“To my relief, the Russians didn’t have a dark cell in a labor camp waiting for me. But they did spring a terrifying surprise: at the last minute, Ponomarev asked me to give a talk—in the plenary session—on how Russia can build a Silicon Valley. The 500+ attendees included seven heads of state (including Silvio Berlusconi of Italy and Lee Myung-bak of Korea), two former Presidents, several finance ministers, some Russian Governors and Duma members, and, from the U.S., our Chief Technology Officer and our Ambassador to Russia. If that weren’t enough, they told me that the session was being broadcast live on two TV stations. And seated directly behind the podium where I was to deliver the speech were Presidents Mbeki of South Africa and Abdul Kalam of India, and a former vice-premier of China. ¶ I started my talk by stating, quite bluntly, that I don’t believe that there is any way that Russia will ever be able to build a Silicon Valley: it lacks the requisite networks and culture of entrepreneurship, risk-taking, and openness. But Russia isn’t alone—even Boston’s Route 128, which was once a rival to Silicon Valley, lacked these ingredients and so bit the dust. And no other region in the world has been able to replicate Silicon Valley’s success.” - × × ×

I started my talk by stating, quite bluntly, that I don’t believe that there is any way that Russia will ever be able to build a Silicon Valley: it lacks the requisite networks and culture of entrepreneurship, risk-taking, and openness. But Russia isn’t alone—even Boston’s Route 128, which was once a rival to Silicon Valley, lacked these ingredients and so bit the dust. And no other region in the world has been able to replicate Silicon Valley’s success. Is there hope for Russia to build a different type of innovation/R&D hub? Yes, definitely. But Russia will need to start leveraging its own strengths to build a unique capability. - reflexing

Показалось слегка наивно, но в общем — всё верно. А что делать — написано в первом комментарии :) - reflexing