Swift adoption of digital technologies underlies Russia’s competitive advantage. We quickly get used to technological innovations, and if we’ll be able to create systems to scale it up and transmit it beyond Russia, then we’ll be able to secure our financial well-being. And I don’t see why we won’t be able to bridge this gap in a short space of time.

There are now a number of people in Russia who’ve become serial venture capital investors. Some of the teams, which have previously collaborated with RVC in the first cycle of investment, are coming back to join other funds. There are many active players who aren’t just looking to give out money but systematically searching for projects instead.

Corporations have become fully-fledged participants in the venture capital market. About 130 deals with corporate capital involvement have been completed last year. For example, we’ve created a venture fund with Gazprom Neft. At some point, we were concerned that this fund would be used to finance Gazprom Neft’s own developments. But our concerns were unfounded, and the fund is a fully functioning structure.

We intend to work more closely with corporations. Our goal is to integrate long-term corporate strategies with the capabilities of small innovative companies.

We want to support companies with considerable potential for growth. As a result, they’ll be able to enter foreign markets with high-tech products. In fact, they will be creating new markets. These are the type of companies that we’re aiming to work with.

In updating our investment proposal, we are making an assumption that RVC is a smart investor. This means that we provide expertise as well as capital. At the moment, we are building a service platform for portfolio companies, investors and management teams. We are ready to help funds finalize their pipelines and prepare for exits. As for the projects, we can help them find customers among corporations and to enter foreign markets.

The National Technology Initiative is not just an intellectual plaything for us. We are investing public and private money in it, so these investments should be able to yield meaningful results. We’ll continue to measure key indicators, such as market volume and the share of Russian companies in this market. In turn, these key indicators take into account a few intermediate indicators, such as the number of scientists or patents, but the final result is what’s most important for us.

As part of NTI, we have roadmaps and plans for the development and enforcement of regulations that will remove barriers currently blocking the development of new markets. It hasn’t been a smooth process so far, because these roadmaps represent a break away from the stereotypes and go beyond the usual norms of government activity. The working groups come up with legislative initiatives independently.

The goal of NTI Competence Centers is to institute a continuous process of creating technologies transforming them into products or licenses, and sharing these products with market agents within the business environment. By 2021 or by the end of the program’s implementation, NTI Competence Centers will share 1,200 innovative developments with their partners — this is in line with the commitments they’ve made in terms of volume. These developments will be projects with specific market applications, not just research projects. The commitment for the number of developments is certainly ambitious, but it’s now in our power to transform the relationship between science and business.

The country’s investment development strategy, priorities and agenda have changed in recent years. More and more startups are being created by first-class professionals, who are not afraid of investing their own funds in project development. Many of them have histories of both successes and failures. On balance, this experience is crucial for future development of the venture capital industry.

From my perspective, a failure of a startup is also an astonishing success. It means that we’re investing in the technology team, and it gains experience — that’s the main thing.

It’s time to move away from the traditional paradigm, which stipulates that one has to work in the Russian market before winning in other markets. We must forget that. Exporting is the first key objective.

On one hand, there’s a lot of talk about exporting and entering global markets, while on the other hand, it’s argued that companies should remain Russian. This doesn’t happen with technological solutions and platforms. One needs to attract foreign investment to enter large foreign markets. And external investment is inevitable for medium-sized companies worth up to one billion dollars

We shouldn’t forgo opportunities, and we shouldn’t be afraid of making mistakes. We have to take risks. And most importantly, we need the energy of the people who are fully dedicating themselves to their work.