Roman Shaikhutdinov: Yandex is not only a resident. It is another story’
Rostec is waiting for the former owner of BARS Group in three years for a new job
President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, Minister of Communications of Russia Nikolay Nikiforov, director general of Rostec state corporation Sergey Chemezov paid a visit to CIPR-2016 conference by the end of the second day of the event. The signing of agreements took place on the eve of the beginning of the conference. A deal on the sale of shares of BARS Group to Rostec's subsidiary and the appearance of a new big resident of Innopolis were among them.
BRICS countries claim economic sovereignty to the full extent
The first half of the second day of CIPR-2016 had fewer listeners: the halls were almost empty, the order of speeches in sections was not maintained. As a result, there was a kind of relaxation that disappeared after dinner, when Minister of Communications of Russia Nikolay Nikiforov, head of Rostec Sergey Chemezov accompanied by Rustam Minnikhanov came to the conference.
The guests visited the exhibition and joined the discussion about the Independence of BRICS in the Sphere of Industrial Technologies. Rustam Minnikhanov delivered a short welcome speech, expressed his gratitude for the use of Innopolis as a site for the organisation of the conference and offered Chemezov to make CIPR an annual event.
'The city just appeared. The infrastructure of the republic is tuned to the preparation of specialists. Tatarstan, Kazan, Innopolis are open to you. We sincerely welcome you on this site,' President of Tatarstan stated.
Sergey Chemezov told the country needs a technological independence because of the sanctions.
'BRICS countries claim this economic sovereignty to the full extent and often unite their efforts to solve these problems. While switching to Industry 4.0 (Editor's Note: a current trend of complete automation), for the Russian industry and the industry of BRICS countries it is extremely important to get rid of the dependence on electronics in the broadest sense of the world,' Chemezov noted.
The head of Rostec said the country can carry out this task and the exhibition in the hall of the university proves it (Russian Elbrus processors, Simonov Design Bureau's unmanned vehicles, ships of Gorky Factory and other Russian products were demonstrated). As for the indicators of Rostec, its head noted the state corporation has a task to increase its revenue by 17% per year. A 22% growth is expected in electronic cluster. Production of participating databases, automated control systems, artificial intelligence are the most groundbreaking spheres. So, Russia is to enter global markets and create competitive products.
During the next discussion, the point of a serious potential was confirmed by the experts who noted that in cryptography Russia can compete only with the USA.
Came to an agreement: both Solodukhin and Akhmerov are happy
After a short speech, the official persons to hold meetings behind closed doors, which were followed by first signings of important agreements.
Finally a deal on the purchase of Tatarstan IT company BARS Group by the National Centre of Informatisation (Rostec's subsidiary). Director General of RT – Global Resources (a head company that made a decision in the deal) Andrey Korobov commented the deal:
'I can't comment the price of the deal because it is a secret information: we cannot make it public. The integration process of the two companies is quite complicated: BARS Group will remain dependent on the NCI with its KPI, develop BARS Group's platforms and products. We suppose the NCI will use these platforms and products in big tasks it carries out in the work with the Federal Bodies of the Executive Power, in contracts with Russian Post, World Cup (Editor's Note: the 2018 FIFA World Cup), Ministry of Defence, etc.'
Korobov emphasized the perspectives of the former owner of BARS Group Timur Akhmerov: he will be the director general of the company for 3 years more, then he will continue his career in Rostec.
'We will see what happens during these 3 years. Timur (Editor's Note: Timur Akhmerov, director general of BARS Group) has ambitions to stop being just regional with the help of the merger with Rostec. I think if he doesn't lose his interest in 3 years, he will have a worthy place in the system. Maybe because of a great number of products, the business will be divided into several companies in the future. It is possible Timur will head one of the directions. According to the agreement, which we signed with him, we will purchase 100% of his shares, he will be a manager, but at present the deal lasts for several years; in fact, it is an earnout, not cashout. During all this period of payment of the money, he will be a decision maker,' Korobov told.
Commenting the period of the purchase process, Korobov noted it was caused by objective reasons.
'Now we've finished. We came to an agreement. Both Solodukhin (Editor's Note: Konstantin Solodukhin, director general of NCI) and Akhmerov are happy,' the head of RT – Global Resources concluded.
Yandex is not just a resident. It is another story
The appearance of a new resident of Innopolis was another landmark of CIPR-2016. Minister of Information and Communications of Tatarstan signed an agreement with Yandex PLC. An office of one of the largest search engines and IT developers is to appear in Innopolis. Information products, software will be created here; these products will be promoted in Innopolis and the republic in general,' it was what said without details during the signing where Minister of Communications of Tatarstan Roman Shaikhutdinov and director general of Yandex Aleksander Shulgin took part.
'Yandex is not just a resident; it is another story. We have experience in developing medicine in the republic, opening of a development centre in transport, navigation system and cartography. We have an area connected with development of geographic information systems,' Roman Shaikhutdinov told Realnoe Vremya.
What is more, Minister of Communications of Tatarstan noted that the key agreements would be signed on 9 June. Other 5-6 residents will be known on 22 June.
'We gathered speed and try to include the organisation of Supervisory Councils once in a month. Each council includes 5-6 companies. We work together with the University of Innopolis. The main task is to arrange the cooperation of the residents, university while providing a high quality urban, social educational infrastructure,' Minister told.