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The makings of Siliconski Valleyski?

Russia turns to India for help setting up IT industrial parks in Moscow.

Charles Cooper Former Executive Editor / News
Charles Cooper was an executive editor at CNET News. He has covered technology and business for more than 25 years, working at CBSNews.com, the Associated Press, Computer & Software News, Computer Shopper, PC Week, and ZDNet.
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Charles Cooper
Moscow Times:"Looking to cash in on India's success in creating a rival to Silicon Valley, President Vladimir Putin on Saturday called for a bilateral effort to develop information technology and tap new markets."

Putin's keen on building so-called IT parks and Russia's turning to India for help to bootstrap the initiative (not the Americans.) The government's also offering a big fat carrot in the form of 20 percent tax breaks to any Indian companies that participate.

Will the gambit pay off? Russia's always had IT know-how up the wazoo. What's held it back is the entrepreneurship gap, courtesy of Marx and Lenin. Unfortunately, although the communists may be gone, they've been replaced by the oligarchs.

I'm going to wait a while before declaring Moscow to be the second coming of Sand Hill Road. Putin can bring in as many outsiders as helikes but any effort to translate Russian intellectual talent into major money-making IT operations will still need to navigate around the new financial powers-that-be. No easy task, that.