Press Release, 15.12.2014, Skoltech (The Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology)

A US diplomat says that Skolkovo and Skoltech’s partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is more important now than ever.

In opening remarks at the US-Russia Research Symposium in the Russian capital, Jeffrey Sexton, minister counselor for public affairs at the US Embassy, noted that “we regard people-to-people programs, such as the MIT/Skolkovo initiative in science, as more important than ever now.”

The comments are significant due to the current political climate, which sees relations between the old Cold War rivals dipping back toward that level.

“No country can go it alone in today’s globalized world, and a new measure of success may very well be the degree to which a country is able to cultivate cooperative relationships across many fields – business, scientific, educational, cultural – and with many countries,” Sexton said.

“The United States has benefitted immensely from these trends and will continue to foster them in all of our bilateral relationships, including our relationship with Russia.”

Key figures in the Russian and American science and startup communities regard their fields as hovering above the political turbulence; international cooperation is considered a key element of the innovation process.

The Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) is a private graduate research university that was established in October 2011 in collaboration with MIT.

The US-Russia Research Symposium is a joint initiative by Skoltech and MIT, designed as a forum for knowledge exchange on innovations, entrepreneurship and translational research. Over 30 leading Russian and MIT scientists are presenting their research and insights on trends in biomedicine, energy, IT, advanced materials and aerospace.

The event was running Monday at the Digital October complex in downtown Moscow.

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