the biggest issues get invoice face to face with the news makers. welcome back half past the hour time for a look at our main stories of recovery today on r.t. british courts are cracking down the rioters with some stiff sentences but human rights groups that he was judges of over reacting just you know how severe penalties indiscriminately to young men have been given a four year sentences for posting a joke message on facebook calling for people to lose their hometown. party here in the syrian voices that welcomed the government's troops moving into their towns the international calls possibly president assad's regime for war if human rights

violations as well as across abuse against protesters are growing louder. and the moscow regions biannual international airfare continues with ever gather displays in the skies as well as deals being side of the ground well it's business thursday at mass two thousand and eleven the plenty of death defying stunts also providing be entertainment. oh that's time to talk tech as we meet one of those responsible for russia's innovation city spotlight is up next. hello again or welcome to spotlight then t.v. show on r t m and my guest in the studio today is roger kornberg. the much discussed project called the city to the russian silicon valley it's powering at full speed its leaders have held the first scientific council meeting

and also met the russian president how have they outlined the development of the futuristic city and what are the next steps cochairman of the scientific council roger kornberg is here to enlighten us. an installed for both innovation seeking has answered the call the russian elite and the foreign media the recent visit of california governor arnold schwarzenegger has brought significant investment to russia's own silicon valley days later some of the world's biggest names in science stopped by nobel prize winner roger kornberg came to moscow to outline the first concrete steps in the city's creation. is one of the most respected by chemists it comes from a family of not a nobel prize winner arthur corporate roger thanks skolkovo scientific progress and take russia to the forefront of innovative developments and promises to do his best

to make this happen or. lose the government thank you very much for being with us tonight. first of all russians russians living abroad like the nobel prize winner andrei again recently talked to him are often less optimistic about skulk about then four years then americans like yourself what makes you mr levy adventurous spirit south americans. they make the believe that it's going to happen i can tell you the following first of all there is no alternative. russia needs such a project if it is to make best use of its talent and. succeed as a developed country in the future russia has great resources but these are expendable they are being expended now they make the country wealthy at the present time but that will not last forever it needs to leverage its.

human resources to assure that the best possible future needs to leverage those resources for the benefit of the country and to avoid their loss. otherwise as has happened so often in the past this time it will migrate abroad now there are many other countries that have in mind the goals of the scope of our project and they are fast implementing them if russia wants to retain its capacity to compete and it must do this now science in the u.s. is also always been internationally very cosmopolitan it you have a chance to work with russian scientists before oh i have some of my closest colleagues and most admired amongst them are russian they are working in america for the most part for the very reasons that i have mentioned they are probably not inclined to return to russia because they're so well established where they are now nevertheless many of them have contacted me and said they would be glad to

offer whatever they can to assure even if i said i really have both you mean russians both russian citizens and american citizens these people are by now running around and said as most as they are the ones that i'm thinking who know well one of your best friends among the russian scientists is mr healthier why did you agree to co-chair this caucus council because you're friends with author of what is your reading of the reasons why the i was asked by george allen for why much admire and respect our he told me that he thought it would be helpful to them to. be his undertaking and. i wished to do what i could to support him. that said then such a project takes on a life of its own it becomes a challenge and i can see many other good reasons why i should try and help it succeed like one first and foremost so that russia will be. more successful as

a country and a better force for good in the world as if it is it is a job for you are you paid for that i want or need your in need i'm afeard payment which i must tell you is not beyond what i receive from anyone else to provide such a consulting service i'm offered by many more than i have the time to do and i've chosen to do this i'm not a comparable level of remuneration because of the reasons that i told scott has already been done the russian silicon valley recalls of the russian silicon valley well do you think they will try to will you try to follow the american example to going to go in the american first steps or is it an entirely different thing. it would be a mistake to copy really what was going on abroad the goals may be similar which in this case as there would be to establish a our a robust than

a vibrant and productive high tech industry there are two reasons why it would be a mistake to attempt a direct copy the that the circumstances are different and what works in one place will never be the best design or plan for what may work and another and the other reason is that the technology of the future will be different from the technology of the past based on discoveries that have not yet been made and so again far the best way is to. to evaluate the circumstances and then to try and make the best possible decision how to proceed based on the current circumstances well let's take a look at the latest developments concerning the creation of russia as a variation of silicon valley and the reported by spotlight and they did meet about . while the school innovation center is not yet build it is already much more than just the territory design aided on the map it's currently taking shape in the minds of designers from five countries france great britain the u.s.

and sweden who won the bid to create a concept for the russian innovations and it might eventually turn out to be something as who to restate as the building of the business school which already exists in school and was designed by british based architect barrett jaya who says he was inspired by a russian pioneer of geometric abstract art as in your mileage the construction of a center will take three to five years and around seven billion dollars of investment meanwhile you don't have to be in school over to be part of it a project but this upand will be able to work outside of it acknowledge you park and to q two thousand and fourteen and all this time in jew tax breaks attributed to in the vacation sent to members by russian law americans have shown enthusiasm thanks investors from the u.s. and some top silicon valley executives flocked to the russian capital guided by the

california governor arnold schwarzenegger the former action heroes visit contributed greatly to promoting russia's efforts in the high tax. as for some practical results a guest from the us waged investment amount in two round and new and used doors with eighty giants google and intel announcing their readiness to set up the design of the board to reason skolkovo. world what we just saw was bashful skulk around because it was a big big beautiful building is actually a business schools somewhere in the vicinity nothing is built yet but can you tell us you haven't been there i know but do you have the slightest idea when will that start functioning well when it will start functioning on a regular basis leading. project i do not know the answer to that question but i think it depends very much upon several factors first the final decision of the government to invest in the project i'm not aware that that final decision has been

taken secondly the development of a an appropriate plan which should involve a contribution from a council of which i am a member and then finally the actual implementation all of the things i believe are yet to be done or decided well can you name a single high tech industry that should become a could become the cornerstone of our of this of this revolution with maybe nano which is which is a great obsession in the kremlin today between the russian two russians got a nobel prize this year for financial technology do you think this may be the drive of the locomotive of the of this scientific revolution i think that's possible but i would add that perhaps the greatest opportunity the future lies in the biological ram i think that biotech will ultimately become the leading of the driving force in technology innovation in the world the reason is that it is agreed by all of the

twentieth century was the age of physics and it culminated in the high tech industry that we have today. the twenty first century is without a doubt the age of biology and in particular human biology and the important benefits from that are yet to be seen but all would agree unavoidably very great well let's talk a bit more about about the international nature of science when you're talking about this call for project are you discussing are you even interested in the percentage of russian and non russian brains that will be there or remain here in the county don't care i mean certainly the objective is to identify the best talent . and to enable it to succeed regardless of the nationality just as an american regardless of nationality or indeed in other places indeed it would be a great benefit to the country if a significant amount of talent came from abroad bringing with them. knowledge

ideas a different point of view it could augment what is homegrown. well you are a celebrity you one of the best in the world you're a story and i quite like a guest star like in any movie there is the guest star can you name a couple of other people of your rank in science that already have official invitation or or. with which the russians are talking to my goodness somebody else who can join you look we have a council of very capable people which includes mostly leaders in. this general sort of activity in russia as and appropriately so but then to the council. it has been possible to bring a leader from biotech in america dr phillip frost who is perhaps the most

successful entrepreneur in that industry in the world it has been possible to bring dr richard lerner who is the president of scripts in research institute which is also doubtless the most successful of its kind with vast experience in building enterprises that combine academic and commercial activity so i think we have. any example of those people and others the best that we could hope for in the way of advice to god because of you driven your celebrity i think these people are better than able. to offer useful advice on the project here but even years i have read it in the press that there did russian press that last summer even you had some troubles getting the russian these are that is. true that was a mistake and even a mistake i never i never i don't know where that came from mistaken the person was thinking they would be that mistaken the president is our i never i had and i and they may have thought that i had already applied for a visit into submission of this visit and i hadn't done so i threw the reverse is

true when the date for this meeting was finally settled and with my complex travel schedule i had to find a window of time in which to join the meeting then and only at that time i applied for a visa it was far too late for the train from normal channels a little and the. russians involved in the administration of this project could make it possible for me to obtain a visa on the shortest possible notice so so so far as i wanted to roberta accredited on the contrary denver crash into russian grabs the yet no not unless he gets a trumpet call i have not seen it yet says roger kornberg cochairman of the scientific and technical council spotlight will be back shortly after we take a small break so stay way i will continue this interview in less than a minute. for

the full system we've got it's. the biggest issues get a human voice ceased to face with the news makers. welcome back to the spotlight i am al green arbonne just to remind you that my guest in the studio today is an outstanding american biochemist professor a structural biology of stanford university two thousand sets nobel prize winner and finally cochairman of skolkovo scientific and technical council roger kornberg

roger welcome back to the show well we started talking about russian bureaucracy that you have faced only increased publications thankfully not in real life yet but people who have less words in their business cards may face those problems and these russian bureaucracy is a thing that's very frightening for foreigners that the russian parliament has passed a law which facilitates visa procedures for qualified foreign workers in russia earning more than sixty six thousand or more a year do you think this is enough i don't mean a sixty six thousand but lifting. barriers to attract more and more scientists to wish i would think the answer is yes because scientists will go wherever a combination of factors prevails first of all or an interesting opportunity and

scientists will be attracted by a challenge and they will want to do the most fascinating living thing they may possibly undertake and then suddenly adequate support if both are provided and i understand that may be true then russia should have i think encounter no problem but i don't think scientists like many other people but there's been for example are ready to stand in endless lines to get visas and papers and stamps nor bethink because like creative people are like that they then they like things that. if if if that were to become a way of life i think it would be a problem. for these on a weekly basis indeed it would be a mission otherwise let's see if people in russia believe in modernization of their country spotlights caterpiller they are never has tried to find out. hi there carol try to find out if people in this country believe that russia can be modernized without an involvement before nike is an expert simply relying on its

own talent and potential when you can use multiple years of course ok i think we should restore the site it was here and everything will get back to normal course of business school in the u.s. of course it can however our government is lacking one small thing for that desire for modernization for now i see only statements and promises there is no particular clear cut program i don't think that our government has any idea of what they really want there is also this cittie enterprise skulker i'm a university professor myself and i have been teaching for thirty years so i can tell you that in order to rebuild such a huge science and education system that we used to have in our country there have to be very clear and understandable plans in order to modernize our country we should avoid destroying what is lot from our science and education also stop turning high schools into career colleges and the most important step turning

science into management suits your diminished or more that no i think we should try to attract more foreign experts because there is something we can learn from them and vice versa so the exchange of experience and knowledge will only have a positive outcome for both sides. of her children so yes i think it's kind of that we have enough of our own resources and talents within the country people just need a little more freedom and directions should also try to align our younger generations . well i've got such a here she's going to question guest at the bridge and what does russia need to do in order to attract foreign scientists to work in our country so that was. so i think the answer is to create opportunity opportunity opportunity so that look it's not only money and start early cutting red tape but it's. it's a springboard that people will be looking for in so there may be people abroad in various places with ideas that they believe passionately in pursuing and

that there may be an opportunity for their implementation they will go wherever it is possible when you came here in when you when you. got together i mean your council the scientific council what was the first discussion about what was the main subject what was the main. question if there was one who was to decide what is the role of the council the challenge first of all is to decide how the council will relate to the project as a whole that in turn requires understanding what form the project make tape none of that is yet to sidon the challenge before us is to devise a plan that works there are just there is justifiable skepticism as there would be of anything of a new and as yet undefined nature and it is our responsibility to take all the

critical comment that has been made to heart. and take advantage in order to formulate a successful plan you don't sound skeptical on. i think because i have lived my life engaged in such high risk activity that is the nature of science of course it's frightening and of course one can get it wrong and in fact i've often thought that wrong. but getting it right even once or occasionally is the reward in a case like this i think we have a good chance of getting it right we must try this economy and i've talked to a couple of americans who came here to moscow last week as part of a delegation of u.s. venture capitalists and they will lead by i had a short snag of the the california governor himself they visit a school and they have a they met the president so do you think that now investments are

guaranteed on the contrary no investment of that nature is very slow to materialize and i don't think that that needs to be a limitation of the stage i what matters is to develop an appropriate plan and then to pursue it and be persistent and eventually the investment will follow so so when people people like my god some of this the geisha come in and then they will walk around and drive this because this stuff it's so it's all smiles and then nothing really behind it is that true or let me materialize i don't know how does that work in my limited experience i know you know that money but still the venture the venture community is interested in opportunity but very limited in those that it will eventually pursue they would come to explore the possibilities they

might decide to invest in the the odds are always against it but the determination of the founders of the project and their capacity to design an appropriate plan will be decisive in the end. i know you're not about money you're a scientist but you did make a couple of projects out in the life so so you know how well if that's the reason i'm asking so what i want to know is what makes you. so sure that there that you sound like an optimist here what makes you believe that skolkovo is going to happen that it's not going to become another potemkin village you know nice nice nice on the surface but not really impressive inside there is no guarantee what you believe it is it is what i what i think is that we have that it is possible to succeed it is possible to accomplish what all would agree was. worthwhile and to deliver value for money in terms of investment but you won't know

it until you see it and you've got it it's up to us to do it and the proof will be whatever is the outcome. now we have two stars one here one on the screen here we've got our own shorts now on the screen and we've got and we've got roger cohen group here in the studio so. how do you feel about it is it you to make these guys pay their money or is it those guys that are here to pay for people like you to. work in this kind of a who is particularly question but still i think we have different motives. i think it is true the when the venture community comes to business school their purpose is to make money and to multiply the value of any investment why interest is of course entirely different it's to see such an undertaking be productive in terms of technology to see it succeed in the other levels of both discovery and

the translation of discovery into meaningful so practical terms. but according to you of course have your own criteria when you talk to young scientists were you look through millions of projects that they they share with you is there such a criteria for the council you skulk about what's the criteria that has not been finally set down in words but i would insist and i'm sure others would agree there should be only one criteria and that is the quality of ideas the person it's what you make me consider it quality you your said biological services no mathematics and no one so physics in the first place if one can't really judge mathematics against roger vice versa but within the realm broad round of biology for example it is possible to convene a group that will review

a proposal vote and then go with the majority decision there's no better way to do it another thing that i think would be nice for your council to have and this is the veto power if the authorities rushing over to wherever their one thousand projects had the real very much want it and you see that it's that it's not really promising can you veto it and can't can your side of the council veto a procedure now. that aspect of governance has not been established but i think it's appropriate i think what you said is entirely reasonable i think a sign of the signs of a council should have the last word and i think it should work the same way scientific councils work in america there is a review process the rule of the decisions of that review are then forwarded to the final council that passes on them in the end almost always almost invariably they approve a decision made at a lower level but i think what you're suggesting would be very well placed in such

a process so sort of thank you very much it was a great privilege having you on the show my thanks and just to remind you that my guest in the studio today was from roger and part of burke cochairman of skulk of a scientific and technical counts and that's it for now from all of us here if you want to have your say spotlight but someone in mind who you think i should interview next time to drop me a line that's al green of. are you and let's people show interact we'll be back with more first time comments on what's going on in and outside russia until then stay on r.t. and take care thank you.

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