19.04.2018
Kazan hosted the Russian Venture Forum; the event was organized by the Investment and Venture Fund of the Republic of Tatarstan (IVF RT) and the Russian Association of Venture Industry (RAVI).RVC, Innovations Promotion Fund, Enterprise Ireland, as well as a number of leading venture funds and business accelerators in Russia, Europe, the United States and Asia, became organizational partners and Forum participants.
Among the key speakers at the plenary part of the Forum were the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, the Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Andrei Fursenko, the Investment and Venture Fund of the Republic of Tatarstan Director Ainur Aideldinov, the General Director of RVC JSC Alexander Povalko, the Executive Director of the Russian Venture Capital Association (RVCA) Albina Nikkonen, the Rector of Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology Alexander Kuleshov, Dirk Alborn, CEO of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Jeffrey Payne, the co-founder of Golden State Ventures, General Director of Skolkovo -Venture Investments LLC Vasiliy Belov, the Commission on Venture Investments of the All-China Association for Financial Aid for Science and Technology Development General Secretary Xu Xiaoping, and Alexandra Johnson the President of the Global Technology Symposium - Managing Director of Global Technology Capital.
“In our opinion, political events failed to have any impact. Business and politics are all the same different sectors. Politicians implement their own tasks, but entrepreneurs and businessmen work and earn money. We are forced to reckon with political aspects, but business prevails”, said Albina Nikkonen, the Director of the Russian Venture Capital Association, high interest on the part of the international venture capital community.
The Forum participants discussed strategic prospects for the Russian venture capital market development, state support of this field, as well as the role of educational institutions in business and high-tech entrepreneurship development at the plenary session held within the scope of the RVF business program:
“We need to understand the place of the Russian entrepreneurship in an accelerated developing world with the increasing industrial revolution taking its place. The Russian venture market development history over the past ten years and the experience gained in this area can be accessed through at least two different points of view. The result will seem really impressive using the line of reasoning that there has been absolutely no venture market here. However, if we judge from the level of the world economy development, we should note that a number of barriers need to be eliminated”, Ainur Aideldinov, the IVF RT Director, said at the opening of the meeting.
“The role of state in Russia is extremely important, as there has been no experience of private money investment in technology companies”, stressed Alexandra Johnson, the Managing Director of Global Technology Capital, while discussing the role of the state in the innovative companies’ promotion. “The set of activities, which Ainur Aideldinov implements in the Investment and Venture Fund of the Republic of Tatarstan is extremely important, as today the Fund is capable of competing with the investment centers of Singapore, China, and the Valley”.
Speaking of the situation on the venture market, the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov has concluded the plenary session with a remark that we have overcome a long way and now we see that this has been the right choice.
According to his opinion, today it is important to move forward and to look for markets. Only in such case any project can be successful. “Probably, there will be many unsuccessful projects, and this is normal,” he assured. – “The process will not be fast. But we have to move forward”.