Access Russia: Intel’s Craig Barrett is betting on Russia’s tech boom

Modern Russia recently spoke with Craig Barrett on the sidelines of the Access Russia conference at the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley.  As the retired CEO/Chairman of Intel Corporation, Barrett now devotes much of his time to Russia, serving as the International Co-Chair of the Skolkovo Foundation Council.  

What do you think will be the key topics of discussion at Access Russia today?

I think today’s conference will really describe Russia’s movement forward in the last year — what’s happened with the Skolkovo project, what’s happened with the country’s entrepreneurship and innovation, what agreements have been reached, what opportunities remain for U.S. investors, and what opportunities there are to bring Russian entrepreneurs and their ideas to Silicon Valley.

What areas of opportunity are there for U.S. investors to get involved with Russia’s tech drive?

If you look at areas of opportunity in the future—and it doesn’t make a difference if you are in Russia, China, India or the United States—there are a few key sectors: information technology, biotech, alternative energy, nuclear energy and space. Russia has focused on all of these, with IT and biotech presenting especially big opportunities for commercialization. 

In general, it’s exciting to see how the Russians are trying to turn their historic education and research institutions, which are military-based products of the Cold War, into commercial-based R&D centers.  The West is already well aware of Russia’s technological accomplishments and the capabilities of Russian scientists, but what Russia hasn’t done in the past is commercialize those capabilities.  That is what the Skolkovo project is all about.  It’s a lot of fun to see the energy and enthusiasm around this project and to be associated with it.

What recent investment trends have you seen in Russia?

Recently at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Skolkovo announced an agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to recreate an advanced school of engineering based on the MIT model at Skolkovo.  We’ve also seen announcements by major Western corporations, including Intel, Microsoft, Google and Cisco, to put significant research laboratories and a research presence at Skolkovo.  But entrepreneurship is not just about big corporations and governments doing things - it’s really about the government setting the environment for the individual entrepreneur.  Although this will take a couple of years, we are already seeing a lot of activity with individual Russian researchers and entrepreneurs who are working to express their ideas, get research funding and move innovation forward.

Overall, if you look around the world today, the future of the economy in the 21st century is pretty clear.  It’s a century of innovation and entrepreneurship.  Russia has a long history of natural resources, with oil, minerals and timber driving the economy.  However, the country recognizes that going forward, it’s going to have to drive entrepreneurship and innovation.  The United States recognizes that.  India recognizes that.  Brazil recognizes that.  As such, there is great focus on what the 21st century means to Russians and what they have to do to be successful.  Sometimes I wish there was as much focus on innovation and entrepreneurship in the United States as there is in Russia.

Additional coverage of the Access Russia event is available in this CNBC broadcast interview with Craig Barrett and fellow panelist Igor Agamirzian, CEO of Russian Venture Company.