In May 2011 Maxim Nogotkov will represent Russia at Ernst & Young’s Global Entrepreneur of the Year competition in Monte Carlo. Nogotkov, who was named Russia’s Entrepreneur of the Year last November, founded Svyaznoy, a company that currently holds 25 percent of the Russian market for mobile phone sales.  Like other nominees for this prestigious award, Nogotkov started early, reselling computer software at 14 and launching his first company in his early 20s.

Russia’s efforts to modernize its energy and health care infrastructure got a major boost when General Electric (GE) announced it is forming joint-ventures with two Russian companies to produce and market high-tech medical and power-generation equipment in Russia.  In the latest example of foreign investment in Russia in the high-tech sector, the deal targets Russia’s growing demand for new, modern equipment, and also draws upon the country’s own skilled labor

Earlier this month, Runa Capital, a Russian venture capital fund, announced it was investing $500,000 in Hivext.com, a Russian cloud-based development platform that allows developers to create low-cost, complex web applications. Hivext is currently available in Beta format and is scheduled for release in Q3 2011.  

Peter Löscher, 53, has been CEO of Siemens since May 2007. Siemens, the largest industrial conglomerate in Europe with activities in the engineering, energy and health care sectors, is one of the international companies with the longest presence in Russia - being involved in the construction of the first telegraph line between Moscow and St Petersburg in 1851. Löscher oversaw a dramatic increase of Siemens’ activities in Russia: since 2009 and despite the financial crisis, the group’s investments in Russia have increased by approximately €500 million.

Against the backdrop of the new U.S.-Russian civilian nuclear trade deal that Congress passed last week, The Energy Daily published a unique and timely op-ed on Russia’s expanding presence in the global nuclear reactor and fuel markets by Marina V. Alexeenkova, managing director of the alternative investments department at Gazprombank.