“Berlin can be a ‘role model’ for Skolkovo” – Dr. Dieter Bimberg

In 2003 Dr. Dieter Bimberg became the first foreign-based scientist to receive the Russian State Prize for Science and Technology since 1955. Here, he tells Modern Russia about the Skolkovo project’s ties with the Technical University of Berlin and discusses his collaboration with Russian scientists.

How did your cooperation with Russian scientists – ongoing for over 40 years now - first come about? What about Russia fascinates you compared to working in these other places?

Russia has made – and still makes – an excellent contribution to science, especially in the field of theoretical physics.  In the 1970s, I had already carried out many experiments based on the theories of Russian physicists. Our experiments were very similar to those made at the same time in Moscow.  As a result, I had many points of contact with the Russian scientific community and received an invitation from the Russian Academy of Sciences to spend a few weeks in Moscow.

More than anything abstract, what fascinates me about Russia is the people. They are well-educated, able to communicate effectively and approach their work with great enthusiasm. The winner of the Nobel Award and my friend Professor Zhores Alferov, is an excellent example for such a scientist, who radiates enthusiasm.

You have led the push for increased cooperation between the Technical University of Berlin and the Skolkovo Innovation and Science Park. What is the objective of this partnership and TU Berlin’s role in it?

This is not just a partnership between Skolkovo and the Technical University of Berlin. It also includes the Adlershof science park and the Berlin-Buch healthcare park, making it a partnership between Skolkovo and the city of Berlin.

In the case of Skolkovo, the Skolkovo Foundation was created and is under the supervision of the Russian Presidency. However, the implementation of projects is carried out by the successful businessman Viktor Vekselberg using modern entrepreneurial methods. The developments in Germany and in Berlin after the wall came down more specifically took place in a similar manner.

You mean to say Berlin can be a “role model” for Skolkovo...

Indeed. We recently brought all executive managers of Skolkovo to Berlin. It was important for me to demonstrate that Skolkovo definitely could also achieve its goals if you work under the right framework and if you plan enough time for the project implementation. Time is very important in this regard, meaning that you cannot expect that in three years time, everything will be achieved.     

The Skolkovo project was personally initiated and supported by then-president Dmitry Medvedev. How do you expect the current changes at the top of the Russian leadership, and particularly Vladimir Putin’s election as president, to affect the project’s future?

Putin is a man of action, a doer. He will take care of Skolkovo with the same enthusiasm that he showed when he campaigned for the Sochi Winter Olympic Games during his term as prime minister. Furthermore, one must bear in mind that Skolkovo is not a one-man show. The whole apparatus of the Kremlin also supports it.

In contrast to the U.S. for instance, there won’t be a complete change in political personnel after the election of a new president.  Medvedev and Putin have worked closely together and Medvedev is surrounded by Putin’s confidants. For this reason, I think that, despite the change at the top, little will be different overall. The civil servants in the Kremlin administration are very professional. 

One of the main premises of Skolkovo is that the creation of a special zone with advantageous conditions for innovation and entrepreneurship will help the country’s economic modernization. How should this work?

Russia’s administrative apparatus is arbitrarily complicated and the Russian government is well aware of this. For instance, when you buy an expensive technical machine, it is very difficult to get the spare parts through customs. Additionally, the customs officials themselves are not as professional as their counterparts in Germany or France. 

With this in mind, special rules were created for Skolkovo, especially concerning visas, taxes and services such as repairs and the procurement of spare parts. The combination of these three elements will certainly contribute to Skolkovo’s success. In five to seven years we will see if the whole package was sufficient for a reform of the industrial structure of the country.

What impulses for Russian companies should come from Skolkovo?

Beyond the oil and gas industry, there are quite a few successful large corporations in Russia e.g in the aluminum and steel industries. The Russians do not have a tradition of SMEs as we have in central Europe. However, under the guidance of the government, there are plans to develop this kind of culture, and Germany could serve as a model in this regard.

In order to push this development in Russia, it is important to get the young people enthusiastic about studying technological disciplines, because they lead to new inventions. Russia is a nation of inventors. They shot Sputnik into outer space before the Americans. This requires a good electronics industry and a lot of scientific and technical infrastructure from which many start-ups – as in Silicon Valley – can arise. It is still open to what extent this development will succeed. However, Russians will certainly achieve a more codified social stability level if they adopt the tradition of encouraging SMEs.