Italian food industry offers great cooperation opportunities for startups from the Skolkovo Innovation Center, often referred to as the Russian "Silicon Valley," Leena Abu-Mukh Zoabi, head of International Cooperation Department of Skolkovo Foundation, told Sputnik in an interview
MILAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th October, 2019) Italian food industry offers great cooperation opportunities for startups from the Skolkovo Innovation Center, often referred to as the Russian "Silicon Valley," Leena Abu-Mukh Zoabi, head of International Cooperation Department of Skolkovo Foundation, told Sputnik in an interview."The Skolkovo Foundation is mainly focused on five main technology areas. First, it's the IT technologies where Fintech is one part of it. We have big data, VR, artificial intelligence, mobile technologies and others. Then, we have cybersecurity which is well-developed in the Russian market. We have the biomed technologies, including agriculture, where I see a great opportunity for collaboration with the Italian partners because, of course, Italy is well-known for its food and agricultural industry, and I think that innovation and technologies go well now with all sectors of this industry," Zoabi said.
The Open Innovations Forum, which starts in Moscow on Monday, is set to strengthen this partnership. Skolkovo stand at the event will include� an Italian startup - Cuoco ("a cook" in Italian), which is a software application for restaurants, Zoabi said.
Meanwhile, Skolkovo's own examples of agritech include Agro Drone Group that monitors the crops to see if there are healthy, overrun with weeds or getting insufficient nutrition.
In the sphere of renewable energy, Skolkovo already works with Enel, the leading Italian green energy company, which has an office in Skolkovo city.
"One more main technology sector is nuclear technologies with nano materials and new materials. We have best technologies which are well-established in the Russian market. So these are the main technology areas where collaboration with the Italian partners could happen, and we are looking for the ways to foster it," Zoabi continued.
This week, over a dozen of Russian startup teams from Skolkovo are visiting and meeting with representatives of banks and financial institutions, offering innovative fintech solutions. They gave a public presentation of their ideas on Wednesday at the Italian Trade Agency, while on Thursday and Friday they are going to have closed-door discussions with UniCredit and Intesa banks. The visit was organized with support from the Italian Trade Agency and Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce.
