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Agreements of intent were signed between the Government and Sberbank (artificial intelligence), Russian Railways (quantum communications), Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation (quantum computations, technologies to develop new materials and substances), and Rostec State Corporation (quantum sensors, distributed ledger technologies, new generations of narrowband wireless communications for the Internet of Things and short- and medium-range communications), as well as a tripartite agreement with Rostec and Rostelecom on new-generation wireless communications.

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Speech at the ceremony to exchange signed memorandums of intent

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, I am happy to see all of you here. I would like to thank you for what we have accomplished today, that is, for the agreements the Government of Russia has signed with our leading companies towards developing key high-tech fields.

You and I know only too well, for we have discussed this many times before, that these fields determine the future of not only our economy, but also the global economy. The broad application of new technologies in widely diverse spheres can ensure a breakthrough when it comes to development in Russia, as well as transition to fundamentally new levels of development in different sectors and spheres of human activity.

I would like to point out once again that global competition for future technologies is already ongoing, as you can see for yourself. Our job is not to mark time but to do everything within our power to join the group of leaders, to guarantee Russia’s technological sovereignty and to ensure it a befitting place among the leading players on the new and promising markets.

We expect our major companies to take the lead in the fields of technology, personnel and finance. Global practice has shown that the corporate sector accounts for up to 80 percent of successful research and design projects. You have probably noted what I already pointed out in Yekaterinburg yesterday. I said I had been in Italy recently where I spoke with our colleagues who opted for this form of development. They informed me during a business lunch that this is the target they set for their major state companies.

In our case, the state will provide the necessary assistance to its partner companies that operate in high-tech fields. I am referring to financial and tax instruments, as well as the creation of a comfortable regulatory environment, including experimental legislation.

These agreements provide for developing roadmaps for each of these high-tech fields. These roadmaps must first of all specify the target indicators of technological development. There is nothing new about these indicators: the volume of production and sales of products based on national technologies, as well as the availability of research, technological and production infrastructure. In short, it is what we want to achieve, our goals and concrete reference points.

I would like to note once again that we must align or rather accelerate our progress to fit the tempo set by global competition in this sphere, and we must take the lead and work hard towards the desired result.

I hope that the implementation of the agreements we have signed today will become a positive example of such work, primarily for private companies, which, I hope, will use the comfortable regulatory environment I have mentioned (it will be improved, and this is something we should do together with businesses, analysing the practical experience to make prompt improvements) and all the other instruments we will create for supporting this sphere of activity.

Once again, thank you very much and all the best.

As far as I know, the documents have been signed, and now you will exchange copies of the signed documents. Please let us proceed with this.

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Colleagues, this is what I would like to say off the record, so to speak.

I know well what memorandums and various protocols of intent are all about since the time I chaired the Committee for External Ties in Leningrad, in St Petersburg. They are preliminary documents. In our case, this is a totally different story. We have no time to “ponder” over this subject and problem. We should start working straight away and we should be energetic, especially as the signatories and parties involved in these documents – the Government and our major state companies – know each other well and are working to achieve a common goal.

I have mentioned the roadmaps and so on. As a matter of fact, there is nothing to invent in this sense, everything is clear for you, for both sides. This is why I hope that regardless of the roadmaps and accounting, the work should be launched right now without stopping. And I ask you to treat this most seriously.

We have a real chance – and this is indeed so – to make headway in these crucial fields of focus. These are not empty words or idle talk about leadership. We have everything for this: good schools, the brains that have been guided in the right direction at specialised schools ever since childhood, there is everything. Of course, there are things in all spheres – education, science, industry, etc. – that we should address additionally, this is understood. But there is a basis for effective work in these crucial areas.

This is why I would like to express hope that this work will be pursued in a vigorous manner. I wish you every success. Thank you.