A Good Start But Not Nearly Enough

Our government has finally come to the absolute realization that science and technology is absolutely critical to the future of Russia's economy.

To be sure, two strong steps have launched Russia into the right direction but over all, they are not even nearly enough.

First came the reform of the work visas, with a new 3 year work visa for scientists, engineers and top management, that the government really is turning around in as little as 1 month, better then just about anyone in the world. Very impressive, considering the previous system was only 1 year and took a 6-8 month period to achieve the first visa.

The second step came with the announcement of the construction of our own Silicon Valley, about 20km west of Moscow at Skolkovo. 85 billion rubles will be invested over the next 3 years ($2.5 billion) to build the infrastructure from scratch and create a low tax zone for companies.



All are great idea, but there needs to be much more. I propose the following steps:

1. Comprehensive streamlining of the bureaucracy to allow internet based registration of businesses and cut out the infamous chenovnik.

2. An active campeign to bring in first Russian diaspora and then non-Russian university students for hard sciences. The student visa system must equally be streamlined and made quick. Most students will stay close to where they graduate, if work is available, so this will produce a steady supply of talent, in addition to our own. You really can never have to many scientists.

3. Tax holidays, say 5 years, both on corporate income tax and NDS (VAT) for all new high tech businesses that get set up. Nothing like money or the prospect of making money that will bring in new companies into Russia.

4. Total stream lining of the construction permit process. Russia is one of the hardest countries to get construction permits and requires up to 2-5% of the value in bribes, just to keep the process going. The 6-12 month delay in getting the permits is a major retard on new construction and thus new business.

5. Creation of skunk works by the government, giving gov scientists the free hand to pursue whatever research they want, with most of their pay based on 50% of the profits off of patents, the rest going back to the state. Patents should only be sold, by the state, to Russian companies.

If we follow on these five steps, I believe we will have a synthesis of events that will lead to a new explosion in scientific development that will place us back at the top.