be officially opened by the beginning of 2019. The Russian government approved a federal law establishing the development in the past fortnight. It also has to be passed by MPs but this is expected to be a formality.

Sadovnichy said this will not be a common technical park, but a large research and scientific valley, where university students will be taught and research and development, or R&D, activities conducted.

“The new technological valley will have its own scientific laboratories and research centres that will focus on the design of unique, original products and developments,” he said.

Progress to date

To date, the concept of the project has been completed, while its design took place with the participation of Innopraktika company, Russia’s research and consulting company, headed by Katerina Tikhonova, a well-known Russian businesswoman, who is rumoured to be one of the two daughters of President Putin (details of Putin’s family life are kept hidden from the public).

Direct implementation of the project will be conducted by a state management company that will be especially established by the Russian government, while the boundaries of the new facility will also be defined by the state.

All the participants and residents of the valley will have an exclusive focus on R&D activities, and will receive the same benefits as residents of Skolkovo, a high technology business area planned for Skolkovo near Moscow, which is being developed by the Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, but at a much slower rate than expected due to the economic crisis.

These include tax and customs benefits for the importation of goods, research equipment and foreign technologies. Residents of the valley will be exempted from VAT and income tax. It will provide a relief from property taxes, as well as favourable terms of hiring of foreigners. Finally, similar to Skolkovo, certain powers of state bodies will be limited within the territory of the valley.

The project has already received the support of the Russian federal government and the Moscow city authorities.

Natalia Sergunina, deputy mayor of the department of economic policy and property in the Moscow city government, who is directly responsible for implementing the project, said: “The Moscow city authorities will support the implementation of the project. This may take place through the adoption of special federal law regulating the construction of scientific and innovation facilities, the design of which is expected to be completed already in the coming weeks."