Top 3 Ideas
Loading ...The government of Russia under a contract with the international PR-agency «Ketchum» (Ketchum) opened the site ModernRussia.com on the economic and social life of Russia.
The portal will cover the activities of the president and the government initiatives of civil society and business, aimed at implementing the ideas of modernization work on the systemic improvement of investment attractiveness of the Russian economy. Creators of the site plan that it will be a platform for discussion of problems of modernization.
ModernRussia.com intends to submit a key foreign audiences, including business leaders, investors, policy makers and analysts with accurate information about the investment climate and economic opportunities in Russia, as well as on policies and initiatives of government and business, reflecting the desire of Russia to upgrade, and looks forward to the discussion of these themes.
The developers are hoping in the active participation of site visitors in discussions on internet forums, their comments, analysis will help the Government find ways to tackle the remaining problems and challenges.
Visitors can either post your suggestions for discussion and comment to already published materials. Prior to publication, as in other similar resource, comment on ModernRussia.com will be moderated, that is to be tested
Alan W. Silberberg
Gov 2.0 Innovator. CEO. Founder, Silberberg Innovations, and Gov20LA.
The Huffington Post
The Coming Wave of Gov 2.0 Mergers, Takeovers and Buyouts is almost upon us. This will mark the second major part of the Government 2.0 revolution:
The Gov 2.0 finance and deal side.
Why is this going to happen?
* Economies of Scale.
* Normal Market Progression
* Recent hot media presence, such as CNN, Business Week, NPR, etc.
* Nascent but growing market with no financial or deal makers of note yet.
The Government 2.0 space is growing. There are lots and lots of small companies chasing their piece of the pie. There are lots of large companies also chasing their piece or trying to make sure their old pie stays the pie. This phenomena will only increase, as the stakes get higher, and the bar for entry also gets higher. Now money matters. It will matter even more as revenue models are fully formed and the real business of Government 2.0 takes off.
There has only been one Gov 2.0 Merger to date of note, GovLoop and GovDelivery. This model is an early one – two information companies coming together. But there will also be «click and brick» mergers – where a defense contractor acquires an app company or vice-versa- an app company acquires a hard line manufacturing company with broad Gov contracts to get access to those contract vehicles.
Silberberg Innovations has positioned itself to be the early Merger and Acquisition specialist in the Government 2.0 Space. With deep industry contacts; practical knowledge of the technology, the trends and the business environment, it is an exciting step for us. While innovating through early Gov 2.0 platform experimentation and culture change discussions, it became apparent there is a vibrant and growing industry getting ready to take its place in our society. While speaking at and producing our own Gov20 events like Gov20LA, it also became clear that this is an industry hungry for fusing business and government – leading towards tremendous market opportunities to be had.
In the South Ural State University launched a supercomputer, built on a platform with liquid cooling at the board and as a consequence, virtually noiseless. Development of such systems are everywhere, but nowhere so far they have not been brought to the stage of operation, according to its creators.
Supercomputer at the liquid cooling «SKIF-Aurora SUSU» is set in the South Ural State University (SUSU), Chelyabinsk. Peak performance of the machine is 24 Tflops (trillion operations per second), the real productivity – 21.86 Tflops. Now this corresponds to the eighth place in the ranking Top 50 most powerful computers in Russia and CIS
The cost of the supercomputer was 80 million rubles.The supercomputer will be used to solve problems in science, education, economy and social sphere.
At the Moscow City Court website a new section – «E-Office» – has been launched this week. Here you can find information on all criminal, civil and administrative cases first, second and supervisory institutions, which are in production. Here you can find information not only on cases that have just arrived in court or on which decisions and convictions, but deferred or transferred to other courts. Moreover, with the texts of relevant legal documents.
However, you can get complete information on the work of justices of the peace in Moscow – the territorial jurisdiction, contact information, lists of cases, the docket text of judicial documents. On the pages of this site, citizens have the opportunity in a simple and convenient way not only to obtain all necessary information and automatically but also to calculate the amount of public duty, to simulate directions to the site and need a court to determine the jurisdiction of the address of residence.
On the website it’s noted that the texts adopted by the court acts pursuant to the requirements of federal law «On ensuring access to information about ships in the Russian Federation« will appear at specified sites within 7 days from the date of entry into force.
For – 417
Against – 1
Yesterday at the hearing authorities and legislators finally agreed that the second reading will be held on the amendment, under which a Skolkovo can register any innovative company from any region of Russia, and get set privileges and preferences:
- Possibility of 0% VAT (optional)
- 0% profit
- 0% property
- 14% UST
- Exemption from customs duties
Russian Silicon Valley - Fund Skolkovo (http://i-gorod.ru) – a nonprofit organization created at the initiative of President of Russia for a new settlement – the center of research and scientific development and commercialization of their results. As part of the settlements established universities, research laboratories, centers of collective use, business incubator, technology commercialization center, offices and corporate research centers, along with housing for their workers and social infrastructure. Settlement activity is regulated by a special law that implies the creation of special economic conditions for residents of the project.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Russia signed a historic agreement in the U.S.
From the middle of last year Russia has an official portal, where citizens can get about 40 different kinds of public services – gosuslugi.ru
The Government plans to implement all the commitments to implement e-government in Russia in 2014. At the same time, as the head of the Ministry of Communications says, there is no guarantee that it will be implemented everywhere in the country by the deadline.
Minister Igor Shchegolev recalled that in this area there is the distribution of powers between the federal government, regional and municipal authorities. The last two government encourages the active introduction of electronic public services but vouch for the full, that they have enough time, according to Shchegoleva can be difficult.
According to the UN standard of Russia’s readiness for e-government leaves much to be desired. According to this indicator in 2010 Russia set a seat for 59 out of 180. Ahead of Russia was Kazakhstan (46 seat) and Ukraine (54 seat). One factor that takes into account when assessing the readiness of the UN country to introduce e-government is the level of computer literacy and access to information technology. Thus, according to the Public Opinion Foundation in late 2009 beginning 2010., Internet access and use of electronic services, there are only 37% of Russians. According to the Russian-American project of educational programs PH International, computer skills are not the order of 100 million citizens of Russia.
At the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Microsoft introduced the vision of electronic government. Solution designed to provide citizens with an opportunity to receive public services online through various channels of access (web-cites of public services, info-boxex, etc.).
The presented solution allows you to make a citizen’s burden for the collection of documents from various departments and transfer it to their own departments, which will become possible with the adoption of several laws, notably the «law of public services.»
For example, if a child is born, he or she can be registered in the register office via the Internet in a simple and convenient form, the same arrange the insurance certificate or to register in the clinic.
The first Microsoft solution in this class was developed in 2001. And later – introduced in several countries, for example, in the UK (2004), where its base running site directgov.co.uk. At St. Petersburgs Forum Microsoft unveiled a prototype implementation of e-government for the citizens of Russia, taking into account existing and discussion of legislation.
In early 2010, Microsoft initiated the program «Your Course» designed to «increase the level of computer literacy in Russia. Under this program before the end of the year is scheduled to open at least 100 centers across the country and train them in the order of 1 million people. A significant part of the training given to training in the use of Windows and Office Suite MS Office.
I
nterview with Linda Zekker (Microsoft vice president for government and community organizations) on the interaction of Microsoft’s public sector
- In your opinion what are speciallities in the Russian market of information in the public sector compared with other countries?
- I believe that Russia is in the same situation as other countries. Areas that have to pay a little more attention include the sector of information, as well as the formation of highly skilled professionals, educated in the field of IT. Russia also pays much attention to the spread of the Internet, how to ensure greater access to computer technology to reach more people.
- Which countries spend the largest amounts for informatization of the public sector? What place in this list is Russia?
- These figures can be seen, for example, based on the percentage of GDP, or age of the population, as well as many other unknowns. The specific amounts it’s difficult to say. Compared to a percentage of GDP, which in Russia today is spent on information and computer technology, it is quite comparable with the similar percentage in developed countries. Perhaps it is not so high as in Singapore or Australia, but is comparable with European countries such as France or Germany. Another important aspect in this regard is the history of investment in this sector, and in this case is an excellent example of Singapore. They have launched the first program for the development of information technology in 1980 and they have been investing in this area for 30 years
- What are the projects that Microsoft implemented over the past few years in Russia’s public sector that could be an example for other countries?
- Now in Russia there is active development of information society. The largest contribution of this process made all the projects related to the computerization of public services and the creation of electronic government. Special platform has been developed by Microsoft called «Electronic city / region». On this platform, we propose the creation of portals for the public, online application forms for services to be filled and submitted via the Internet, call centers and much more. In Russia, an excellent example may be the Rostov region, which was implemented electronic «single window» for the provision of housing services, which increased the number of processed applications of citizens for more than a thousand a month. And there are a lot of such examples in Russia.
- How would you describe the cooperation of Microsoft with state authorities in Russia and are you satisfied with how everything is happening in our country?
- Very satisfied. We have a very strong partnership, and we are seeing their significant development. It may be noted the increased cooperation and increased work with universities, as well as in secondary education. The fact that we do not just focus on sales in the public sector, as well as build partnerships in the field of information technology security, education, medicine, charity programs, programs to improve computer literacy. Thus, the range of activities within our partnerships with the public sector in Russia is very wide.
Company «M2M telematics Ryazan» founded in Ryazan comprehensive route pointer based on the GLONASS / GPS, which is informing passengers about the actual motion graphics and municipal public transport and the time of his arrival online. In Russia such project is realized for the first time.
The first placard installed in the center of Ryazan at a bus stop «House of Artists». Index uses data supplied by the system of monitoring of urban transport on the basis of the GLONASS / GPS, and is able to up to one minute to predict and display on the placards the arrival time of transport. It takes into account all: speed, time stops at traffic lights, traffic jams and much more.
With a route indicator it is also possible to carry out video monitoring of areas adjacent to the bus stop, to provide speakerphone connection between waiting passengers and the manager of the Information Center.
Navigation and traffic monitoring system on the basis of GLONASS/GPS has been set on public transport, taxis and commercial buses of Ryazan. Currently, system with GLONASS is equipped on 80% of public transport, and by September of this year, the GLONASS system will be fully control it.
Satellite equipment is also fitted with more than 300 commercial public transportation, which is about 30% of all transport park of the city. By 2011 it is planned to equip such systems over a thousand units.
In Russia the accounting system of payment of public services is launched, it will allow citizens to exercise their utility and other payments online. This year we have a pilot project, and next year it is planned to deploy the system throughout the country.
Meantime, all payments for public services are directed to departments of the Federal Treasury. In the Treasury officials received only information about how much and to whom transferred funds, but there is no information on who exactly they are listed
The challenge now is to make the total billing, linking all with all «to charges public services carried out by analogy with the payments for mobile communication. It is assumed that citizens can make payments through a single portal gosuslugi.ru, and those who do not have access to the Internet, can simply come with your passport to the bank and make payment. After the transfer of funds service immediately will be paid, regardless of credited funds to the agency or not. Thus, the payee will be provided online information about the passage of payment.
This year the project is planned to realize in the four pilot regions: Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Astrakhan and the Vladimir region. Initially only leading agencies will participate: Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Tax Service and the Federal Migration Service.
I want to recall that the program «Electronic Russia», which creates «electronic government», was approved by the Government of Russia in January 2002 and is designed for 9 years. Its main objective – building the economy, focused on consumption and exports of information products, and services, widespread adoption of the Internet, which allows citizens direct access to ministries and departments and to receive services online.
Cisco will help Skolkovo to become a «smart city, connected to the Internet, and will invest in Russia 1 billion dollars
Fund of the development of new technologies in Skolkovo and US-based Cisco have signed an agreement on interaction. The signatures under the document in the presence of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have been set by the head of the Fund Skolkovo Viktor Vekselberg and Cisco CEO John Chambers.
The document establishes the intent of the parties cooperate with regard to the preparation of a number of promising programs and initiatives that will be implemented within the Innovation Centre Skolkovo.
U.S. Cisco, located in the famous Silicon Valley, will help Moscow Skolkovo to become the first municipality in Russia, which will apply the latest concept of the company, dubbed «Smart Plus Internet-connected city.» It significantly increases the level of communication within the settlements.
Earlier, the head of Cisco’s John Chambers has agreed to join the Council Skolkovo – the supreme governing body of the Fund, which deals with the creation of Russian technology center.
In Skolkovo American company will develop a model for future sustainable social, economic and environmental development in Russia. When in Skolkovo all necessary infrastructure will be created, Cisco will send there the key members of its design team. The Russian research team will report to senior vice president Martin de Beru, director of its headquarters group for the development of promising technologies.
John Chembers also announced that Cisco intends to invest in venture projects of 100 million dollars, while its total investment over several years in Russia will amount to $ 1 billion
«We will make 100 million dollars of venture capital», – said John Chembers. In general, Cisco plans to invest 1 billion dollars in projects aimed at development of innovations in Russia and creating conditions for entrepreneurial activity.
It is envisaged that Cisco in Russia will focus on five areas, which will be developed in parallel. In particular, it plans to establish prizes for the Russian innovation companies worth 175 thousand dollars
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Russia signed a historic agreement in the U.S.
June 24, 2010, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Foundation Skolkovo, representing the Russian Federation, announced an agreement to explore ways to cooperate in the field of education and research in Russia. MIT and the Foundation Skolkovo sign a framework agreement on this in Washington during the visit of RF President in the U.S..
As expected the agreement, MIT and the Foundation Skolkovo jointly identify opportunities for MIT to engage in education and research activities in collaboration with leading universities and research institutes in Russia, selected at this stage. Among the options for cooperation – a network of joint research laboratories, where researchers will work at MIT and Russia, as well as the creation of new educational institutions in the Moscow Skolkovo. MIT will also consider the possibility of joining the Fund Skolkovo as one of the partners. Among the current composition of the founders – RAS, Rosnano, MER, Bauman. Bauman, etc.
Today Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has registered in Twitter with Virified Account – @KremlinRussia
Follow our President!
From Russia with Love
We may be a relatively small company of about two hundred employees but we have a global mindset. Twitter is growing very fast internationally these days. In fact, about sixty percent of our usage is outside of the United States. That’s why we are honored today that President Medvedev of Russia stopped by our office for a brief tour and his inaugural Tweet.
It was incredibly generous of the President to stop by with such a busy schedule. Recognizing the power of new technology and learning to leverage it to advance humanity in positive and meaningful ways is a powerful display of leadership. It was a great chance for us to share our passionate belief that the open exchange of information can have a positive global impact.
Mr. President, welcome to San Francisco and Silicon Valley!
DECLARATION OF SUPPORT FOR BUSINESS IN RUSSIA
Let us express our gratitude for being paid by us, for the clarity and directness in identifying the problems faced by entrepreneurs and investors in Russia today, as well as the significant steps taken by you to remove the obstacles that can slow down the creation and development new technology companies. We appreciate your initiative to create a new policy aimed at creating an enabling environment for creativity and innovation of entrepreneurs. We are confident that under your leadership and with strong public support Russia will be able to create an environment conducive to long-term venture capital investments, and become one of the key players in the global technology market.
In this regard, we are ready to explore opportunities for investment in Russian companies and to fully support you in this difficult but exciting business. We left Russia with a favorable impression on the future of your country and its technological potential, and we hope to take part in the further development of successful entrepreneurial community.
We sincerely wish you, Russian businessmen and the Russian people success in this important matter.
With deepest respect,
Adam Valkin (Accel Partners), Craig Taylor (Alloy Ventures), Peter N. Loukianoff (Almaz Capital Partners,) Skip Fleshman (Asset Management Co.), Bruce Booth (Altas Venture), Vivek Mehra (August Capital), Jeremy Levine (Bessemer Venture Partners), Maha Ibrahim (Canaan Partners), Brian Dovey (Domain Associates), Don Wood (Draper Fisher Jurvetson), Esther Dyson (EDventure Holdings), Brian Jacobs (Emergence Capital), Ben Holmes (Index Ventures), David Kronfeld (JK & B Capital), Jim Smith (Mohr Davidow Ventures), Drew Guff (Siguler Guff & Co.,) Eric Buatois (Sofinnova Ventures), John D. China (SVB Capital), Mark Iwanowski (Trident Capital), Rainer Strohmenger (Wellington Partners), Mario Rosati (WS Investment Company).
A service of correspondence with officials for the citizens will be created in Russia soon.
At the Russian IT-conference on Internet security Igor Shchegolev (Minister of Communications and Mass Communications) told about a new mail service, which will be monitored by the state. Service will be called «National Post» and will be mainly used for communications of ordinary citizens with officials of various levels. The protection of the service against spam, as well as the inviolability of the personal data of users will guaranteed by the state. Letter of any citizen must reach every official.
Electronic correspondence will not be one-sided. Each citizenscan not only send letters, but also to receive replyes from the authorities, as well as socially important and legal information: Invitation to the election, notifications of the Pension Fund.
My interview Government 2.0 in Russia: megabyte democracy – An interview with russian e-gov-expert Alena Popova was published this week.
The author of the blog is Julia Talmazan. She lives in Vancouver and blogging about Russia, from the perspective of someone who was born in the USSR, but grew up in Canada. Thank you Julie for the excellent interview!
In interview I’m sharing with you about 10 points on the current situation in Russian Gov 2.0
Great Article by Matt Marshal at VentureBeat.com
Russia is the sixth-largest economy in the world, but it’s also a country relatively untouched by foreign investors, especially investors in technology. Could Russia potentially be the home of the next massive tech boom?
The short answer is: No way. At least not anytime soon. That’s the conclusion I’ve come to after a week in Moscow, a week in which I took part in the first ever delegation of US venture capital investors to visit Russia.
The organizers invited me as the sole member of the U.S. media. (Disclosure: My trip was organized by AmBar, a group of U.S.-based Russian professionals, and paid for by Rusnano, a government investment fund. In return, I promised to write an honest account of what I found.)
Russia is making huge efforts to change. It is plowing billions of dollars into the planned high-tech city of Skolkovo over the next couple of years that it hopes will replicate Silicon Valley. Through $5 billion in other investments, it also plans to produce a $30 billion nanotechnology industry by 2015. Russian leaders, led by President Dmitry Medvedev, have convinced me they want to clean up corruption and that the only way they can achieve sustained economic growth is to diversify, and that means supporting the tech industry. Russia is trying hard to reform and progress. My brief visit makes me think it will get there. Eventually.
But right now, Russia is still a mess. It is totally reliant on its oil wealth, and as prices for oil inch upward again, Russia may once more gain comfort and lose the urgency to change. It has a long way to go, and much of its plans are being implemented through Soviet-style top-down government mandates. The government needs to reduce its size drastically and let personal initiative take over. “It’s the people, stupid,” U.S. angel investor Esther Dyson, one of the earliest successful investors in Russia, said to me (see our video below).
Granted, the buzz is good
During our visit, we met with government officials, investors, parliamentarians, incubators and startups. I tagged along with 20 other investors. We also met several of the nation’s wealthiest tycoons, including the richest “oligarch,” Michael Prokhorov (pictured below right), who refused to do a video interview with me. Independently, I also organized a meetup of startups at the Ritz Hotel, just off Moscow’s Red Square. Some 45 entrepreneurs showed up. These guys are experimenting in all kinds of areas, but most of them are still focused on the Russian market. Still, there’s plenty of innovation evident here: Just a couple of examples: One company, Innosystems, has built a widget that lets you click a number to call online, with no software download. Another, QiwiPay, backed by Moscow-based venture capital firm DST, is building kiosks that let Russians pay their traffic violation fines automatically — so they can avoid waiting in line in court for a day, or worse, being shaken down by police soliciting bribes. I met others doing harder core stuff, such as Light Engines, which has a sophisticated lighting technology — although it is hardware, not the stuff Silicon Valley typically invests in.
Now, of course, I’d be delighted if I could report that this Russia is the next India, China or Israel — all places that have seen massive foreign investment in recent years. Russia has among the highest per capita number of students in the world, boasts high levels of mathematics and science education, and being in desperate need of modernization, you’d think Russia would be a gold mine for investors. President Dmitry Medvedev greeted the delegation, and made clear that technology is needed to diversify from Russian oil, gas and metals — which make up 80 percent of Russia’s total exports. That legacy industry is highly influenced by a group of about 22 so-called oligarchs — many of them exerting their power behind the scenes through corruption. Technology entrepreneurship, if it is fostered, will lead to positive change — there is no question. Everyone agrees.
But investing in Russia can be “insanity”
The more time I spent in Russia, the more complex the story became (and I’m not the first to say that about Russia). The more I learned — about corruption, the abuses of the courts, the terribly archaic educational system, the choked up traffic, the lack of investment in infrastructure, the cultural penchant for Hobbesian brute leaders, the lack of a truly independent media, and the assassination of journalists when they do show independence — the harder it is for me see a positive short-term future for U.S.-style tech investment for this country.
If you’re considering investing in Russia, you may want to check out the history of Bill Browder (pictured left), the American investor whose firm, Hermitage Capital, emerged as the leading foreign investor in the 1990s and mid 2000s, with $4 billion under management. Hermitage documented corruption within some of the companies he invested in in Russia’s most tightly controlled oil and gas industries and exposed it to the media, and some of the oligarchs took umbrage. These were some of the biggest oil and gas companies in the world, including Gasprom. Beginning in 2006, his operations were expropriated by tax authorities operating with support from the Russian government, and he was declared a “risk to national security.” There’s eye-opening background in this two-part video series (Part I and Part II, and especially this longer video). His case is ongoing. Late last year, Browder’s attorney in Russia died after apparently being tortured while being held in jail by Russian authorities. Browder, who is in exile in London, has won a pledge from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to launch a criminal investigation into the case. Any venture capital investment in Russia would amount to “complete insanity,” he said last week.
His isn’t an isolated case. U.S. investors I’ve spoken, including Esther Dyson, have also heard of stories of “stripping” — that is, where private assets are stripped from their owner and reassigned to a government agency. However, most people I talked with suggested the practice is on the decline.
Yet Russia is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery….
Little is clear-cut in Russia. For every negative fact, there’s a positive one that provides balance. The trends are all very good. Compared to 10 years ago, criminality has declined significantly. It’s now safer to walk around for foreign investors. Peter Loukianoff, an investor with Almaz Capital Partners, one of the first Russian venture firms focused on IT, left the country in the mid-1990s, because of a rash of assassinations including foreigners, but he’s now back and doing business. True, corruption is still rampant: He knows of companies that get a call from the “fire department” demanding increases in “tax payments.” One company he knows of — a copier distributor — pays up to 40 percent of its profit toward this unofficial tax, he said. If you trade in physical goods, you’re more vulnerable, agrees Drew Guff, leader of one of the first private equity firms in Russia, who just announced an investment of $250 million to support Russia’s high-tech city project. It’s harder for Russian extortionists to track goods if you’re dealing in e-commerce.
Here’s a perverse logic in Russia I heard expressed by several people: “What’s wrong with an extra few points of corruption tax if your base income tax is only 13 percent?” It’s true that the taxes in Russia are relatively low, but that means the state, including the police offers and other government agencies, are constantly on the prowl for funds, and they use this to internally justify their thievery.
Ironically, though, there’s another Russian quirk that may help the likes of Hermitage find justice. Russia is one of the more bureaucratic countries in the world, with most transactions and legal actions filed at four different ministries. So remarkably, the details of the crackdown on Hermitage, documented in the scores of pleas made by Browder’s lawyer before he died in jail, are all safely recorded. It will be difficult for Russian leaders to erase evidence of what happened.
Privatization and reform will make it even harder for the thugs to rule. Yuri Soloviev, chief executive of VTB Capital, another VC firm in Russia supported in part by the Russian government, told us he once fought thugs from the fire department trying to tax his car business. But he says continued privatization — 2,000 government enterprises will be privatized over the next couple of years — will drive out corruption because it will give preying officials fewer places to hide. Reform has also led to higher levels of corporate governance, he said.
There are other signs of steady improvements. The problem is it’s all from a very low base level. Take education. Political officials constantly bribe teachers to get their kids into the best schools. Some 40 percent of university students say they face “regular” corruption, according to a survey cited by Sergey Guriev, rector of the New Economic School in Russia, in a talk with us. This, he said, has compromised the moral fiber of a whole generation of faculty and students. Quality of education in Russia’s strongest field, mathematics, is on the decline. However, the government, again backed by the reform-minded Medvedev (pictured left in the image above, with Putin), is pushing through standardized tests, and grading will be distributed regionally, which will help cut down on opportunities to bribe.
Medvedev, the prince of hope?
So who is this progressive leader, President Medvedev? No one knows how powerful he is, because he won elections only after Vladimir Putin termed out of the presidential spot. Putin had consolidated most of Russian power under his leadership and remains prime minister. Both men may run for president in 2012, which is when Russian watchers say the real test will come between the two men. Medvedev appeals to a more liberal demographic in Russia, while the thuggish Putin appeals to conservatives. Medvedev, a former law professor, is seen as a strong ally of the U.S. Next month, Medvedev will visit Silicon Valley to learn more about the tech region as he goes about helping guide more than $2 billion in investments into the scientific city called Skolkovo just outside Moscow. Medvedev has also complained about Russia’s lack of venture capital: The $2 billion managed by the nation’s 20 venture capital capital firms is “almost nothing,” he complains. He realizes the need for external VC investors, not merely for money, but for advice too.
Still, some question Medvedev’s fortitude in making change happen. For sure, there’s little sign he’ll be changing Russia’s top-down approach. One eye-opening example of Russia’s tendency to “plan” is the government’s investment of $5 billion in nanotechnology. The project drew skepticism from American investors during the visit last week, especially when it became clear that the Russian definition of “nano” is still murky. One joke is that entrepreneurs are throwing the word “nano” into their business plan and getting funding.
The Skolkovo project, however, is the most intriguing example (see good overview of the project here). Run by one of Russia’s oil oligarchs, Viktor Vekselberg (pictured left), reportedly a billionaire, the project entails building an “innovation city” from scratch and making it home to 20,000 people — complete with perimeter-wide security, clean-tech buildings, schools, healthcare and entertainment. He took questions — many of them skeptical — from members of the U.S. delegation. They told him it was “all about the people.” Innovation needs to bubble up, and government needs to get out of the way, the U.S. investors who were with me repeated over and over again. Vekselberg said he is negotiating letters of intent with Cisco and Nokia and is also talking with MIT, Siemens, Microsoft and Google to see if they too will agree to shift their R&D activities to the city. An extensive post-graduate institution and an incubator for startups are also planned.
Russia’s patriarchal nature — where the state takes care of things — is surprisingly ingrained. “Russians want a czar,” said Leonid Gozman, board member of the Russian government investment group Rusnano, explaining one line of Russian outlook. “They found their czar in Putin, and they love him.” Russia remains a mild dictatorship. It’s often explained this way: Russia’s unwieldy size, and its descent into instability whenever central power falters, has left many Russians craving strong leaders. A majority of Russians listed Stalin as the “greatest leader” in Russian history in a mass survey conducted in 2005.
And yet, most Russians I talked with said they don’t actually like Putin. One cab driver, when asked whether he supported Putin or not, told me he was too scared to talk about his views — apparently out of fear of reprisals. While Russians respect authority, they also fear it. The corrupt police force exacerbates this. On average, Russian police officers make less than $400 a month, which encourages them to take things into their own hands: One small-business owner I talked with said his greatest fear is of corrupt police pulling him aside, planting drugs in his car and demanding a pay-off of up to $2,000. This sort of thing is a regular occurrence. Here too, though, there’s relief on the way. The government, led by Medvedev, has pledged to triple police monthly salaries to $1,195 by the end of the year.
So where does this leave us?
Both economically and politically, the country has a long way to go.
On the economic front, Patricia Cloherty, CEO of Delta Private Equity Partners, one of the earliest U.S. investors in Russia, says there’s massive opportunity in modernizing Russia’s economy, but it’s all in traditional industries, not in high-tech startups. Her firm has pumped $500M in 55 companies since 1994, and there are signs of growth everywhere, she said. Russians bought 7 million cell phones in the first quarter of 2010 alone, up from 1995 when there were just 93,000 in existence. Hundreds of shopping malls have been built in Russia, up from just two in 1995. But she cautioned about investing in innovation, saying is should be “avoided.” Risks such as weak intellectual property laws are likely to stymie such projects. That’s why many U.S. tech investors continue to scour Russian universities to find technology for export to the U.S. for commercialization.
Politically, the consensus here is that Medvedev and Putin will push for progress … slowly. There’s broad confidence Russia is headed in the right direction, but everyone says it could take years. I had dinner with Yuri Milner of DST, the largest Russian investor in U.S. startups, and he took a pass when I asked him about plans to invest in Russia, and about Medvedev’s resolve to push forward reform (see video below). My own view is that it will take at least five years before things improve enough for U.S. venture funds to look at Russia seriously. And it can’t come until the state steps out of the way. If you listen to Medvedev, though, there’s no urgency to do that. He said he wants foreigners to understand Russia’s top-down approach: “That’s how our society has worked since the days of the patriarch. That’s not very good, but it’s a fact,” he told the group.
Disclosure: The trip was sponsored by Rusnano, and organized by the the American Business Association of Russian-Speaking Professionals (AmBar). I went to Russia with two hats: One as a writer for VentureBeat, the other as executive producer of DEMO, a conference for emerging technology startups. I’m trying to find the most dynamic companies in the world to have them launch in Silicon Valley at the conference this fall.
Information and statistical system, in which the data will be collected from 50 federal agencies, will start before the end of 2010. Official data of State Statistics should be available for automatic processing.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a decree about the launch of a single interagency statistical information system (SISIS). According to the document until January 1, 2011 it should be put into operation. The Federal Agency for IT (FAIT) and Russian Statistics coordinate these activities. The first agency is responsible for the technical part of the project (technical support, information security, the use of digital signature), the second – for filling in information (register of statistical indicators, the relevance of the data).
Data from the system will be available at the portal of the state statistics, which will be located at fedstat.ru. It will collect data from 50 federal agencies,including the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Health Insurance Fund, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Ministry of Defence, etc. The total cost for the implementation of the statistical system from 2007 to 2012 will amount to 194 million rubles.
Currently, portal is under pilot operation, the access for ordinary users to it denied. But system now gives the average prices in the housing market, changes in the value of a fixed basket of goods and services, changes in freight tariffs, etc. The thematic index is blank for demographic and environmental information, data on foreign investment, migrants and others
This article will dedicated to Tyumen Region of Russian Federation with wide-spread government services in electronic form for citizens.
Information System «NetSchool» has been installed in 289 schools in region. 17 medical institutions have begun to use electronic modules «Registry», in the field of utilities services are provided in electronic format «Personal Cabinet».
Most of the region’s population (63%) know about electronic services of the government, the need for such services is significant. Nearly half of residents believe that such services are relevant to the health and utilities.
The main reason why people want to use electronic public services – is getting rid of the queue, bureaucracy and inconvenient work schedule service organizations.
In a number of pilot schools a system of electronic accounting will operate and parents will be able to access it. Module «Reception» in health care settings can reduce the recording time to see a doctor, and its further development from the beginning of 2011 will enable the citizens themselves to make an appointment to doctors through information kiosks and the Internet.
With the «Personal cabinet» residents can obtain information on the personal account, make readings into account, to generate and print a single receipt for payment of housing services. To work with the resources to accomplish the federal law «On personal data», the citizen must personally get a login and password for any user locations.
Khanty-Mansiyskyi Autonomous District – Yugra – is a region of Russian Federation which is actively developing e-government technologies. Today in the district operates 268 centers of public access to the Internet. To achieve greater transparency of authorities official website of this district & the register of public services provided in electronic form have been formed and developed this year.
«We must ensure maximum transparency of UGRA-government, we must guarantee access to information on government and opportunity for getting e-services for citizens», – said Natalya Koarova, the head of the region.
Ugra – the first region in Russia, which began to introduce on its territory a project of the International Fund ECDL «E-citizen», aimed at ensuring the free information flow between government and citizens through information technology. The essence of this project is training peolpe the basics of information technology, and the main target group of the project are those who have never worked with a computer. Training takes place within a single European procedure, and after every participant issued an international certificate – a passport of e-citizen.
The emerging online field is helping entrepreneurs help governments work better
By John Tozzi, Businessweek.com
Kevin Merritt never intended to become a government contractor when he launched Socrata, an online service making it easy to share data—anything from crime statistics to football schedules. But early last year he noticed that federal agencies were the site’s biggest users. «It became clear that a really good place for our technology was helping government organizations share data in the interest of transparency,» says Merritt, a Microsoft veteran who lives near Seattle. Today the 14-employee startup has 20 government clients, including Medicare and the City of Seattle, some paying more than $5,000 a month.
Merritt is at the forefront of an emerging field that some entrepreneurs call Government 2.0. With the White House urging federal agencies to make statistical data and other information available to the public, the Internet’s next big opportunity may be tapping that information to boost government transparency, efficiency, and responsiveness. Much as blogs and YouTube (GOOG) democratized media and eBay (EBAY) let anyone become a retailer, these entrepreneurs want to help citizens participate more directly in governing.
Tim O’Reilly, founder of technology publisher O’Reilly Media, likens the effort to Interstate highways, the global positioning system, and the Internet. Those public investments all unleashed private-sector innovation. Similarly, by giving everyone access to government data, «you don’t have to do all the innovating yourself,» says O’Reilly, who hosted a Gov 2.0 Expo in Washington, D.C., on
May 25, one of at least 10 similar events held across the U.S. over the past year.
One way governments encourage innovation from entrepreneurs is through apps contests. These offer prize money to developers who build software applications using public data. New York, Washington, and Portland, Ore., have all started competitions. Federal agencies have sponsored efforts aimed at expanding broadband access and reducing childhood obesity. Even the Pentagon has gotten on board with an «Apps for the Army» challenge for soldiers. All told, more than 350 apps that tap into public data have been submitted to such contests, some of which are ongoing.
Lawrence Lenihan, managing director of New York venture firm FirstMark Capital, helped judge the New York apps competition—and then invested in one of the winners, a startup called My City Way. The company makes a smartphone app that helps users find restrooms, Wi-Fi hotspots, subway stations, and more, all based on city data first made available in October. «The types of applications that were created were far better than anything the city could have offered,» Lenihan says.
Some entrepreneurs aren’t waiting for government to open up. Instead, they’re creating Web apps that help push officials and agencies to be more transparent and responsive. Ben Berkowitz and three co-founders created SeeClickFix as a way to report problems such as potholes and graffiti to the city government in New Haven, where Berkowitz lives. The site uses Google Maps to let people flag issues in their neighborhood and send notices to their local officials.
The company has licensed the tool to newspapers, TV stations, and other local news Web sites. So far, more than 400 have signed up. New Haven, Tucson, Washington, and other cities also pay to plug SeeClickFix into their own response systems, so complaints get routed directly to the appropriate agency. A total of more than 36,000 problems from cities and towns nationwide have been reported on the site, and 40 percent have been resolved, Berkowitz says. He calls Gov 2.0 a way of «redistributing governance to the hands of citizens.»
Of course, plenty of public agencies resist openness, and startups that want to sell to or partner with the government often face frustrating bureaucracies. Yet even small steps by government, such as releasing public data, can create new business opportunities for entrepreneurs. Says O’Reilly: «This is one of those amazing outcomes where the government does something small that has a huge impact on the economy.»
I’ve met wonderful people in Washington, experts in the shpere of Gov 2.0 and E-gov. One of them is Brett Husbands, founder of english project Firmstep, that deals with british e-gov.
In interview Brett told about his thoughts about diggerence between e-gov and gov 2.0, and about situation with opendata in UK and U.S.
The next biggest thing in Gov 2.0 to Brett’s view is projects and peolpe orginizing communities in according to thier interrests and aimed to got the efficient result
During my visit to Gov2Expo in Washington D.C. I met Ben Berkowitz - founder of SeeClickFix.com, one of the best projects in the shpere of Gov 2.0 to my mind
Ben was inspired by project Fixmystreet of Tom Steinberg. I hope I’ve record interview with Tom soon and publish it in my blog.
I believe Seeclickfix has a very dynamic approach in ways of developing this project: active usage of mobile version and adopting to many languages and countries
Russian courts will publish on the Internet information about court proceedings and decisions in the truncated form. Restrictions on publication of information on cases and texts of judicial decisions will operate from 1 July this year.
Information about cases involving state security, on matters relating to family law relationships can not be placed in the open access. You can not post information on cases involving juveniles, «crimes against sexual inviolability and sexual freedom of the individual», the forced hospitalization of people in psychiatric stantsionary etc. In addition, in order not to violate the law on personal data, the judges will have to abandon the practice of publishing the names involved in the affairs of individuals. It will be forbidden to post information on cases involving juveniles, «crimes against sexual inviolability and sexual freedom of the individual», the forced hospitalization of people in psychiatric stantsionary etc. In order not to violate the law on personal data, the judges will have to abandon the practice of publishing the names involved in the affairs of individuals.
Other personal data should be removed too: address the participants involved, date of birth, information about vehicles, details of identity documents, and so on. It will be needed to hide sensitive data: information related to personal and professional life, except for information to be disseminated in the media in the cases stipulated by federal laws.
According to new rule courts have the right to conceal information about pending cases, including information about working with them judges – to avoid pressure on the actors. Full text of judicial decisions can be replaced by summaries of decisions.
Russiaexperts believe that such a reduction would lead to that this information courts’ base will be ceased to be useful.
The Russian government has decided to create up to 1 January 2011 a unified inter-agency information and statistical system on the Internet. It will bring together disparate information systems used by individual departments.
Inter-agency system should unify the official government statistical information resources generated by the subjects of official statistical accounting in the framework of the federal plan for statistical work. Access to a single interagency system free of charge will be recieved to state bodies, local authorities, legal entities and individuals. Electronic digital signature will be used to ensure the reliability of the materials placed in the interagency system.
Financial support costs associated with work on the creation of a unified inter-agency system in 2010 will be held within the budget. There is a different architecture (requirements for information security, reliability, number of objects) in systems with interaction «G2G» and «G2C» – modules. This will affect on their value. In the case of processing of personal data in the system cost increases sharply.
Average price of a larger system, which involves five or six departments, thousands of objects, high safety standards is about 10 billion rubles
I would like to share my small interview with Adriel Hampton (Gov 2.0 Radio)
During my visit to Washington for a conference Gov2Expo I’ve talked to Alexander B. Howard (Government 2.0 Washington Correspondent, O’Reilly Media) and we’ve record a small interview about Gov 2.0 in Russia. Here it is.
I want to thank once again all the organizers of the conference Gov2Expo, especially Tim O’Reilly. Also I want to xpress my deep respect to Steve Ressler (Govloop founder), Laurel R.T.Ruma (O’Reilly), Justin G.Massa, Sam Aherrera, Mazen A. Skaf, Kurt Daradics, Phil Tate (City of Manor), Kam Lasater (Seeclickfix), Daniel X. Oneil, Brett Husbands, Clay Johnson, Pam Broviak, Luke Fretwell, Dmitry Kachaev.
My special thanks for support to Ben Berkowitz (Seeclickfix), Dustin Haisler (City of Manor) and Adriel Hampton (Gov 2.0 Radio).
I am sincerely glad to get new acquaintances and hope that the international and Russian experts will collaborate in sphere of Government 2.0 efficiently and effectively.
Without a doubt, the leader in Russia in implementation of EGov technologies is the Republic of Tatarstan. Today I will discuss electronic services in the field of medicine in this region
«War Veterans Hospital» in Kazan (the capital of Tatarstan) serves more than 100,000 veterans who live in Kazan, and 23 municipal districts of Tatarstan. The facility includes a consultative clinic, where services are delivered by the very broad range of areas, as well as the «Center of Restorative Medicine and Rehabilitation». In the process of automation a number of innovations was implemented, the use of which will allow the hospital to become one of the pioneers of information health facilities in Russia.
Within this system, patients in hospital will be undertaken in accordance with the electronic queue. In a special program for each patient individual route to specialists and diagnostic tests will be formed. Each doctor will see on the monitor of his computer receiving and basic data about the patient. The patient receives in the hospital registry routing, which also contains information about the time of admission (or several methods), office number, the names of your doctor. While creating a route sheet data from the system are transmitted to the cash register
Automation in the «War Veterans Hospital» was implemented in record time. In terms of the project was created for 1 month
http://e-gov.su/index.php?newsid=2995
Now any citizen of Krasnoyarsk may apply to the administration of Krasnoyarsk with a complaint from any of the 950 express terminals.
There is a button «Write-treatment» – an electronic form, which assumes that you enter your name, address, and the essence of your treatment. If you provide your feedback data,the answer must be because this is required by law for appeals of citizens «.
Andrew Karasev (Head of Department of Information and Communications of City Administration) said that the treatment during the day from the terminal will go to the Department of citizens where a citizen can call and check passage of his message. There you can find out which department handling forwarded. The official answer from authorities must be done within 30 days.
Karasev stressed the uniqueness of the project for Russia. «Such a number of access points does not exist in any russian city. In Moscow, there are about 450 terminals «, – said Karasev. According to him, development and implementation of appropriate software and annual maintenance budget terminal is 1.2 million rubles.
The city administration is not afraid to increase the flow of complaints to the officials after launching this service. «We do not fear, because such a possibility exists for a long time through the official City web site, now we’re closer to the residents, because not everyone has the Internet»
Last week income of State Duma deputies were announced for the first time.
Average salary of an official is less than 2 million rubles a year, but there are 38 deputies whose income exceeded 10 million rubles., and 17 officials earned more than 100 million
The most wealthy MP – is co-owner of the gas company Novatek, a former vice-president of Yukos, now a United Russia party of the Energy Committee, Leonid Simanovsky. He declared 1.184 billion rubles.
On the second place – the former CEO of the company «Coke», and now deputy chairman of the Duma, United Russia, Boris Zubitsky. He earned in 2009, 423.8 million rubles.
The third place in earnings among the deputies took a member of the Committee on Labor and Social Policy Gregory Anikeev (earned 860 million USD.), the founder of the industrial group «Anikeev business invest», which produces frozen foods.
Some legislators argue that they live on one salary. Thus, Lyubov Sliska and Nadezhda Gerasimova, speed skater Svetlana Zhurova and communist Ivan Melnikov indicated in their declarations only the salary.
The State Duma approved the bill on the introduction of administrative liability for violation of the citizens’s rights to access information about the activities of state and municipal bodies.
Fines from 1 to 3 thousand rubles introduced to officials for wrongful failure to provide information, failure to provide it, or providing misleading information. Fines are also entered for violation of the «technological, policy and linguistic tools for use by official sites of government bodies and local self-government, as well as for non-deployment information on the Internet, as well as for violation of the provision of information containing information relating to restricted information and for the unlawful charging for information provision.
The number of Internet users in Russia in 2009 increased by 31,5 percent and reached 59.7 million people. This is stated in the final report of Ministry of Communications and Mass Communications.
The amount of information on the Internet has grown in 3,5 times, and the total number of personal computers grew by 11.3 percent to 52.3 million units.
According to the ministry, revenues from telecom services for 2009 amounted to 1.273 billion rubles, which is 4.2 percent more than in 2008, revenues from telecommunications services amounted to 1.179 billion rubles, which increased by 3.8 percent than in 2008 . Revenues from postal services – 93.5 billion USD, increasing 10 percent.
Market size of information technology (IT) in 2009 decreased by 7,7 percent to 496.5 billion rubles. The decline in the IT market was caused due to the fact that commercial users of IT services have made the reduction of long-term investments, among which were classified as IT projects. In addition, consumers have significantly reduced thier operating expenses, including costs for information and communication technologies.
First Cyrillic domain «рф» was born on the night of 12 to 13 May 2010. Two first sites – президент.рф and правительство.рф were launched.
CEO and president of the Internet Corporation for specialized names and Numbers (ICANN) Rod Beckstrom gave focal point for TLD domain administrator’s certificate of the first level.
Russia became the first country, which has received national country TLD. There is a preliminary reservation now. The first domain in the zone «рф» will appear with a number of bodies of state power sites. Output of commercial companies with sites in the zone «рф» is expected later. For them the priority reservation of domain names will continue until the autumn of 2010.
Before the names of Internet domains can be used only Latin. The problem, hampering input Cyrillic domain is search engines. Search engines do not see Cyrillic, something must be changed. Russian specialists are working on this problem
Ministry of Communications had the idea of creating a state system of remote work with documents, which by functional eclipse Google Docs as reported Ilya Massuh (advisor of Communications Minister)
Adviser says, all this is done for the primary objective – improving the efficiency of state structures. One system will achieve savings through common data formats for the various ministries and collective work with documents. This single system will achieve savings through common data formats for the various ministries and collective work with documents. Also, the load on the budget will be reduced by reducing the number of licenses. And, finally, the development of preference will be given to free software
«Russian web-office» in functionality should not only match but also to significantly outdo Google Docs. In addition to word processing and spreadsheets, SaaS-applications, such as for accounting tasks and electronic document must be accessible
«Investment in Technoparks’ development in Russia in 2010 will be about 3 billion rubles,» – Sergei Ivanov (director of department of public policy in information technology of Minisrty of Communications) told journalists.
According to him, the program of the development of technology parks in Russia planned to extend to 2019. «Technoparks are rapidly deleloping and generating returns, with extension of this program we can get up to 50 billion rubles in 2019 for orginizing such parks»
Today there are 9 applicants-regions who are ready to begin organizing such technological parks on their territory
On May’ 7 deputies passed a bill amending the law on the promotion of housing construction. These changes are designed specifically for the more rapid creation of » Russian Silicon Valley» – Innovation Centre in Skolkovo. This law permits the Fund of Housing Development to transfer the land to priority projects for free.
This is not the only bill that «optimizing» Russian laws for «Building the Century – Skolkovo». Thus, the State Duma is currently preparing a special article of the law «On Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in Russia», which will provide special conditions for skilled foreigners. In particular, such professionals will not consider quotas, they will extend the lifetime of a work visa, and so on.
In April, President Dmitry Medvedev gave the government the task to the end of May to prepare the final versions of bills that would provide some incentive for companies involved in the implementation of priority public projects. In particular, he proposed to cancel taxes for a number of such organizations.
Center for Applied Economics has published a regular rating of the Russian Regions by the level of e-government implementation for May 1, 2010.
In April 5 new portals of public services appeared: in the Republic of Kalmykia, Primorsky Krai, Bryansk, Kursk and Magadan regions.
On May 1, 2010 public services in electronic form are in the 64 regions of Russia, including:
- Through specialized portals of public services – in 53 regions,
- On the portals of the executive power – in 10 regions,
- Using electronic kiosks – in 1 region.
In 19 Russian Regions public services in electronic form do not exist.
The Republic of Tatarstan remains the sole leader of the ranking. And the 2-nd and 3-d places are Nizhny Novgorod and the Tambov region, surpassing the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, which remain among the Russian leaders.
We should noted regions that have advanced significantly ahead of last month:
- The Magadan Oblast and Primorsky Territory, who are leaders in the Far Eastern federal district,
- Republic of Kalmykia and the Omsk region have risen by 40 and 14 steps up, respectively,
- Sverdlovsk region, which is slowly but surely catching the leaders
Outsiders of ranking are former: Republic of Mordovia, the Republic of Tyva, Novosibirsk and Ryazan region.
Last month performance stability of portals of public services have worsened, for example, on May 1-3 five portals of public services of 53 were not working
Details on the sites and www.gosman.ru
In 2011 citizens of Russia will be able to exchange the paper policies of obligatory medical insurance for «electronic» entitling them to free treatment regardless of place of residence.
A person will be able to choose an insurance company, which would give him an «electronic policy. In contrast to today’s situation, when the insurance medical organization predetermined by specific head entity or employer, in 2011 an insurance company may be choosen the man himself. Selected insurance company will provide him the service of issuing electronic polis
The question is not simply to replace paper in plastic. Question totally different. That will be a single all-Russian roster of insured persons. This will ensure that any person, no matter where he lived, in every village of the Russian Federation, to receive free medical care
Official website of the Presidential Commission on Modernization and technological development of economy has opened in the Internet – i-russia.ru
The Commission was established in accordance with presidential decree on May 20, 2009. Its main goal is to start the process of modernizing the country’s economy, focusing on the main lines of technological breakthroughs and specific projects.
The site publishes information about the documentary work of the commission, statements of the committee members and experts, reports of meetings, the commission’s decision and its working groups.
In the future site i-russia.ru become an expert platform. Scientists, representatives of business circles will be invited to participate in professional discussions of projects. The site will be widely used as a working tool within the commission itself.
The Presidency of the Council on Development of Information Society under the chairmanship of the presidential administration Sergei Naryshkin further postponed deadline system project e-government infrastructure. Council decided to «take the necessary action against the officials responsible for the failure of the timing performance of the assignment.»
On Tuesday, the presidium of the presidential council for the development of an information society considered a systemic project of e-government infrastructure for the second time. The Council decided to pay special attention to the failure of the Ministry of Communications coordinated and systematic presentation of the project on time. Take the necessary action against the officials responsible for disrupting the timing performance of the assignment president.
Project is encouraged to be developed and submited to the June 1 2010 to the Presidium.
In August 2009, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has instructed the Ministry of Communications to develop the project «Electronic Government» for 2011-2015 by November 1 last year. Ministry asked to reschedule due to the fact that they were busy with developing a plan of building an information society. In February 2010, the Presidium of the Council for the Information Society recognized the draft concept of electronic government unsatisfactory and sent it back for revision.
The main problem of document is that its format was not determined. «There is no clear definition of what system project is and how it should look like: concept, terms of reference or something else, exactly what questions should refer to the proposed list of measures: infrastructure solutions, changes in law, architecture, e-government, etc.» – said Yuri Khokhlov (Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institute of the Information Society). Yuri Khokhlov believes that it is necessary «to restart the whole project.» That is, to form a clear requirements for the system project, its structure and content and write it again.
The development of Internet commerce in Russia in terms of growth lags far behind other countries. All because of people addicted to the cash market and the lack of delivery
Director-General of the Russian online auction Molotok.ru Igor Karpachev recently said that there are three problems the Russian e-commerce: lack of trust of consumers, the payment for goods and delivery. The most important one is the total distrust of its members to each other.
Consumers do not trust online shopping, online stores are paying customers of the same coin, doubting the honesty of couriers. All together, afraid of hackers, cheat, with plastic cards, and officials with their attempts to industry regulation. No one can trust anyone. Unlike offline stores passion Russians to cache greatly complicates the life of Internet merchants. The owner of Internet shop with a dozen deals in the week, quickly realizes that the money for the services of a courier company it is not enough.
In America, cash on delivery is a rare phenomenon. The bulk (70%) of goods and services paid for banknotes. But in Russia have plastic cards repulsive reputation. According Ozon.ru, in 2009, the proportion of such form of payment for delivered goods company was 6%.
Not the fact that Russia will inevitably come to the triumph of «plastic». We shouldn’t forget about the «electronic purse» (90% of the market in almost equal proportions owned services WebMoney and Yandex.Money), payment terminals, mobile payments. According to the association «electronic money», in 2009, 20 million customers enrolled in the «electronic invoice» 40 billion rubles. cash (ie, the average amount was only 2 thousand rubles). While the spread of «electronic invoicing» inhibited very high commission, and security of payment raises questions
This situation unlikely to change in the next two or three years. The national system of payment cards can strongly promote alternative methods of payment. The establishment of this system should begin with efforts of SberBank already in the first half of this year.
In a month Russian mobile operators «big three» (MTS, Megafon, Beeline) will start testing the technology connection LTE.
The agenda of next meeting of the State Commission for Radio Frequencies is validation of test zones for testing LTE technology in the Primorsky Krai, Kostroma, Rostov and Sverdlovsk regions. Frequencies in the experimental areas is not planned to lock the operators. At the same meeting it is expected to provide additional parts of the spectrum for networks 4G – as LTE, and Mobile WiMax.
Western Internet users consider the Russian prime minister Putin and president of the USA to be the most influential politicians in the world. The survey involved 6000 people of the UK, Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the United States.
The survey was conducted from March 31 to April 12. It was attended by more than 6 thousand people in five leading countries of Western Europe and the USA. Each participant could only vote for one candidate.
Votes for the world’s most influential politicians:
- Barack Obama – 82% of respondents.
- Vladimir Putin’s 62% of respondents.
- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev – 42% of survey participants.
- Deutsch leader Angela Merkel – 62% of the vote
- French President Nicolas Sarkozy - 57% of respondents
Prominent American biochemist and professor of structural biology at Stanford University, Nobel Prize in 2006, Roger David Kornberg will be the co-chair of the scientific-technical council in Skolkovo.
«This is a great honor for Russia. We are pleased that a renowned scholar accepted the invitation of Russian side,» - said the head of the working group Skolkovskoye project, the first deputy head of presidential administration Vladislav Surkov.
Kornberg candidacy was proposed by co-chair of scientific and technical advice, a Nobel laureate Jaures Alferov
Research Kornberg lie at the junction of chemistry, genetics, biology, and therefore Alferov’s offer to work in the project is quite logical, since one of the directions of modernization of the Russian economy, identified by the President of Russia, is the development of biomedical technologies
Kornberg’s participating in the project is the first but very important step in attracting outstanding foreign scientists to the project
Finally after all the conferences and round tables, I can go back to my blog. Here I would like to post all materials discussed ta round table Government 2.0 vs Citizen 2.0 in Russia: Internet and Politics
I want to express my gratitude and say thank you to all the experts who helped organize the discussion and recording interviews: Nicholas Gruen (chairing the Government 2.0 Taskforce for the Australian Government),
Michael Carroll (Professor of Law, American University), Adriel Hampton (founder of Government 2.0 Radio)
Sarah Schacht (organizer of Open Gov West Conference on Government 2.0), Dustin Haisler (author of cityofmanor.org ), Alan W. Silberberg (Gov 2.0 Innovator, CEO and Founder of You2Gov, Founder of Gov20LA),
Jean-Jacques Kudela (G2C Project, Supprt to E-Government in the Russian Federation), Justin Kerr-Stevens – (Demos Associate/Strategic Advisor UK Central Government), David Eaves (Open Government adviser & advocate Centre for the Study of Democracy)
Unfortunately, we failed to show all the video interviews with foreign experts in Government 2.0 due to technical problems, but I spread them here. Also below you can read the presentations of participants and speakers (in russian)
Video from experts in the field of Government 2.0
The following interviews are not the best quality o because I wrote video with Skype. Apologize in advance.
David Eaves
Presentations
As I wrote earlier Vekselberg was calling Perelman in Skolkovo. Now we know the answer: the famous mathematician from St. Petersburg in his interview to Portal Life News said that he would not work in the city of science in Skolkovo. He added that he left the scientific activities in general. It was an unpleasant surprise, because in recent years Perelman is known in Russia as «the principal luminary» of Russian Science.
Recall that Perelman was able to prove the Poincaré conjecture, on which for years fought best mathematical minds of the world. For proof of Perelman was awarded two prizes – each at $ 1 million. But Gregory never took the money.
Censorship will not be represented in the Russian Internet. Market participants were feared the emergence of this law, but hhis Law on the Internet that could seriously tighten censorship in RuNet will no be designed at all
The regulation of the industry in Russia will be done by existing legislation: amendments to the federal law «On information» developed in the Parliament and the Ministry of Communications. Market participants are satisfied with the decision, because in civilized countries regulating of the Internet is not accepted.
The Working Group established under the Ministry of Communications to address the issues of Internet regulation will not develop a separate bill. The group which is now headed by Deputy Minister Alexei Soldatov, will modify the existing federal law «On information, information technologies and data protection.» This is consistent with the instructions given in December 2009 to six government agencies – the Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Internal Affairs, FSB, FSO, and the Federal Technical Committee and the Ministry of Justice
Changes requested to be developped and submitted before October 2010.
«There are 1700 mentions the word» Internet » in the laws and regulations. All such references must be studied. It is necessary to develop the amendment, taking into account the specifics of the Internet, eliminating all misunderstandings. There is no question of a separate law on Internet and on the strict regulation of the industry «, – commented on a project executive director of ROCIT Sergei Plugotarenko.
As I wrote earlier Russian Silicon Valley will be led by Viktor Vekselberg who ia actively holding different meetings. In the beginning of the week he met Nobel laureate Zhores Alferov, who has been appointed as a scientific adviser of Russian Silicon Valley not long ago.
Vekselberg has admitted that St. Petersburg mathematician Grigory Perelman can enter the team of scientists collaborating in the project. Perelman – mathematician, who stunned the scientific world that he calculated «Uncountable» – algorithm for solving the Poincare conjecture.
The presidential decree, approving the National Strategy for countering corruption and a new version of the National Anticorruption Plan for 2010 -2011 have been published today
Each year, the head of Kremlin administration, chairman of the presidium of the Council under the President on anti-corruption Naryshkin will report to the President on the implementation of this plan.
The responsibilities of the officials charged with monitoring anti-corruption activities, the promotion of the press in covering the anti-corruption measures, the synthesis of practice for processing applications for bribery. During training of civil servants need to strengthen anti-corruption component.
The decree contains specific requirements for the Accounts, the Public, the Chamber of Commerce, the Association of Lawyers of Russia, parties and non-profit organizations: «to work on the formation of a society intolerant attitudes toward corrupt behavior.»
Anti-Corruption Plan was approved July 31, 2008. But practice has shown that we need two separate documents – the National Strategy as a policy document and a two-year national plans, which would put it into practice and contains a list of specific activities. It took the new version of anti-corruption plan.
April 11, 2010. Under the Ministry of Communications was launched social network for officials «Regionalochka».
Currently, the network brings together more than 350 IT professionals at all levels (from federal to municipal) of the 79 regions of Russia
The establishment of a network served a large number of issues coming to the Minkomsvyazi from the regions on various aspects of informatization of public services. Sections of the network is defined by the analysis of the most frequently asked representatives of the RF subjects issues and work on its information filling done
In «Regionalochke» interest groups are created. Exchange messages, creating own public and private groups, posting documents and materials are implemented too.
Social network has been created on the basis of already existing and tested solutions by the staff of the Ministry of Communications of Russia, so the realization of this project did not require additional funding from the federal budget.
To date, in each region there are moderators who is responsible for adding users. They will determine the identity of applicants for membership in a social network to the authorities. In the future, the Ministry does not exclude the possibility of the number of users and experts in this field.
Currently, extensive testing of the network is running
Section of the official website of the Ministry of Defence «Feat of the people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945″ have been launched. This site is availible in English
Electronic Archive has no analogues in the world by volume. Users of this information system will be able to read the description of more than 30 million feats of Soviet soldiers.
All interested persons will be granted direct access to copies of documents more than 200 thousand cases of archival wartime. The total weight of involved archival material is over 400 tons.
The filling of an electronic archive provides to be done in three phases. All work will be completed by the end of 2012.