- Main
- CCI presents
CCI presents
A land of opportunity
A vast territory in central Siberia, rich in oil, gas, solid minerals, water and forest resources is probably the most common idea of our region an average foreigner has. On the whole it is really so: the oil reserves are estimated at 2.5 billion t and gas at 1.3 trillion cubic meters. The region has the lead in Russia in its lignite charcoal reserves – 75.7 million t; and it is the second largest reserve of peat – 28.7 billion t. Bakcharsky iron ore field is situated in the Tomsk region; with its 16 thousand km2 area it is among one of the largest fields in Russia and the whole world (forecast resources of ore deposits are estimated at 393 billion t with an average grade of iron at 43.09%).
However, when trying to learn any detailed information about Tomsk on the Internet one finds a lot of entries about Tomsk universities, high-tech companies, and innovative projects in the first place. It is the sector of the economy that is rapidly growing today. There is much emphasis on the technological modernization, promotion of high-tech industries and development of science cities (the most famous of which is Skolkovo) in Russia now. It is safe to say that Tomsk is among leader regions at solving these problems in Russia. Our strategic goal now is to turn Tomsk into the largest in the Asian part of Russia education, scientific research and innovation center integrated in the global market. And our Israeli partners: businessmen, experts and venture investors, are actively helping us with this.
Contribution to science
A few words about Tomsk as a center of innovation. It is well known that quality higher education is a source of growth in science-driven economy. There are a few examples: Stanford in Silicon Valley, the Technion in Haifa, MIT in Boston. In Tomsk, the first university center of the Asian part of Russia, six universities are functioning now. Two of them have the status of national research universities (among 29 other existing in Russia): Tomsk Polytechnic University and Tomsk State (classic) University. Tomsk Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences unites five institutes and six research institutes of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences.
In general, Tomsk is at the same level as the best European cities with respect to the amount of researchers (150 researchers and 18 Doctors of Science per every 10 thousand citizens). Today we successfully meet the challenges of commercialization of research results. The city has already established the necessary innovation infrastructure in universities and research institutes. There are only a few such research and education centers in Russia. At the initiative of the Tomsk region the Association of Innovative Regions of Russia was formed this year; eight Russian regions became its members, with the participation of the state corporation “Rosnano” and the Academy of National Economy under the Government of the Russian Federation.
Special economic treatment
High-tech business has been actively developing in Tomsk for 20 years. Today over 400 innovative enterprises function here. Production of high-tech companies comprises about 20% of the total industrial production, which is 2.5 times higher than the average for Russia. Most of the Tomsk technological companies were initially focused on the world market so today high-tech products from Tomsk are known in dozens of countries around the world.
The presence of potent universities and the rapid development of high-tech business made it possible for Tomsk to get the right to establish in Russia one of four special economic zones of technology-innovative type (SEZ) in 2006. This is a territory with a special treatment of business activity (with a set of essential for Russia customs and tax concessions) to develop and manufacture high-tech and innovative products. SEZ resident companies in Tomsk specialize in IT, biotechnology and medicine, nanotechnology and new materials.
Today there are 45 resident companies in our SEZ, seven of which are R&D-centers with the foreign capital participation (the USA, Norway, Australia, Germany, South Korea and Taiwan). It is planned to increase the number of representative offices of foreign companies that are engaged in scientific research and development activities in the SEZ of Tomsk. It is obvious that for high-tech Israeli companies which are planning to expand its presence in Russia the creation of R&D-centers in the Tomsk SEZ will be the best step in terms of cost saving and getting real business results under tight schedule.
All countries will be our guests
Another ambitious project, creation of an education, science and development center – INNO Tomsk, is being developed in Tomsk today. Within the framework of this project we are going to build a new campus, improve urban infrastructure and change the face of the city. I believe this is an excellent opportunity to work with Israeli engineering and construction companies.
We are interested in attracting foreign investments and competence for the region’s key projects and are providing comprehensive assistance to our foreign partners. Today there are many examples when the considerable intellectual potential generating territories are seeking common ground and cooperate with each other. We have examples of successful collaboration of the Tomsk and Israeli innovative product engineers and business people in the U.S., EU, and Asian countries markets. Such collaboration is being established primarily due to the active participation of the Tomsk citizens who migrated to Israel in the recent past. However, this interaction occurs sporadically and it’s not always systematic. I am convinced that the interaction of Israeli businesses with their Tomsk colleagues can be more active. Fortunately, there are all possibilities for that.
I invite you to Tomsk to explore the potential for innovation and investment projects of our companies, universities and research centers.
Viktor Kress
Governor of the Tomsk Region
- Tell a friend:
