My prediction. They’ll build the whole thing in Skolkovo. Because “they already have innovation there, and a lot of people even speak English.” *When the decision is made, the decisive factor will be that it’s convenient for Shuvalov to drive there from his dacha (country house). (February 15) //////// A new ultra-modern scientific center — a kind of city — will be built in Skolkovo. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said this at a meeting with winners of international academic Olympiads. The meeting is being broadcast live by "Rossiya 24" (Russian state TV channel). * "*We are currently interested in creating new technologies and bringing them into real life. You know that the move toward new technologies has become a key direction in the country’s development. I spoke about this last year. This year we have already done some things,” Medvedev said. “In addition to administrative procedures, there are also very concrete decisions.” * "*Not long ago we discussed the construction of an ultra-modern scientific and technical center, or city, for the development and commercialization of modern technologies,” the president continued. “In effect, a new city where all five of the presidential high-tech priority areas will be developed on the basis of this center. These are, above all, energy, IT, telecommunications, biomedical technologies, and nuclear technologies.” /**////// * No, unfortunately, I do not possess prophetic powers or the ability to see crooks for what they are. It’s just that when you try to predict this or that action by the authorities, you have to frame the question correctly: it has to be something done with maximum showiness, maximum convenience for their own pampered bodies, and with at least 30% skimmed off. That’s all there is to it. And as for the Russian Silicon Valley project, you can say: RIP. Cozy modernization cottages. And some fancifully shaped building where they’ll seat a couple of bespectacled guys with wild hair for the TV cameras. Let me immediately submit an efficiency proposal: Dear Presidential Administration, creators of Modernization, Innovation, Nanotechnology, You would save the public a great deal of money if, for the purposes of building the Russian Silicon Valley, you skipped the intermediate stages and simply bought the sets from the film "Back to the Future," where you could then shoot reports for Channel One (Russia’s main state TV channel).
Because that is exactly what “some place where they invent things” is supposed to look like.