Programme

At present a number of major Russian companies are lagging behind their foreign competitors in terms of efficiency, often due to a slow uptake of advanced technology solutions. Resulting from this low demand by major businesses, many Russian technological entrepreneurs are struggling to commercialize their inventions in Russia and end up looking for clients abroad. What do technology start-ups need? Which technologies are demanded by major corporations and state enterprises? How can more efficient mechanisms of interaction between corporations, entrepreneurs, and the state be created? What technological development models of major corporations have proven to be effective?

Moderator
Dmitry Butrin, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Head of Economic Policy Section, Kommersant Publishing House

Dmitry Butrin

Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Head of Economic Policy Section, Kommersant Publishing House

Panellists
Artem Avetisyan, Director, New Business Department, Agency for Strategic Initiatives; Chairman, Leaders' Club
Alexander Aivazov, Vice President for Business Development, Rostelecom
Pekka Viljakainen, Advisor to the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Skolkovo Foundation; Chairman, Aii Capital
Alexander Galitsky, Co-Founder, Managing Partner, Almaz Capital
Andrey Ivanov, Deputy Finance Minister of the Russian Federation
Aleksey Ivanchenko, Deputy Chairman, Head of Innovation and Digital Economy, State Development Corporation "VEB.RF"
Eugeny Kuznetsov, Chief Executive Officer, Orbita Capital Partners
Andrey Laptev, Director for Business Development and Corporate Venture Projects, Severstal Management
Vasiliy Nomokonov, Member of the Management Board, Executive Director, SIBUR
Dmitry Peskov, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on Digital and Technological Development
Alexander Povalko, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Management Board, RVC
Vitaly Ponomarev, Chief Executive Officer, WayRay
Aleksei Romanenko, Partner, Head of Management Consulting, Head of Infrastructure and Transport, KPMG in Russia and the CIS
Aleksandr Sobolev, Director, Strategic and Organizational Development, MegaFon
Arkady Trachuk, General Director, Goznak
Vadim Shvetsov, Chief Executive Officer, Member of the Board of Directors, SOLLERS
Matthias Schepp, Chairman, Russian-German Chamber of Commerce

Artem Avetisyan

Director, New Business Department, Agency for Strategic Initiatives; Chairman, Leaders' Club

In 1998, he graduated from the Financial Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation. In 2001, he graduated from the Graduate School of the Financial Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation. From 2000 to 2003, he taught at the Valuation Activities Department of the Financial Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation. In 1997, he founded the company ZAO Independent Expert and Valuation Centre, which was reorganised into NEO Centre Consulting Group in 2004. Today NEO Centre is one of the leaders on the Russian market. In August 2011, he took over the New Business branch of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives to Promote New Projects. The chairman of the Supervisory Board of the ASI is Vladimir Putin. In February 2012, he was elected Chairman of the Russian business community Club of Leaders for the Promotion of Business Initiatives. The Club of Leaders was established at the initiative of businessmen and supported by Russian President Vladimir Putin. He is a member of the Expert Council under the Government of the Russian Federation. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Russian Agricultural Bank. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Russian Railways. He is a member of the Supervisory Board of Rosagroleasing. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Russian Hippodromes. He is part of the Interdepartmental Working Group for the Protection of Entrepreneurs’ Rights under the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, the Public Council under the Federal Tax Service, the Public-Private Partnership Council under the Military and Industrial Commission of the Government of the Russian Federation, and the Public Council under the Commissioner of the President of the Russian Federation for Entrepreneurs’ Rights.

Alexander Aivazov

Vice President for Business Development, Rostelecom

Alexander Ayvazov was born in Tbilisi in 1980 and in 2001 he graduated from Tbilisi University, Department of Physics and Mathematics, where he studied applied physics and IT. In 2001-2003 Alexander studied in the Open University of Great Britain, specializing in strategic management.
In 2000-2011 Alexander was in charge of companies focused on direct investments and asset consolidation; also he was involved in M&A deals both in Russia and beyond, and practiced strategic consulting.
Since 2011 Alexander had specifically concentrated on investing in hi-tech companied in various countries, and was a managing partner and member of the board of a number of Russian and international companies involved in development of cloud technologies, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality services, online games, electronic commerce and payment solutions, fintech, SaaS solutions for businesses. Alexander was responsible for strategic development of the portfolio companies’ business, major restructuring of the lines of business, was engaged in design and development of key products and creation of business partnerships.
In Autumn 2016 Alexander started as Business Development Director of Rostelecom and in June 2017 he was appointed Vice President for Business Development.

Pekka Viljakainen

Advisor to the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Skolkovo Foundation; Chairman, Aii Capital

Mr. Pekka A. Viljakainen was born in Finland 1972. He studied engineering at the University of Technology in Lappeenranta. For 25 years worked as an ambassador between business executives and technology teams. He started as an entrepreneur in 1986, by establishing Oy Visual Systems Ltd. (1986-2004). His company was merged with TietoEnator in 2000. Mr. Viljakainen is widely known by his nickname, Bulldozer. The nickname was earned by his reputation and track record for handling very complex governance and political topics inside large international organizations. During his corporate carrier he acted as trusted advisor for CEO’s and chairman’s specializing for the transformation related to enterprise digitalization and HR.
After 26 years of his active Visual Systems-Tieto carrier, he left from operative roles on 2011 and focused to his non-profit leadership education project called www.nofear-community.com . Because of this he has been visiting speaker and advisor for several international corporations and faculties (like IMD Business School).
Since 2012 Mr Viljakainen is acting as senior advisor for the president of Skolkovo Foundation. Since that among other directions of work, he has been acting as a founder and advisor for several nationwide entrepreneurship programs in Russian Federation. Startup Tour Open Innovations 2013-2018 (over 85 cities of Russia and CIS) and international conference Startup Village 2013-2018. During those programs he has build a strong network of entrepreneurs, local governmental institutions as well as universities across Russia and abroad.
Mr Viljakainen is the member of Strategic Board of the Russian Postal Service and member of the Supervisory Board of PAO “Pochta Bank”. Chairman of the Board of ‘’Skolkovo – Venture Investments’’, Chairman of the Board “ZYFRA”.
Mr Viljakainen is also known as investor, business angel and advisor for several high-tech companies. Those activities are handled thru his family investment office called www.Aii.fi
He is also well known supporter and philanthropic for several areas related to education, classical music as well as several social projects. His hobbies are helicopter flying PPL(H), cross country skiing, weight lifting and triathlon.

Alexander Galitsky

Co-Founder, Managing Partner, Almaz Capital

Alexander Galitsky is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Almaz Capital Partners. Almaz Capital Partners has offices in Moscow, Russia and Menlo Park, CA, and is backed by Cisco Systems, EBRD and IFC. He is a well-known innovator, entrepreneur and investor in Russia/CIS, Europe and the USA. Prior to Almaz, Alexander formed the ICT investment practice at Russian Technologies, one of the first venture capital funds in Russia, and made a several private successful investments. His past and current investments include: Parallels, Yandex, QIK (sold to Skype), Vyatta (sold to Brocade), Acumatica, Jelastic, NavMaps (sold to TeleAtlas), 2Can, Alawar, AlterGeo, SJLabs (sold to VocalTec), EverNote, GridGain, WikiMart, etc.Prior to his investment career, he founded and headed five successful high-tech companies as CEO, including ELVIS+, TrustWorks Systems (sold to Hamsard), EzWIM (sold to TMT Ventures), ELVIS Telecom (sold to Telenor), NPC ELVIS. He specialized in WiFi, Virtual Private Network technology and product development on the Global market in partnership with Sun Microsystems and was a pioneer of the Russian Internet industry in 90s.

Andrey Ivanov

Deputy Finance Minister of the Russian Federation

Born on November 23, 1975, in Dudinka.
In 1997 graduated from the Krasnoyarsk State University, specializing in jurisprudence.
2009. The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (Moscow), specialization in management.
2010. The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (Moscow), specialization in economy organizing.
1997 – 1998 – Trainee researcher in the Krasnoyarsk State University.
1998 – 2004 – Leading specialist, Chief specialist of the Krasnoyarsk region Administration, Counselor of the Governor of the Krasnoyarsk region on legal matters, Counselor of the Governor of the Krasnoyarsk region on legal matters and local governments. Since December 29, 2001, Council of the Krasnoyarsk region Administration, Counselor of the Governor of the Krasnoyarsk region on legal matters and local governments.
2004 – 2008 – Vice-President of the LLC "Sibirskiy mashinostroitelniy holding". Since August 14, 2006, First Vice President of the LLC "SM holding".
2008 – Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Investment Company "SM art".
2008 – 2012 – Deputy Director of the Department, Director of the Department of Budget policy in the sphere of innovations, civil industry, energy, communication, and public-private partnership of the Finance Ministry of the Russian Federation.
June 2012 – present time – Deputy Finance Minister of the Russian Federation.
Since February 10, 2011, member of the Board of the Finance Ministry.
In 2009 received a citation of the Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation.
In 2011 rewarded with the medal «The 290-th anniversary of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia»
In 2012 received a citation of the Minister of Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation.
In 2001 rewarded with the medal «For Merit to the Fatherland», 2nd grade.
In 2012 rewarded with the Honorary silver medal «For contribution to the development of agro-industrial complex of Russia» by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation

Aleksey Ivanchenko

Deputy Chairman, Head of Innovation and Digital Economy, State Development Corporation "VEB.RF"

Arkanzas Tech University (ATU), Russellville, Arkansas, United States, 2000
Degree: Bachelor
Major in economics
University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR), United States, 2002
Degree: Master of Business Administration
Major in economics
2003 – 2004: Senior Expert; Leading Expert, Audit Department, ZAO Deloitte and Touche CIS;
2004 – 2008: Chief Officer; Deputy Chief of Section; Chief of Analytics Section; Deputy Director of Investment Policy Department, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation;
2008 – 2010: Advisor to Deputy Chief of Staff of the Russian Government;
2010 – 2016: Business Manager; Director of Administrative Department; Senior Managing Director; Director of Administrative Department, PJSC Sberbank of Russia;
Since May 2016: Advisor to Chairman of Vnesheconombank, Acting Deputy Chairman of Vnesheconombank – Head of Chairman’s Office;
Since October 2016: Deputy Chairman of Vnesheconombank.
Since March 2017 — Management Board Member, State Corporation ‘Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)’ — First Deputy Chairman, Vnesheconombank.
Second-class medal of the Order of Merit for the Motherland.

Eugeny Kuznetsov

Chief Executive Officer, Orbita Capital Partners

Yevgeny Kuznetsov joined RVK in 2009 as Head of the Development and Communications Department. Later appointed Deputy CEO/ Head of Project Office (2014); Deputy CEO/Programme Director (December 2015); Acting CEO (July – December 2016).
2014–2015: supervised the work RVK was doing as part of the National Technology initiative (RVK serves as its project office). Holds the position of the Chairman of the NTI Projects Support Foundation.
2015–2016: head of the group that prepared the National Innovation report drafted for the Government of the Russian Federation.
2006–2009: head of the Fund for Science, Education and Health Care Support together with Simon Kordonsky. Developed a number of state programmes and initiatives for science, hi-tech and health care development. Previously employed at Edelman and the North-West Centre for Strategic Research.
Member of the Expert Council under the Government of the Russian Federation, as well as the General Committee of the Foreign and Defence Policy Council. An expert in technological policy, interaction between innovations and social development, state and corporate innovation development.

Vasiliy Nomokonov

Member of the Management Board, Executive Director, SIBUR

Year of birth: 1972 1995: Graduated from the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute with a degree in Physics and Engineering. Ph.D. in Physics and Mathematics.
1995–1996: Junior researcher at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research.
1996–2000: Researcher at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland.
2001–2005: Consultant, Project Manager in the Moscow office of McKinsey & Co.
Since 2005: Various positions at SIBUR, including Head of Production Optimisation Centre and Head of Technology and Production Optimisation Service.
January 2012: Managing Director of the Company.
Since 2016: Member of the Management Board and Executive Director of OOO SIBUR.

Dmitry Peskov

Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on Digital and Technological Development

Alexander Povalko

Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Management Board, RVC

Arkady Trachuk

General Director, Goznak

Arakady Trachuk was born in November 1966. Graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Aircraft Instrument Making (1989) and the Leningrad Institute of Finance and Economics (1991). Doctor of Science (2011).
Throughout his career Arkady Trachuk occupied various positions in the banking and electric power industries. Since 2002 he works as General Director of Goznak.
Arkady Trachuk is a professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. He is an author of more than 60 scientific and methodological articles including publications on different aspects of currency circulation. Arkady Trachuk is also a member of the Advisory Council under the Government of the Russian Federation.

Vadim Shvetsov

Chief Executive Officer, Member of the Board of Directors, SOLLERS

He was born on August 30, 1967 in Cherepovets (Vologda region).
In 1992, he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys (Branch of Study: "Electric Drive and Automation of Industrial Installations and Technological Complexes).
In 2001, he received MBA degree at the Business School of Northumbria University (Newcastle, UK).
He came to Severstal Company (back then — Cherepovets Steel Mill) for the first time before going to the institute. After his graduation, he was appointed the Head of Young Employees Department.
In 1993, he was appointed the Commercial Director and then — the Director General of Severstal-Invest. In 1997, he became the Director for Sales of Severstal, JSC. In this position, he created a sales system of Severstal, JSC in domestic and export markets. Starting from 2001, he is the First Deputy Director General of Severstal, JSC.
In 2002, he was appointed the first Deputy Director General of Severstal-Group and the Director General of Sollers, PJSC (back then — Severstal-Auto, JSC). From 1996 till 2000, he was a Deputy of the City Council of Cherepovets city.
From March, 2003 till 2004, he served as the Chairman of the Board of the Association of Russian Automakers, the biggest public organization of the Russian car industry.
Since October, 2012 He is the Director General of UAZ, LLC.
He was awarded with the Medal for Service to the Motherland of the 2nd degree.
He has a command of English.
He is fond of racing, particularly riding a motorcycle, as well as airplanes piloting.

Matthias Schepp

Chairman, Russian-German Chamber of Commerce

From 31 March 2016 Chairman of the Management Board of the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce;
2006–2016 Chief of Spiegel editorial board in Moscow;
2005/2006 Reporter of the international department of Stern editorial board, Hamburg;
2004/2005 Studies at the University of Michigan, scholarship for young journalists Knight Wallace Fellow, S. M. Ross School of Business, specialization in Islam;
1998–2004 Chief of Stern editorial board in Beijing;
1994–1998 Chief of Stern editorial board in Moscow;
1992/1993 Reporter of Stern editorial board in Moscow;
1991/1992 Studies in the Hamburg Media School;
1985–1990 Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz,
studies at the University of Burgundy at Dijon,
specialization in History, Politics, Philosophy;
1984 Catholic News Agency (KNA), Wiesbaden;
1983 Final exam at St. Willigis Archbishop School, Mainz.
Born on 4 April 1964 in Mainz, Germany.
Married, two children: wife Miriam Schepp, sons Moritz (16) and Max (14).
Foreign languages: Russian and English – fluent, Chinese, Spanish and French – good skills.
Author of the books: “From Beijing to Berlin” (2006), “Travel Guide: Moscow” (2008).