Russia seeks to modernize economy, create it's own Silicon Valley
In a bit of news that will probably become significant in the next few months, Russian government organized a forum to discuss strategies for diversifying the economy and encouraging the growth of Russia's tech industry. All of this sounds promising. As anyone who follows Russia-related news knows, the economic boom of the early 00s was mostly due to the profits generated through the sale of oil and natural gas. When the commodity prices dropped in the wake of the Great Recession, the Russian economy got a swift kick in the balls, making the effects of the recession that much worse.
Russian political and business leaders no doubt realize that while oil and natural gas revenues are lukeratice, the country can no longer afford to use them as a crutch. Besides, diversifying the economy will encourage job growth in other economic sectors. And, if they are really serious about starting their own version of the Sillicon Valley, then maybe, just maybe, they will be able to lure some of the IT professionals it lost in the 90s back to the Motherland (emphasis on some - even under the most optimistic scenario, there are plenty of other reasons why they would not want to come back).
Of course, as the article pointed out, foreign and domestic companies that want to do business in Russia would still have to deal with the country's pervasive corruption. While United Russia government made lots of noise about fighting corruption, all it really did was ensure that the corruption was government-centric rather than oligarch-centric. This is why I seriously doubt the current Russian government would ever seriously tackle corruption - except for corruption that doesn't benefit them. Still, I am cautiously optimistic. Russia needs economic reforms, and the sooner it gets them, the better.
Russian political and business leaders no doubt realize that while oil and natural gas revenues are lukeratice, the country can no longer afford to use them as a crutch. Besides, diversifying the economy will encourage job growth in other economic sectors. And, if they are really serious about starting their own version of the Sillicon Valley, then maybe, just maybe, they will be able to lure some of the IT professionals it lost in the 90s back to the Motherland (emphasis on some - even under the most optimistic scenario, there are plenty of other reasons why they would not want to come back).
Of course, as the article pointed out, foreign and domestic companies that want to do business in Russia would still have to deal with the country's pervasive corruption. While United Russia government made lots of noise about fighting corruption, all it really did was ensure that the corruption was government-centric rather than oligarch-centric. This is why I seriously doubt the current Russian government would ever seriously tackle corruption - except for corruption that doesn't benefit them. Still, I am cautiously optimistic. Russia needs economic reforms, and the sooner it gets them, the better.