Climate For Startups In Russia Greatly Improved Over Recent Years - Italian Trade Agency

Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published May 29, 2019 | 10:46 PM

The environment for startups in Russia has significantly improved over the recent years, Pier Paolo Celeste, Italian Trade Agency's (ICE) director in Moscow, told Sputnik on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th May, 2019) The environment for startups in Russia has significantly improved over the recent years, Pier Paolo Celeste, Italian Trade Agency's (ICE) director in Moscow, told Sputnik on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, the Russian Skolkovo Foundation, responsible for running the Skolkovo innovation center in Moscow, signed a deal with Italian Trade Agency (ICE) at the seventh Startup Village conference for tech entrepreneurs. Under the memorandum of understanding, the sides will support each other in business development and attraction of investments, particularly, in such spheres as renewables, science and information technologies.

"We notice that in Russia the situation with startups has greatly improved. We see the efforts of the Russian government in supporting Russian startups and also in attracting foreign firms. We have a successful startup [Tau Industrial Robotics], which is already a resident of Skolkovo," Celeste said.

The agreement, signed earlier in the day, will strengthen cooperation that ICE and the Skolkovo Foundation have already maintained for several years, according to the director of ICE's office in Moscow.

"ICE has already been fruitfully cooperating with Skolkovo Foundation for two years. The signing of an agreement is a destination point. Over these two years, we have achieved good relations, the representatives of various clusters [Skolkovo Foundation] have visited our Italian partners, while Skolkovo has received a delegation from Italy," Celeste added.

Thus, the bilateral agreement will help Italian startuppers to visit Russia and hopefully become a resident of the Skolkovo Innovation center, while also promoting Russian startups in Italy, according to the director.

The Skolkovo Innovation Center in Moscow was created in 2010 at the initiative of then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in 2010 to provide favorable conditions for high-tech businesses.