Can Russia create a new Silicon Valley?

THE guards at the gate kept your correspondent waiting for half an hour. The taxi driver didn’t have the right papers, apparently. “We know that Russia’s bureaucracy is a big problem. That’s part of what we want to solve,” says the guide. Welcome to Skolkovo, Russia’s bid to build a new Silicon Valley.

On the construction site, things move faster: dozens of workers are busy putting in walls and heating ducts. If things go to plan, Skolkovo, near Moscow, will be one of the world’s biggest high-tech cities in a few years. At nearly 400 hectares, it is twice the size of London’s Olympic Park. It will boast a research university with 1,800 students, 40 corporate research and development (R&D) centres and a “Technopark” housing up to 1,000 start-ups.