Alexey Ivanchenko Tells French Start-ups About VEB.RF’s Innovation Business Support
On Tuesday, VEB.RF Deputy Chairman Alexey Ivanchenko addressed a meeting of Trianon Startups, a French-Russian initiative to support prominent young businesspeople from both countries. The initiative was launched last year as part of the Dialogue de Trianon, aimed at cementing civil society relationships between Russia and France. The delegates from the 30 most promising French start-ups gathered to learn about support for this kind of business in Russia and about whether they could take advantage of such support.
Alexey Ivanchenko told the meeting about VEB.RF’s innovation activities and the development institution’s role in the Russian ecosystem of start-ups. “We help start-ups at one of the most important and difficult stages, where the project has already made the first prototype, has received orders and needs to reach a new target: mass production,” he said. He also told the audience about the investment mechanism for the “upward mobility” of small and medium-sized non-commodity businesses, whereby they can receive support in entering foreign markets and increasing the share of export revenue.
Along with Alexey Ivanchenko, the speakers were representatives of other public and private business support institutions, such as Alexey Voronin, Vice President, Russian Direct Investment Fund; Anton Moskalenko, Head of International Relations, Agency for Strategic Initiatives; Alexey Steblev, Partner, RDI Digital Russia; and Alexandra Filatova, Head of International Development, GenerationS.
During the meeting, Alexey Ivanchenko came up with a proposal to move towards creating an integrated start-up support platform enabling large companies to place orders, and start-ups to offer their solutions. “It would be some kind of matrix of Russian large companies’ demand for innovative and digital solutions that can improve workforce productivity and create competitive advantage,” he proposed. The idea received support from the French entrepreneurs.
The French participants asked about the localisation requirements for foreign products in the Russian market, the relationship between the start-up industry and the government, the registration of French businesses, and much more. Alexey Ivanchenko noted that Russia’s infrastructure of innovation business support was primarily aimed at developing the domestic IT industry, but close and mutually beneficial cooperation with foreign companies could be one of the most effective ways to achieve this goal.
For information:
The Dialogue de Trianon is a civil society forum initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron in 2017. It is named after the Grand Trianon, a French château where the heads of state agreed on the initiative. The Dialogue de Trianon is co-chaired by Anatoly Torkunov, Rector, Moscow State Institute of International Relations, and Pierre Morel, Former French Ambassador to Russia; the Secretaries General are Alexander Orlov, Former Russian Ambassador in Paris, and Nicolas Chibaeff, a French diplomat.
Tver Region Governor Igor Rudenya, together with VEB.RF’s Deputy Chairman Artyom Dovlatov and Russian Buses – GAZ Group’s Managing Director Vladimir Demidov, were shown the new fleet of buses in Tver today. The buses will be put into operation on 3 February 2020 as part of efforts to introduce a new business model for public transit into the Tver Region. Igor Rudenya, Artyom Dovlatov and Vladimir Demidov also visited the infrastructure facilities of Verkhnevolzhskoye ATP, a commercial vehicle fleet operator.
Artyom Dovlatov, Deputy Chairman, VEB.RF: “This is now the largest completed project to develop public transport in the regions. The project took a unified approach, which is favoured by VEB.RF: creating a single passenger transport operator; introducing the most efficient system of working with carriers, namely gross cost contracts; and providing a fleet of nearly 500 modern buses. This resulted from effective measures jointly taken by the regional authorities, businesses and VEB.RF. The project will make local residents feel comfortable and safe on passenger routes.”
The new system will begin operation in the region’s capital city and the Kalininsky District. The local community will be served with more than 470 buses, most of which are medium- and large-capacity vehicles.
On 3 February, 115 buses will begin operation on 39 routes. An additional 16 routes and 143 buses will come into operation on 10 February, followed by 17 routes and 196 vehicles on 17 February and 13 routes and 117 buses on 27 February. The buses will run every 4 minutes on average, from 5 a.m. until midnight.
The new buses have uniform styling. They are Euro 5-compliant low-floor vehicles fitted with modern navigation equipment, contactless fare payment devices, HVAC systems, and everything necessary for passengers with mobility impairment.
VEB.RF provided over 3 billion roubles in financing for the supplied vehicles. The lease agreements were signed by the VEB.RF Group and Verkhnevolzhskoye ATP.
During the visit to the vehicle fleet operator, Igor Rudenya, Artyom Dovlatov and Vladimir Demidov were also shown the repair shops, the dispatcher’s room, the pre-trip medical examination room, and the traffic safety engineer’s office.
The old public transit buses will be phased out during February. Compliance with timetables and transport quality requirements will be supervised by a public agency, Tver Region Transport Organiser.