Russian Minister of Communications and Mass Media visits Innopolis construction site

On June 27, Russian Minister of Communications and Mass Media Nikolay Nikiforov, Tatarstan Prime Minister Ildar Khalikov, Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Information and Communication Roman Shaikhutdinov and Director General of State Corporation “Rostechnologii” Sergey Chemezov visited the consturcion site of the special economic zone “Innopolis” in Verkhny Uslon region in Tatarstan.

Earlier, Roman Shaikhutdinov made a presentation of the Innopolis project, telling about its stages and estimated capacity. Before that, the guests were shown a film about the Russian round of the World Robot Olympiad, which recently took place in Kazan. More than 700 participants from 41 Russian regions and Kazakhstan took part in the competition.

Speaking about the Innopolis project, Roman Shaikhutdinov presented data on the development of information technologies in the country in general as well as in Tatarstan, demonstrating that the republic is the most suitable place for the implementation of such a major project.

The site, where the Innopolis construction started on 9 June 2012, is situated in Russia's demographic centre. The project is designed for all Russian-speaking IT specialists, including the CIS countries, Tatarstan Minister pointed out.

Then, the guests went to see the Innopolis territory, where construction works are underway. The first stage will be commissioned in December in 2014 and then companies and their staff will begin to settle the zone gradually.

“I hope the center of information technologies, which is under construction in Tatarstan, will not just be a Russian one, but a global one. Of course, Rostech should not stay aside. We have seen the city development project today and even found a site, where our building will be located. We will be able to put our IT facilities there. We will cooperate with the university and train our specialists here,” Sergei Chemezov said.

Roman Shaikhutdinov told journalists that the project is being promoted for Russian and and foreign IT inustry, adding that negotiations with a number of large companies are underway, and a short presentation for representatives of Tatarstan IT industrywill be made later today.