Russian companies should invest more to help start local venture funds, according to the country’s president, Dmitry Medvedev.
RIA Novosti newswire reported Medvedev’s speech at a government meeting discussing the modernization and technological development of the economy where he said: "The trend of Russian companies’ increasing expenditure on research and development has already become obvious, but we have little venture capital."
There were 108 venture funds in Russia, Medvedev said, but only 43 of them with a total capital of $2bn actually functioned.
"It depends on what we compare it with, but this is not a large figure for a country like ours in comparison with funds existing in other developed countries," he said.
Medvedev said he would order the government to work out changes in legislation to make venture fund operations easier so that they would not be held responsible for a certain percentage of failed projects.
"Otherwise venture capital will never appear in Russia because every time people demand a report and if the result is negative, there will be problems," he said.
Russia is building its equivalent of Silicon Valley, where a number of US VCs are based, in Skolkovo, outside of Moscow, its capital.