St.Petersburg Software and Information Technology Services Industry

7/30/2019 St.Petersburg Software and Information Technology Services Industry

1/100


2/100

2 St. Petersburg Software and Information Technology Services IndustrySt. Petersburg Foundation for SME Development member of Enterprise Europe Network | www.doingbusiness.ru

St. Petersburg

Software and Information Technology

Services IndustryIndustry overview, catalogue of export oriented

companies & promising start-upsThe current publication was developed in the framework of a special program Enterprise Europe

Network - Russia, Gate2Rubin Consortium, Module A Regional Center - St. Petersburg operated by St.

Petersburg Foundation for SME Development and financed by the Committee for Economic Development,

Industrial Policy and Trade in cooperation with RUSSOFT Association, Ingria Techopark & Business

Incubator and the First St. Petersburg business incubator.

2012 The special program Enterprise Europe Network - Russia, Gate2Rubin Consortium, Module A

Regional Center St. Petersburg operated by St. Petersburg Foundation for SME Development and

financed by the Committee for Economic Development, Industrial Policy and Trade. All rights reserved.

International copyright.

Any use of materials of this publication is possible only after written agreement of St. Petersburg

Foundation for SME Development and RUSSOFT Association.

Online version is available at:www.doingbusiness.ru
http://www.doingbusiness.ru/http://www.doingbusiness.ru/http://www.doingbusiness.ru/http://www.doingbusiness.ru/


3/100

St. Petersburg Software and Information Technology Services IndustrySt. Petersburg Foundation for SME Development member of Enterprise Europe Network | www.doingbusiness.ru 3

ContentsWelcome to St. Petersburg ...................................................................................................... 4

St. Petersburg: key figures ....................................................................................................... 6

1. Industry overview ............................................................................................................. 71.1 10 reasons to select St. Petersburg ............................................................................................... 71.2 Key facts ........................................................................................................................................ 81.3 Success stories & case studies ..................................................................................................... 121.4 Human Resources ........................................................................................................................ 201.5 Available infrastructure ............................................................................................................... 241.6 Support for startups .................................................................................................................... 271.7 Associations ................................................................................................................................. 281.8 Key events ................................................................................................................................... 291.9 Sector SWOT analysis .................................................................................................................. 31

2. Catalogue of 100 export oriented ICT companies from St. Petersburg .............................. 322.1 Company index by services or products ...................................................................................... 322.2 Company index by vertical industries ......................................................................................... 352.3 Companies A to Z ......................................................................................................................... 41

3. Promising startups from Business Incubator Ingria .......................................................... 923.1 Companies A to Z ......................................................................................................................... 92


4/100


Welcome to St. Petersburg

I would like to welcome you to St. Petersburg, the city which in

addition to its world famous architectural and cultural heritage

has become a recognized center for information technologies.

St. Petersburgs leading software development companies,

including PROMT, Speech Technologies Center, Transas

Technologies, occupy high positions in the world IT market. Such

service companies as Reksoft, DataArt, Lanit-Terkom,

FirstLineSoftware are constantly rated among the World Top 100.

St. Petersburgs engineers make a significant contribution to

research and development of new solutions for the worlds

leading software, computer and telecom equipment vendors

located in the city, including Siemens, HP, EMC, Motorola, Oracle,

Intel, Google, Yandex, Epam Systems, Luxoft, Kaspersky Labs, T-

Systems, Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia and Huawei.

St. Petersburg historically accommodates a number of leading

technical Universities. The city has strong R&D traditions as well as

a developed community of commercial software development

companies. The headquarters of the National Association of

Software Developers RUSSOFT, which unites more than 70 companies from different regions of Russia, is

located in St. Petersburg.

The citys contribution to the development of a new wave of hi-tech businesses is probably the most

significant in Russia. This fact is revealed in the organization of Internet Projects Contest Web Ready

which is supported by the City Government as well as a number of Russian and foreign companies. Today,this event is the largest contest of internet projects in Russia.

St. Petersburg is recognized as one of the worlds leading software development centers. Thus, St.

Petersburg is ranked 31st in the Top 100 Outsourcing Cities rating published by Global Services in 2010.

According to the Top-50 Emerging Global Outsourcing Cities rating identified by Global Services and

Tholons in 2009, St. Petersburg has the highest ranking. The city tops the list of the worlds fastest

growing cities suitable for location of R&D centers and is ranked among the top five leading cities suitable

for development of solutions for Healthcare Services and Engineering Services. Moreover, St. Petersburg

is also ranked among the three world cities which will become the best Product Development centers in

the near future. Today, 4 out of 6-8 Russian IT-outsourcing companies, which are constantly listed in the

Global Services 100 rating, are located in St. Petersburg.

This publication was developed in the framework of a special program Enterprise Europe Network - St.

Petersburg operated by St. Petersburg Foundation for SME Development and financed by the Committee

for Economic Development, Industrial Policy and Trade in collaboration RUSSOFT Association, Ingria

Techopark & Business Incubator and the First St. Petersburg business incubator. In addition to this

publication, we encourage you to use a special online tool catalogue of St. Petersburg ICT & Software

exporters (available at www.doingbusiness.ru) which also contains extensive interactive information in

English on advantages and key issues of pursuing business in St. Petersburg as well as a regularly updated

database of cooperation profiles and export products from St. Petersburg.

Maxim BalanevExecutive director - St. Petersburg Foundation for SME Development

Regional coordinator - Enterprise Europe Network - Gate2Rubin Consortium - Russia -Module A Branch - St. Petersburg
http://www.doingbusiness.ru/http://www.doingbusiness.ru/http://www.doingbusiness.ru/http://www.doingbusiness.ru/


5/100


I am very proud to present you an overview of the St. Petersburg

Software and Information Technology Services Industry which

includes a catalogue of IT exporting companies from St.

Petersburg. The catalogue provides up-to-date information on St.

Petersburgs companies which sell software and offer software

development outsourcing services in Russia as well as develop

products and services for the global IT market.

We put a lot of effort in compiling this catalogue, as the official

statistics does not specify the required data on software and

services exporters. We had conducted an extensive market

survey before we collected enough information on the key

market players.

When all data was put together, we were surprised to see the

number and diversity of St. Petersburgs companies which

develop software for the world market. Combined as a cluster,

software companies from St. Petersburg represent a very strong and solid IT cluster which meets the

requirements of the global market by offering competing products and services in many of the most

advanced and strategic IT application areas.

Besides the concrete data on exporting companies, the present report contains a lot of general

information about the IT cluster as a whole, as well as education, R&D and other infrastructural

background of the IT industry in St. Petersburg. You will find a lot of up-to-date and valid information

about the IT cluster in the city, which will surely help you create partnerships here.

Good luck in your exploration of the Software development cluster of St. Petersburg!

Valentin Makarov

President - Russian Software Developers Association (RUSSOFT)


6/100


St. Petersburg: key figures

Geography & time zone:

Area: 1,439 sq.km Time zone: MSK ( UTC+4)Dialing codes:

International country code: + 7 (Russia) Area code: 812 (St. Petersburg)Population:

Population (01.01.2012): 4,925,475 people Work force (2011): 2,677,000 people Unemploymnet rate (2011): 0.5%Currency & exchange rates

Currency: Russian Rouble (RUB) Exchange rates (08.2012):

o 1 Euro = 40 RUBo 1 USD = 32 RUB

Economy

GRP (2011): 59 billion USD GRP per capita: 12 thousand USD Priority clusters: Automotive,

pharmaceutical, shipbuilding, power plant

engineering, information technology,

radiology, electronic engineeringForeign trade

Turnover (2011): 53.2 billion USD Export volume (2011): 20.6 billion USD Import volume (2011): 32.6 billion USDForeign investments

Volume (2011): 6,120 million USD Largest investors: UK 17%, South Korea 10%,

Cyprus 9%, China 9%, Germany 7%, Austria

5%, Kazakhstan 5%, Switzerland 5%


7/100


1. Industry overview1.1 10 reasons to select St. Petersburg1. St. Petersburg is an absolute Russian leader in attracting international investments into IT-related

R&D. Dozens of global vendors have already established R&D centers in the city.

2. St. Petersburgs Universities have been ranked high in the ACM International Programming CollegiateContests, the most prestigious world championship in software development among Universities.

Within the last 13 years St. Petersburgs Universities earned 6 Absolute Champion titles and

numerous medals.

3. Every year over 4,500 IT specialists graduate Universities and enter IT market, thus creating animportant pool of talents available for IT-related R&D and commercial software development.

4. Availability of engineers in other high-tech R&D and application areas alongside with softwarecommunity provides an exclusive opportunity for finding breakthrough solutions on the edge ofdifferent sciences and technologies.

5. Creativity and managerial skills of local engineers have been successfully transferred into globalsuccesses of local IT businesses in both software development services and software products.

6. St. Petersburg is one of the biggest R&D and industrial centers which offers diversified options forusing cooperation with local IT businesses to enter a fast-growing IT market in Russia.

7. With its Pulkovo Airport, Sea Port and extensive railway network, St. Petersburg continues to play arole of the Gate to Europe for Russia, thus easily connecting the city with all continents and

destinations both in Russia and worldwide.

8. Known as the cultural capital of Russia, St. Petersburg provides its residents and guests with a largevariety of cultural destinations, including the Hermitage, Mariinsky Opera and Ballet Theater, Russian

Museum and many others.

9. St. Petersburg is also known as the most European city in Russia where everybody is treated withhospitality by foreign-language speaking and open-minded population.

10.St. Petersburg was designed and constructed in accordance with a centralized architectural plan.Today, the citys historical center is a part of the World Heritage protected by UNESCO.

You will enjoy living, working and being here!


8/100


1.2 Key factsSt. Petersburgs domestic IT market has the capacity of more than 100

billion roubles (3.5 billion US dollars, as of 2011) and accounts for about

14% of the Russian market. Approximately 16% of all income from

software development business in Russia is generated by St. Petersburg-

based providers.St. Petersburg receives about 750 million US dollars from IT export which

is represented mainly by software products and software development

services.1

The export share of services provided by R&D international

centers to mother companies constitutes approximately 300 million US

dollars. More than 200 million US dollars is received from software

products export and more than 250 million US dollars from export of

customized software development and other services (See Graph 1). St.

Petersburgs companies account for 20% of the Russian export of software and IT related services.

The present study estimates identify over 300 software companies in St. Petersburg, though not all of

these companies work exclusively for Western markets or are focused on software development. The

software companies employ about 17,000 software developers.

Graph 1. Structure of St. Petersburgs IT export, 2011

1.2.1 Headcount and turnoverThe pyramid of the software development export industry in St. Petersburg does not have such a distinct

structure compared to Moscow and Russia as a whole. R&D centers and software development centers oflarge international companies account for a considerable share of export production.

2Traditionally, in

accordance with the corporate policy these centers do not provide any official data for surveys.

Therefore, information on these centers is not included in the catalogue.

Taking into consideration only the companies included in the catalogue, only 4% of the companies

operating in the city are large exporters with a turnover of more than 20 million US dollars. The majority

of the companies are medium-sized and small enterprises. 19% of respondents have a turnover from 4 up

1

Information as of 2011240% of all export

Services from R&D

international

centers to mother

companies;

40%

Software products;

27%

Customized

software

development and

other services;

33%

Key facts:

Volume of IT export:

750 million USD

Number of IT companies:

over 300 companies

Number of export oriented

IT and software companies:

over 100 companies

Talent pool:

over 17,000 software

developers


9/100


to 20 million US dollars, 31% of the companies have a turnover from 500 thousand up to 4 million US

dollars, and 36% of the companies have a turnover not exceeding 500 thousand US dollars (See Graph 2).

Graph 2. Turnover of St. Petersburgs IT exporters

Correspondingly, the majority of respondents have less than 100 employees (72%). 23% of companies

have more than 250 employees, including 7 companies that employ more than 500 people. (See Graph 3).

Graph 3. Headcount of St. Petersburgs IT exporters

1.2.2 Year of foundationThe majority of the largest and most well-known St. Petersburgs IT companies were established in 1990-

1995. These companies represent 37% of all respondents. During this period, the country had a

considerable scientific and technical backlog, which allowed to gain a market advantage over foreign

competitors.

However, during the subsequent period (1996-2000), the amount of established companies decreased.

This fact was attributable to the exhaustion of the then-existing R&D backlog, lack of investments into

R&D sector as well as artificially high exchange rate for RUB to USD. During this period only 20% of all IT

exporters were established in St. Petersburg.

Less than

$500 thousand;

36%

From

$500 thousand

up to $4 mln;

31%

From $4 mln

up to $20 mln;

19%

More than $20 mln;

4%

From 1 to 30

employees;

35%

From 31 to 100

employees;

38%

From 101 to 250

employees;

4%

More than 250

employees;

23%


10/100


Following the period of post-crisis economic recovery and strong RUB devaluation against USD (300%),

further establishment of a considerable number of new companies in Russia, including St. Petersburg, was

noted.3

Unfortunately, the subsequent period (2006-2010) was characterized by unsatisfactory conditions for

establishment of new export-oriented businesses. Despite the abundance of new business ideas, new

companies with Russian participation were established abroad rather than in Russia. During this period,

only 7% of IT exporters were established (See Graph 4).

The fact that the increase in the amount of startups established in 2009-2010 has not yet led to the

growth in the number of exporters might be attributed to the short period of their existence.

Graph 4. St. Petersburgs IT exporters by foundation year

1.2.3

Vertical markets expertiseThe segment of Informational Technologies (IT) is the most significant vertical market for IT exporters.

This fact is attributable to high skill levels of St. Petersburgs engineers, whose products and services are

consumed mainly by the worlds leading and medium-sized IT vendors and manufacturers.

This segment is followed by industrial automation segment (52% of the respondents) and software

development for providers of various services (50%). Telecommunication segment and education

software segment each account for 46%. Wholesale and retail trade segment and construction and real

estate segments account for 39% and 38%, respectively.

The segments of software development for financial and bank sectors (36% each) should be noted

separately. Combined, these two sectors represent at least 50% of all respondents. Software

development for mass media and tourism sectors as well as computer game development account for24%, 23%, and 23% of St. Petersburgs IT exporters, respectively (See Graph 5).

336% of all IT exporters included in the catalogue

1990-1995;

37%

1996-2000;

20%

2001-2005;

36%

2006-2010;

7%


11/100


Graph 5. St. Petersburgs IT exporters by vertical markets expertise

1.2.4 Main export marketsDue to geographical location, St. Petersburg-based software companies are slightly more focused on

Germany as well as closely located Scandinavian markets than other providers in Russia.

According to the present survey (as well as to the RUSSOFT Annual Survey, 2011), St. Petersburgs

companies are mainly oriented to the US and Canada markets (50%), Germany (40%), Scandinavia (30%),

and other Western European countries (38%) (See Graph 6).

IT companies from Moscow and other Russian cities export less to Europe. This difference is attributable

to geographical and cultural proximity of St. Petersburg to European countries, the world's primary

consumers of IT industry products.

Local programming companies are also active at the German-speaking European markets, such as

Switzerland and Austria, Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, South Asia and Latin America.

Graph 6. Main export markets of St. Petersburgs IT exporters

84%

52% 50%46% 46%

39% 38% 36% 36%

24% 23% 23%

InformationalTechnologies

Industrialautomation

Software

developmentfor

providersofvariousservices

Telecommunication

Educationsoftware

Wholesaleandretailtrade

Constructionandrealestate

Softwaredevelopmentfor

fin

ancialsector


ba

nkingsector

Software

developmentfor

m

assmedia


tourismsector

Computergame

development

50%

40% 38%

30%

US and Canada Germany Western Europe Scandinavian countries


12/100


1.3 Success stories & case studies1.3.1 St. Petersburgs software companies and IT service providersMany St. Petersburgs IT companies successfully promote their solutions and services on the Russian and

international markets. Some of them can be considered as international companies. 4 companies from St.

Petersburg are included in the list of top 100 best custom software developers.Arcadia

Arcadiais an innovative offshore software development company based in St.

Petersburg. The company provides a wide range of software development

outsourcing services to customers worldwide. Today, Arcadia unites team of

more than 170 software professionals with over 18 years of experience in

custom development of business applications.

www.arcadia.spb.ru

ASCON

ASCON (CAD/CAM/CAPP/PDM systems developer) has not yet become a global

company. The company dominates the post-Soviet area only, but itsdevelopment strategy envisages active promotion of its software products in

new markets within the next 10 years. According to the approved strategy, the

company is planning to start operating on all continents at the beginning of the

next decade. ASCON opened its first foreign office in Munich at the beginning

of 2012. The office is engaged in development of a partner network in German-

speaking European countries, including Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Entry into foreign markets was delayed due to the global financial crisis which

led to essential reduction of the Russian CAD/CAM/CAPP/PDM systems IT

market, thus causing decrease in ASCON sales.

www.ascon-spb.ru

Astrosoft

Arcadia, Astrosoft and Digital Design are the companies engaged in custom

software development for foreign companies. While Astrosoft and Digital

Design are more oriented to the fast-growing Russian market, Astrosoft has

strong positions at the Finnish market. It is a premium level IT services supplier

with more than 10-year expertise in implementing projects all over Europe.

http://astrosoft.ru

Bercut

Bercut and Peter-Service, located in St. Petersburg, are the leading Russian

solutions providers for telecom operators. Though both companies are moreoriented to the Russian and the CIS markets, they also have installations in

other foreign countries.

Bercut is a supplier of end-to-end solutions in the field of telecom services (for

example, to Tele2 in Russia) which offers a unique integrated approach to VAS

development and management based on cooperation between operator and

subscriber. Outside Russia and the CIS, systems installed by the company can

be found in Africa and in the Middle East.

www.bercut.com
http://www.arcadia.spb.ru/http://www.arcadia.spb.ru/http://www.ascon-spb.ru/http://www.ascon-spb.ru/http://astrosoft.ru/http://astrosoft.ru/http://www.bercut.com/http://www.bercut.com/http://www.bercut.com/http://astrosoft.ru/http://www.ascon-spb.ru/http://www.arcadia.spb.ru/


13/100


DataArt

DataArt is a custom software development company that provides advanced

solutions for financial services, healthcare, hospitality and other industries. The

companys services include application development, quality assurance, team

completion, reengineering and R&D.

www.dataart.com

DevExperts

DevExperts is one of the global leaders in developing software for financial

markets. The company provides professional software systems for on-line

brokerage, exchange, and financial activities mostly on stock, options, and

Forex markets. DevExperts is specialized in development, implementation, and

support of financial systems intended to handle complex business activities,

including a full set of advanced tools to meet both trader and broker

requirements.

www.devexperts.com

Digital DesignHeadquartered in St. Petersburg, Digital Design is an IT consultancy which

offers a full range of IT services to clients in Russia and all over the world.

Based on its own research, the company creates new companies which

promote their solutions not only in Russia but also abroad (DocsVision and

AvroRAID).

DocsVision is a developer of the self-named document and corporate business

processes management system. It dominates the markets of Russia and

neighboring countries.

AvroRAID is engaged in data storage software development. Its main solution,

AVRORA 2.0 platform, assists in creating a high performance and fault tolerant

data storage system based on inexpensive widespread standard hardware

components. This platform has customers not only in Russia and the CIS

countries, but also in India and the US.

www.digdes.com

FirstLineSoftware

Both Lanit-Tercom and FirstLineSoftware were listed in the ratings of the top

100 worlds leading outsourcing technological companies during the last two

years.

www.firstlinesoftware.com

i-Free

i-Free content provider is another St. Petersburgs company with the turnover

estimated at hundreds of millions of US dollars in recent years. The companys

sales volume exceeded 200 million US dollars in 2011. Though it was created in

2001 and is a relatively young company, i-Fee has been present at the world's

largest markets since 2006. The companys offices are located in Kiev

(Ukraine), Minsk (Belarus), Almata (Kazakhstan), Mumbai (India), Beijing

(China), and San Paulo (Brazil). The company's products and services are

delivered to more than 100 countries across the world. i-Free specializes in

implementation of innovative projects in the field of mobile and NFC

technologies, electronic finance, digital content distribution, electronic

payment systems and micropayments, application development for

smartphones and new network devices, as well as promotion of digital
http://www.dataart.com/http://www.dataart.com/http://www.devexperts.com/http://www.devexperts.com/http://www.digdes.com/http://www.digdes.com/http://www.firstlinesoftware.com/http://www.firstlinesoftware.com/http://www.firstlinesoftware.com/http://www.digdes.com/http://www.devexperts.com/http://www.dataart.com/


14/100


products in the B2C market and implementation of B2B projects in the mobile

marketing sphere. The company uses its foreign divisions to promote other

Russian developers' solutions in the foreign markets. i-Free has good

development prospects, and its turnover is expected to increase several times.

www.i-free.com

JetBrainsJetBrains and DevExperts are excellent examples of new Russian companies

success at the global market.

JetBrain develops tools for software developers which regularly win prizes at

the most prestigious software competitions.

www.jetbrains.com

Lanit-Tercom

Lanit-Tercom is based in St. Petersburg State University. The company also has

a number of spin-offs which develop new technologies for the global market.

www.lanit-tercom.ru

Peter-Service

Peter-Service is engaged in development of billing solutions for large telecom

operators and renders services for products implementation, integration and

technical maintenance. The company has about 100 successful projects

implemented for 50 telecom operators in 10 countries across the world

(mainly, in the CIS). One of the company's projects has been implemented in

Turkey.

www.billing.ru

PROMPT

The turnover of such St. Petersburgs companies as PROMT (machine

translation system developer) and Speech Technology Center (speech

recognition and synthesis system developer) will most likely not exceed 100

million US dollars, though considering their partners and customers across the

world, these companies are already global.

PROMTis a leading Russian developer of linguistic IT solutions for business and

private users which has good positions in Western Europe. The company has

been successfully operating at the market of innovative linguistic technologies

for 20 years and, today, provides its services to more than 10 thousand client

companies all over the world.

www.promt.com

Reksoft

Reksoft and DataArt should be specifically noted among outsourcing software

developers. For several years both companies were listed in various versions of

the top 100 worlds leading outsourcing technological companies, including the

IAOP Global Outsourcing 100 and the Global Services 100.

Reksoft specializes in supplying software development services, products and

solutions to enterprises, ISVs, and system integrators operating in a variety of

industries.

www.reksoft.com
http://www.i-free.com/http://www.i-free.com/http://www.jetbrains.com/http://www.jetbrains.com/http://www.lanit-tercom.ru/http://www.lanit-tercom.ru/http://www.billing.ru/http://www.billing.ru/http://www.promt.com/http://www.promt.com/http://www.reksoft.com/http://www.reksoft.com/http://www.reksoft.com/http://www.promt.com/http://www.billing.ru/http://www.lanit-tercom.ru/http://www.jetbrains.com/http://www.i-free.com/


15/100


SPB Software

SPB Software is another example of successful development. The company

which specializes in mobile application development was acquired by Yandex

in 2011 and became the center of mobile solutions development for the

leading Russian internet company.

http://spb.com

Speech Technology Center

Speech Technology Center (STC) is an international leader in speech

technology and multimodal biometrics. It has over 20 years of research,

development and implementation experience in Russia and internationally.

STC is a leading global provider of innovative systems in high-quality recording,

audio and video processing and analysis, speech synthesis and recognition, and

real-time, high-accuracy voice and facial biometrics solutions. STC innovations

are used in both public and commercial sectors, from small expert laboratories,

to large, distributed contact centers, to nation-wide security systems. STC is

ISO 9001:2008 certified.

http://speechpro.com

Transas group

Transas group of companies is the largest St. Petersburgs IT solution

developer. It occupies leading positions in the world market in the field of

software for synthesis of 3-D images, vessel navigation and traffic control

systems, as well as sea and air transport simulators. The companys annual

turnover has exceeded 300 million US dollars with export accounting for about

a half of the turnover. Transas aims to increase these numbers to 1 billion US

dollars during the next years. With some of its products, the company

dominates such large markets as China and the US.

www.transas.com

Small software enterprises, informal groups and individuals that develop applications and companies that

mainly produce various equipment and develop software also have achievements at the foreign markets.

For example, a traffic speed monitoring system developer SIMICON has agreed with a Canadian company

Peak Gain Systems to sell vehicle speed meters produced by Peak Gain Systems as a representative in

North America. Two applications for the Windows Phone mobile OS created by Yury Skvortsov, a student

from St. Petersburg, are listed in the national marketplace store tops in several countries.

The head offices of OCS and Marvel, two large Russian computer and telecom equipment distributors, are

located in St. Petersburg. The offices of several powerful system integrators operating across Russia and

the CIS, such as AND Project, BCC, Lank Systems, Polikom Pro, Korus Consulting, are also located in St.

Petersburg.

St. Petersburgs IT companies have achieved success at the Russian and world markets mainly due to high

concentration of scientific institutions in the city as well as experts skilled in various fields. The

development of IT companies is financed mainly by their own funds. Success of large Moscow IT

companies is mostly attributed to high concentration of financial resources in the capital. Should St.

Petersburgs companies receive any external investment, software developers and service companies

could considerably increase sales turnover both in Russia and abroad.

1.3.2 R&D centers of multinational companies located in St. PetersburgLarge number of scientists and skilled experts in St. Petersburg contributed to the establishment of R&D

centers and research laboratories of many foreign corporations. While these centers were mainly created
http://spb.com/http://spb.com/http://speechpro.com/http://speechpro.com/http://www.transas.com/http://www.transas.com/http://www.transas.com/http://speechpro.com/http://spb.com/


16/100


during the period of 2002-2008, some of them have been already operating in the city for 12-15 years.

Thus, Motorola's center opened in 1995 was the first R&D center in St. Petersburg. During the previous

years such global problems as, for example, sharp reductions in world market sales led to cutbacks in the

number of St. Petersburgs R&D divisions of foreign corporations. Due to the companys liquidation,

Borland development center was closed several years ago. Nevertheless, quality of employees' work has

never been a reason that caused significant staff reductions or any centers or research laboratorys

closure. On the contrary, despite the crisis and increase in labor costs, new software development centersare launched in the city every year.

As a rule, foreign corporations do not share any information on operation of their Russian divisions which

are engaged in advanced development and research. Sometimes, the activities of such divisions are so

classified that it is difficult to get any official data neither about the field of their work nor the number of

employees. Nevertheless, the existing data is enough to consider specialization of international R&D

centers located in St. Petersburg.

Alcatel-Lucent

The Alcatel-Lucent experts working in St. Petersburg are engaged not only in

development of solutions for the Russian market, but also participate in the

company's global projects. They develop software solutions for corporate

telecommunications, IPTV and contact centers. In the field of IPTV, a priority

task lies in developing a fully functional service platform for large operators.

Particularly, St. Petersburgs center develops over-the-top solutions for

delivery of multimedia applications via public. As for corporate communication

field of activity, the center created a group working on MyTeamwork, a

product for on-line conferences.

The R&D center launched from-the-scratch development of analytical solutions

for the Genesys Interactive Insight contact centers. This project is interesting

since extreme programming approaches were first applied in St. Petersburg

on demand of Alcatel-Lucent.

In cooperation with the Russian Technologies State Corporation Alcatel-Lucent

established a joint venture engaged in development, production and

promotion of IP protocol-based hi-tech equipment in the Russian and the CIS

markets. Subsequently, the partners decided to organize production of

equipment for Russian LTE networks as well as launch another research and

development center in St. Petersburg (which is now integrated into the Alcatel-

Lucent wireless solutions group).

www.alcatel-lucent.com

ECTACO

An American company ECTACO is one of the leaders in the world market of

pocket electronic translators. In 1998 the company opened the Center for

advanced development on the basis of its Russian office in St. Petersburg. The

center eventually became the companys main development center. Thus, in

many respects St. Petersburgs experts determine design and quality of the

linguistic base and wide functionality of ECTACO translators.

www.ectaco.com

EMC

EMC R&D center in St. Petersburg is oriented towards implementation of

projects that require high qualification, although it is not as large as the

companys centers in other countries.

At the moment of the centers opening, the Captiva engineering division

acquired by EMC, which was engaged in development of software for transfer
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/http://www.ectaco.com/http://www.ectaco.com/http://www.ectaco.com/http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/


17/100


of information from paper to electronic media, was located in the city. 50

employees of the division joined the center.

The key direction of the company's activities is storage devices. St.

Petersburgs center is engaged in activities associated with Symmetrix, a

flagman family of EMC storage systems.

www.emc.com

Google

Google's software development centers in Russia are located in Moscow and

St. Petersburg. There is not much information available regarding their

operation. Most likely, the centers develop solutions used by the company in

Russia. However, it is known that the Russian software development centers

carry out projects for the entire company. Thus, the centers possess the

authorship for Google Code, a search service for programmers, as well as

perform a large share of work on the Google toolbar development.

www.google.com

HP LabsHP opened a unique research laboratory in St. Petersburg. Unlike other

international R&D centers located in Russia, it is not engaged in localization

and development of short-term technologies, but focuses on pursuing

fundamental science research with the expected return in at least 5 years. Its

staff mostly includes scientists employed on a permanent basis. At the same

time, the HP laboratory in St. Petersburg actively cooperates with the leading

Russian Universities and academic institutions.

Particularly, the laboratory in St. Petersburg implements a unique project for

corporation's research division aimed at developing the Contextualized

Information Delivery Platform (CIDP). The platform is intended for so-called

knowledge workers (financial or political analysts, sales or marketing experts,

researchers and other users) who constantly work with large data sets to make

decisions and provide recommendations.

In close collaboration with HP Labs scientists, Russian professors, teachers,

postgraduate students and students conduct research in the laboratory

focusing on such fields as natural language processing; extraction of semantic

information from multimedia data; extraction of objects, events, complex

events, facts for deep text analysis; integration of information from

heterogeneous sources; contextual compression, automatic summarization;

scalable graph algorithms; service-oriented architectures and cloud services.

www.hpl.hp.com

Intel

Among all corporations in Russia, Intel has the largest contingent of developers

and researchers which includes about 2 thousand people. They work in 5 cities,

including Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Sarov, Novosibirsk, and St. Petersburg.

Intel R&D centers in Russia are mainly oriented to computer technologies

development. Nevertheless, some employees are involved in implementation

of specific projects, such as development of the Intel Wireless Display

technology (Wi-Di) used to connect big screens to a laptop or a desktop

computer via wireless channel.

In July 2004, the R&D center was opened in St. Petersburg. 8 years ago, its

employees started to work on the development of the Managed Run Time

Environment (MRTE) software which is a new field for the company. Intel's
http://www.emc.com/http://www.emc.com/http://www.google.com/http://www.google.com/http://www.hpl.hp.com/http://www.hpl.hp.com/http://www.hpl.hp.com/http://www.google.com/http://www.emc.com/


18/100


R&D center in St. Petersburg was created on the basis of the Elbrus MCST

company, which was one of the Russian leading scientific centers in the field of

computer technologies. Together with the regional offices, the company

employed over 500 highly-qualified experts, including three laureates of the

Lenin Prize and five laureates of the State Prize, six professors, eight Doctors of

Science, and more than fifty Candidates of Science. They developed a new

generation of microprocessors, E2K and Elbrus, and the Elbrus-3M universalmultiprocessor computer complex.

www.intel.com

Motorola

Motorola is one of the first foreign corporations which opened a development

center in Russia. The division has four basic lines of activity, including

optimization and solutions for wireless platforms, automobile electronics and

telematics, cellular network infrastructure, and remote access systems and

solutions for them. In cooperation with a Russian holding InformInvestGroup

Motorola corporation started to localize production of equipment for 4G

broadband mobile communication networks. Russian experts conduct

preliminary research and development for the project.

www.motorola.com

Nokia

Nokia created a network of research laboratories in Russia at Universities and

the Russian Academy of Sciences. Due to proximity to Finland, this network

started to form in St. Petersburg. The Finnish company acknowledged Russian

specialists expertise in certain areas where they are capable of solving

assigned tasks with the same level of quality as their Western European peers.

India and China are also considered as an option, however, for a more distant

perspective (10 years and more). Despite the fact that the science develops

rapidly in these countries, the required "historical basis" has not been acquired

yet. Two related companies, Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks, conduct

research in the fields that partially overlap, though Nokia Siemens Networks

division in St. Petersburg is more oriented to the field of telecommunication

infrastructure.

www.nokia.com

Oracle Development

Following the Sun Microsystems acquisition by Oracle in 2009, the Sun

Microsystems center of high technologies in St. Petersburg has been

functioning as Oracle Development LLC. This division's basic sphere of activity

included Java technologies and development tools, in particular, applied

aspects of Java, Jini, N1, J2ME, and compilers development. After the Sun

Microsystems absorption, some experts suggested that specialization of its St.

Petersburg center will not comply with the Oracle development strategy.

However, the corporation continued to finance development in St. Petersburg.

Today, the Center of High Technologies, in addition to Java, develops Fusion

Middleware products, including, for example, application server and server

virtualization solutions. St. Petersburgs experts are engaged in the full cycle of

software development which is developed for the global market. The Oracle

developers in St. Petersburg are engaged in solving complex problems that can

be dealt with by very few experts in the world.

www.oracle.com
http://www.intel.com/http://www.intel.com/http://www.motorola.com/http://www.motorola.com/http://www.nokia.com/http://www.nokia.com/http://www.oracle.com/http://www.oracle.com/http://www.oracle.com/http://www.nokia.com/http://www.motorola.com/http://www.intel.com/


19/100


Siemens Communications

Siemens Communications opened a joint center on the basis of two St.

Petersburgs software development divisions. Siemens opened its first Russian

software development center in 1997. The center was engaged in fixed

telephony segment. Then, in 2001, the second center, which developed

solutions for mobile communication switching subsystems, was established. In

2005, taking into account the global technology convergence tendencies, thecompanys management decided to consolidate developers under the same

roof.

Generally, the software development center receives orders directly from the

Siemens AG head office. Other orders are received from the regional Siemens

offices in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and other CIS countries.

Main objectives of the center lie in development, testing and standardization

of software products and applications; adaptation of Siemens technology

considering the specific features of the regional market, as well as certified

support and maintenance of the solutions in the Russian and CIS markets. The

centers area of competence also lies in intellectual network software

adaptation to customers' needs (and consulting services on its application) as

well as database development for advance payment services.

www.siemens-enterprise.com

T-Systems

T-Systems is the Deutsche Telekom's subsidiary enterprise and R&D center in

St. Petersburg. It develops software on demand of its parent structure and

other large European telecom operators. Besides, the center works for the

Russian market. It develops customized software and implements complex

information systems. T-Systems basic lines of activity in Russia include

implementation and support of the SAP ERP enterprise management systems,

software development, integration and support, and rendering of

telecommunication services.

www.t-systems.com

Yandex and Epam Systems also have software development centers in St. Petersburg. These companies

became global after holding an IPO and opening their offices in many countries. Luxoft, a large Russian

software company headquarted in Moscow, has a network of foreign development centers as well as the

software development and training center in St. Petersburg.
http://www.siemens-enterprise.com/http://www.siemens-enterprise.com/http://www.t-systems.com/http://www.t-systems.com/http://www.t-systems.com/http://www.siemens-enterprise.com/


20/100


1.4 Human Resources1.4.1 UniversitiesThe success of St. Petersburg as an R&D center in the IT field is attributed to its leading universities.

According to the official data, working age population of the city equals 2.66 million people. Taking into

account migrants engaged in the IT industry, this number is likely to reach 3 million people. With 70thousand unemployed, 2.59 million people work or study in the city. Thus, more than 200 thousand

people are employed in IT companies and corporate IT services.

43.6% of economically active population has higher education. 832 students account for every 10

thousand citizens of St. Petersburg. Two-thirds of software exporters' personnel have good command of

English.

St. Petersburg has a large number of Universities and Institutes that educate IT and IT-related specialists,

including engineers who have at least basic IT knowledge and can be easily trained to become software

developers. Approximately 4,500 software development engineers and 12,000 IT-related specialists

graduate annually. The last figure indicates a potential rather than a real number of newcomers. Despite

the continuing brain-drain (estimated at under 5% of graduates) and the fact that not all graduates startworking in the industry, this potential is still immense.

St. Petersburg has a high concentration of technical higher education institutions, including 5 Universities

which are ranked among the 12-15 best Russian educational institutions in the sphere of software

development:

St. Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics(SPNRU ITMO)

The National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics is one of the

oldest higher education institutions in Russia. The school has been training specialists in cutting-edge

technologies directed to science and technical development for more than 100 years. Today, the

University, which has 10 departments and offers 49 specializations, enrolls more than 9,000 full-timestudents. SPNRU ITMO is known not only in Russia but also internationally due its students' success at

the ACM International Programming Collegiate Contests. The Universitys top worlds rating reflects

the results of participation in prestigious competitions within several years. SPNRU ITMO is the only

university in the world that has become the winner of the ACM International Programming Collegiate

Contest 4 times in different years.

http://en.ifmo.ru

St. Petersburg State University (SPBU)Founded in 1724, St. Petersburg State University is the oldest institution of higher education in Russia.

The University's Department of Mathematics and Mechanics together with its comprising scientific

institutions is one of the largest mathematical centers in the world. The Department offers 23

specializations and also includes the Research Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics, a computercenter and astronomy observatory. In addition to SPNRU ITMO, SPBU also successfully participates in

the International Programming Collegiate Contests. Its students became absolute world champions

twice and with several exceptions constantly become prize-winners. The SPBU team became the first

Russian winner of the ACM International Programming Collegiate Contest in 2000-2001.

http://eng.spbu.ru

St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University (SPBSTU)St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University was founded in 1899. It has recently become the National

Research University, thus recognized as a leading Russian and international center in the field of

higher engineering and economics. The University attracts students form 96 countries of the world

and provides education programs in the field of engineering, physics, economics, humanities and IT.
http://en.ifmo.ru/http://en.ifmo.ru/http://eng.spbu.ru/http://eng.spbu.ru/http://eng.spbu.ru/http://en.ifmo.ru/


21/100


Today, the University has 20 departments and Institutes as well as 120 R&D labs and offers more than

150 specializations.

www.spbstu-eng.ru

St. Petersburg State Electrotechnic University (ETU)St. Petersburg State Electrotechnic University is one of the world's largest education and research

centers specializing in radio engineering, electrical engineering, electronics and computer science. The

University has a staff of more than 1,000 highly-qualified specialists and scientists, including the NobelPrize Winner in physics Zhores Alferov. Electrotechnic University is alma mater for over 70 thousand

students and over 3 thousand international students.

http://old.eltech.ru

St. Petersburg State University of Space Instrumentation (SUAI)Historically, the University (formerly known as Aircraft Instrumentation Institute) has been largely

involved into projects related to development of software for embedded devices for aviation and

space. Today, the University accomodates an important R&D center and implements joint training

programs on embedded software development in cooperation with Nokia, Intel and other vendors.

http://suai.ru

IT specialists are also educated at the following St. Petersburgs Universities:

Bonch-Bruevich St. Petersburg State University of Telecommunications (SPbSUT)Bonch-Bruevich St. Petersburg State University of Telecommunications is one of the oldest higher

education engineering Institutes in Russia. Founded in 1930, the Universitys history is closely linked

to the development of Russian and world science in communication area and great scientific and

technical base. The University is a founding member of the Association of European Universities and

Companies of Informatics and Computer Electronics (EUNICE).

www.sut.ru

Baltic State Technical University ("Voyenmekh")Founded in 1932, the University educated more than 60,000 thousand specialists in the areas of

aircraft jet production, aerospace, physics and mechanics, arms and armament systems, information

and control systems, mechatronics and control, applied mechanics and automation, internationalindustrial management.

www.voenmeh.ru

St. Petersburg State Transport University (PSTU)St. Petersburg State Transport University includes 10 faculties, 52 departments, scientific research

institutes and centers, branches and offices in various Russian towns as well as a complex of

specialized secondary educational institutions. According to the Russian Federation Ministry of

Education, the University ranks 10-13 among 175 Russian technical higher schools. The University

educates specialists in various areas, including railways power supply, automatics, telemechanics,

telecommunications, traffic management as well as information systems, standardization and

certification, technological processes safety, management and marketing.

www.pgups.ru/eng

St. Petersburg State Engineering Institute ( LMZ-VTUZ)Founded in 1930, St. Petersburg State Engineering Institute focuses on educational, scientific and

engineering activities in the areas of power engineering, technology and automatization, industrial

processes, triboengineering, corporate IT systems and other.

www.pimash.spb.ru

Annually St. Petersburgs higher education institutions educate about 4.5 thousand IT specialists.

However, demand exceeds supply available at the labor market. Besides, not all graduates are ready to

fulfill difficult tasks (first of all, in export-oriented companies). In this regard, the National Association of

Software Developers (RUSSOFT) in cooperation with the US Chamber of Commerce is establishing the St.

Petersburg Academy of Postgraduate IT Education (SPb ITAPO). This academy will be engaged in
http://www.spbstu-eng.ru/http://www.spbstu-eng.ru/http://old.eltech.ru/http://old.eltech.ru/http://suai.ru/http://suai.ru/http://www.sut.ru/http://www.sut.ru/http://www.voenmeh.ru/http://www.voenmeh.ru/http://www.pgups.ru/enghttp://www.pgups.ru/enghttp://www.pimash.spb.ru/http://www.pimash.spb.ru/http://www.pimash.spb.ru/http://www.pgups.ru/enghttp://www.voenmeh.ru/http://www.sut.ru/http://suai.ru/http://old.eltech.ru/http://www.spbstu-eng.ru/


22/100


systematic professional retraining of IT experts to meet the requirements of the developing global

market.

St. Petersburgs Universities participate in R&D activities as well as international projects. The

Universities structure includes not only science divisions but also R&D institutions.

1.4.2 Research institutionsDue to number of scientific divisions of educational institutions, research Institutes and project

organizations, St. Petersburg is considered a scientific center of Russia. 11% of the national scientific

capacity is concentrated in the city. About 14% of all Russian researchers and 15% of Doctors of Science

work in St. Petersburgs scientific and educational institutions. Moreover, over 8% of all Russian students

and 13% of postgraduate students study in the city.

About 600 research institutions are located in St. Petersburg, including:

About 200 federal research institutions, including 12 federal research centers; 73 academic research institutions; Over 70 scientific and educational institutions; About 250 research institutions in the business sector.The total number of employees engaged in scientific sector of the city reaches 184 thousand people. 40

thousand people have Doctor's and Candidate's degree, including doctoral candidates and postgraduate

students.

52 state higher educational institutions, 20 military Institutes, 47 non-governmental Universities, 78

secondary vocational technical training institutions are located in St. Petersburg. About 100 continuing

professional education institutions function under the auspices of the Committee for Science and Higher

Education. The number of students exceeds 520 thousand people.

The teaching staff of Universities, technical schools and colleges totals about 30 thousand teachers,

including 3.7 thousand Doctors of Science and more than 12 thousand Candidates of Science. During the

last four years the number of young researchers and Universitys lecturers increased with the averageannual growth of 4%.

Some research institutions of the city, which are not a part of higher educational institutions, are involved

in development of information and communication technologies as well as carrying out of corresponding

research. In particular, these include:

JSC Computing Scientific Research Institute SpektrThe company is engaged in development of software, hardware, microelectronics solutions for

aviation equipment and production of onboard equipment.

www.jsc-spectr.spb.ru

Federal State Unitary Enterprise Emergency Center of the Ministry of Atomic Energy of RussiaOne of the areas of the Centers activities lies in development of automated systems for radiationmonitoring.

www.nwatom.ru

Institute of High-Performance Computing and Databases of the Ministry of Science and TechnologyThe Institute is engaged in development of modern information technologies, parallel computing,

modeling in the field of fundamental sciences, databases and distributed information systems

development, and visualization.

www.csa.ru/ihpcis.php
http://www.jsc-spectr.spb.ru/http://www.jsc-spectr.spb.ru/http://www.nwatom.ru/http://www.nwatom.ru/http://www.csa.ru/ihpcis.phphttp://www.csa.ru/ihpcis.phphttp://www.csa.ru/ihpcis.phphttp://www.nwatom.ru/http://www.jsc-spectr.spb.ru/


23/100


St. Petersburg Department of Steklov Institute of Mathematics, Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS)The Institute specializes in fundamental research on theoretical mathematics and mathematical

models of theoretical physics, including mathematical logic and theory of algorithms, theory of

numbers, geometry and topology, mathematical analysis, theory of probability, mathematical

statistics and many other.

www.pdmi.ras.ru

Central Research Institute of Robotics and Technical CyberneticsThe Central Research Institute of Robotics and Technical Cybernetics of St. Petersburg State

Polytechnical University is created as a special design office of technical cybernetics. Its major

activities involve robotics and control systems, the photon techniques, special instrument

development, laser technologies, telenetics.

www.spbstu-eng.ru

Vektor Scientific Research InstituteThe Institute is engaged in research, development and production of radio engineering and radio

electronics equipment.

www.nii-vektor.ru

JSC Concern Central Scientific and Research Institute ElektropriborThe Institute is engaged in high-precision navigation, gyroscopy, gravimetry, and marine radio

communication.

www.elektropribor.spb.ru

St. Petersburg Institute for Informatics and Automation of the Russian Academy of Sciences(SPIIRAS)

St. Petersburg Institute for Informatics and Automation is engaged in scientific IT research, including

computer security, cryptology, information system security, applied problems of information security,

distributed computing structures, object-oriented geoinformation systems, programming technologies

and systems, information systems and problems of information security, data transmission system,

integrated automation systems, intellectual systems, IT in system analysis and modeling, scientific

research automation, applied information science, society informatization, theoretical and

interdisciplinary problems of information science, IT in management and robotics, information and

analytical technologies in economy, speech and multimodal interfaces, biomedical information

science.

www.spiiras.nw.ru

JSC Russian Scientific and Research Institute ElektronstandartElektronstandart is the leading research Institute of the radio electronic complex of Russia in the

field of reliability, quality, certification, standardization of electronic component base and radio and

electronic equipment.

www.elstandart.spb.ru

Ioffe Physical Technical InstituteThe Ioffe Institute is engaged in nanoheterostructure physics, solid state electronics, solid state

physics, dielectric and semiconductor physics, plasma physics, atomic physics and astrophysics.

www.ioffe.ru/

JSC Scientific Research Institute NeptunScientific Research Institute Neptun is engaged in development, production and repair of

communication equipment, design and construction of coastal objects.

www.niineptun.ru
http://www.pdmi.ras.ru/http://www.pdmi.ras.ru/http://www.spbstu-eng.ru/http://www.spbstu-eng.ru/http://www.nii-vektor.ru/http://www.nii-vektor.ru/http://www.elektropribor.spb.ru/http://www.elektropribor.spb.ru/http://www.spiiras.nw.ru/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=42http://www.spiiras.nw.ru/http://www.spiiras.nw.ru/http://www.elstandart.spb.ru/http://www.elstandart.spb.ru/http://www.ioffe.ru/http://www.ioffe.ru/http://www.niineptun.ru/http://www.niineptun.ru/http://www.niineptun.ru/http://www.ioffe.ru/http://www.elstandart.spb.ru/http://www.spiiras.nw.ru/http://www.spiiras.nw.ru/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=42http://www.elektropribor.spb.ru/http://www.nii-vektor.ru/http://www.spbstu-eng.ru/http://www.pdmi.ras.ru/


24/100


1.5 Available infrastructureSt. Petersburg boasts favorable conditions for hi-tech businesses. The city has developed transport

infrastructure, including a high-speed railway communication with Moscow and Helsinki. The

international airport serves direct flights to many capitals of Western countries. A new international

airport terminal is under construction with the first facilities scheduled for completion in 2013.

Mobile communication and Internet access in the city is comparable to Western European capitals. Alarge number of business centers were constructed in the city during the last 10-15 years. St. Petersburgs

startups are financed from both state and private funds created to support hi-tech entrepreneurship.

1.5.1 Business entersSt. Petersburg has many modern business centers and several science and technology parks. However,

the existing business centers do not satisfy the demand of the rapidly developing citys economy. The

number of facilities should be increased to initiate competition and lower rent costs (today, rent costs are

rather high compared to European standards). New business centers were continuously constructed

during the past decade, though some projects were suspended during the crisis.

As ofthe first quarter of 2012, the average vacancy level in the St. Petersburgs market of quality officecenters grew from 7.5% to 9.3%. The growth is attributable to the large amount of class A office centers

put into operation at the end of the previous year. Until the end of 2012, more than 150 thousand sq. m

of offices will be put into operation which will allow to increase the rentable area of quality offices up to

1,910 thousand sq. m.

1.5.2 Business incubatorsInnovation infrastructure in St. Petersburg is represented by business incubators which are tasked with

rendering assistance in accelerated development of innovative companies.

Business Incubator Ingria

Business Incubator Ingria is a subdivision of OJSC Technopark of St. Petersburg.The key specialization of its residents is information technologies. During the

period of 3 years the Incubator's residents attracted more than 500 million

roubles in investments from international IT companies, private and state

funds, business angels. Dozens of large global-level Russian companies and

leading international innovation centers became customers of the Incubator's

residents. Ingria is actively developing its cooperation with Russian and St.

Petersburg Universities (11 agreements were signed within the special

program I2U), thus sharing its experience with other regions. Nowadays, Ingria

has 85 residents.

Annually, Business Incubator Ingria organizes more than 60 events, such as

Open Days Ingria (famous speakers lectures), Lead The Way (discussions abouttechnology trends), StartupLynch, Train&Develop Program (specialized

trainings), Students Meetings, seminars, round tables, conferences as well as

partners and residents events. During these events startups have an

opportunity to receive expert feedback, investment estimation of their

projects and improve their presentation skills. Municipal Pre-Seed Investment

Fund began its operation in 2011 in collaboration with Business Incubator

Ingria. Many residents of the Business Incubator have already become

companies engaged in developing various promising fields, from IT and energy

industry to construction and medical equipment production. The Incubator's

residents attracted more than 378 million roubles in investments in 2011.

Yandex, Headhunter and RBC Holding are examples of investors.

www.ingria-park.ruwww.ingria-startup.ru
http://www.ingria-park.ru/http://www.ingria-park.ru/http://www.ingria-startup.ru/http://www.ingria-startup.ru/http://www.ingria-startup.ru/http://www.ingria-startup.ru/http://www.ingria-park.ru/


25/100


The First St. Petersburg business incubator

The First St. Petersburg business incubator supports and facilitates the

development of small innovation companies. It is a unique business,

information and creative environment for successful development of

innovative business.

The First St. Petersburg business incubator was founded in 2006 by the

Administration of St. Petersburg with co-operation of the Ministry forEconomic Development of the Russian Federation. It is managed byManaging

Company REO Service. The First St. Petersburg business incubator is

located in Crystal Business Center.

Business incubator provides the following services:

renting comfortable offices equipped with furniture, computers andconditioning system at a reduced rental rate;

consulting on legal issues, economics, taxation, marketing, businessplanning, promotion, PR, accounting, financing, loan services, HR,

internationalization;

external accounting services; promotion of the companies: advertising, exhibitions, media, PR-support,events; education programs: seminars, trainings, master classes; internationalization: business trips, seminars, joint projects, internships,

consulting;

access to business incubators partnership [email protected]

1.5.3 Science and technology parksScience and technology parks and innovation centers have been created in several St. Petersburg s

Universities and are mainly located in old reconditioned buildings built according to outdated

requirements. The reconstruction of such facilities has proved economically inefficient, while theconstruction of new premises is cheaper.

Ingria Technopark

Ingria Technopark will be created on the principles of state-private partnership

with the support of the Government of the Russian Federation and the

Government of St. Petersburg. The project is a part of the federal program

aimed at creating techno parks in the sphere of high technologies. The

Technopark is located in the Nevskiy district of St. Petersburg, on the territory

of Blocks 6-6 to the north of Novosyolov Street, bounded by Bolshevikov

Prospekt, Dybenko Street, Krylenko Street and Zanevskiy post railway

station. It has a convenient location. Bonch-Bruevich Saint-Petersburg State

University of Telecommunications, Ulitsa Dybenko metro station, public

transport stops, city center and the ring motor road leading to Pulkovo-2

international airport are located in its vicinity.

The Management company, OJSC Technopark of St. Petersburg, was founded

in July 2007. The total volume of investment in the creation of Ingria

Technopark equals to 30 billion roubles, including 66% of private investment

and 34% of state investment. The construction of the first stage will start in the

second half of 2012 with the opening planned for 2013.

Three companies, Microsoft, DataArt and STC North-West Laboratory, have

announced their plans to locate their R&D centers in Technopark. The largest

object of external engineering infrastructure, substation Technopark, was

opened in November 2011.
http://www.start-business.ru/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.start-business.ru/


26/100


In December 2008 Business Incubator Ingria began operating as a pilot project

of Technopark.

www.ingria-park.ruwww.ingria-startup.ru

Technopolis

The science and technology park of the Finnish company Technopolis has been

functioning in St. Petersburg since 2010. It meets all current requirements forsimilar objects. The parks area is 23 thousand sq. m. The Technopolis science

and technology park accommodates a large software development center of

the Exigen Service international company which specializes in customized

software development, as well as offices of large foreign companies.

In February 2012, Technopolis announced the beginning of construction of the

second stage of the Pulkovo Technopolis science and technology park in St.

Petersburg. The construction of the new building will take place in the

framework of realization of the company's development strategy for 2012-

2016. The construction is scheduled for completion in the second half of 2013.

www.technopolis.fi/ru

1.5.4 Special Economic Zone (SEZ)Infrastructure of the technology and development Special Economic Zone has been constructed in St.

Petersburg with the state financial support. These facilities occupy two sites to the north and the south of

the city. In Primorsky district, Novo-Orlovsky site occupies an area of 110.41 hectares. Thus, the zones

infrastructure occupies 41.88 hectares, and residents' sections occupy 68.53 hectares. In Petrodvortsovy

district, Noidorf site occupies an area of 18.99 hectares with the zones infrastructure occupying 5.49

hectares and residents accommodation - 13.5 hectares. As of the beginning of summer 2012, St.

Petersburgs SEZ has over 30 residents. Following the completion of construction, t he residents will gain

complete engineering infrastructure, beneficial tax and customs treatment, lower land lease rates, and an

option to purchase land plots.

Priority activities of the residents St. Petersburgs SEZ include information technologies and

telecommunications, pharmaceutics and medical technologies, energy efficiency, and precision

instruments industry.
http://www.ingria-park.ru/http://www.ingria-park.ru/http://www.ingria-startup.ru/http://www.ingria-startup.ru/http://www.ingria-startup.ru/http://www.technopolis.fi/ruhttp://www.technopolis.fi/ruhttp://www.technopolis.fi/ruhttp://www.ingria-startup.ru/http://www.ingria-park.ru/


27/100


1.6 Support for startupsLast few years have seen a considerable increase in financing of new Russian hi-tech companies from both

state and private funds (venture, seed, pre-seed). Some funds are becoming 2-3 times greater every year.

New funds have been established, state programs for small business support have been launched.

Increase in financing is primarily associated with the local and federal authorities decision to support

high-tech businesses. Both Russian and foreign private companies and venture funds have supported thisdecision. St. Petersburgs startups receive financial support from both regional and federal sources. For

example, the Speech Technology Center's subsidiary enterprise was among the first recipients of grants

for advanced research from Skolkovo Foundation which was established in spring 2011. SPEEREO offered

Skolkovo its subsidiary company's project, which was awarded the first grant from the joint fund created

by RVC and Microsoft.

Besides, several business incubators with focus on hi-tech businesses operate in St. Petersburg. The most

active business incubators are the QD Inter-University student business incubator (in the technology park

of the National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics (ITMO)), Ingria (a

division of the similarly-named technology park under construction), and the First St. Petersburg business

incubator.

If not yet solved, the problem of startups support in St. Petersburg is being actively solved in the city. It is

possible to assume that this support will further lead to the growth of new hi-tech companies' export.


28/100


1.7 AssociationsKey associations operating in St. Petersburg:

Russoft

RUSSOFT is a nationwide association of Russian software companies, which

also includes a number of leading software companies from Belarus and

Ukraine. The association was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in St.Petersburg. Today, RUSSOFT unites more than 70 companies which employ

more than 20 thousand highly-qualified programmers and software

engineers. The association was created to represent Russian software

development companies at the global market, enhance marketing and PR

activities of its members, and lobby their interests in the Russian

government. RUSSOFT is a part of the Russian Information and Computer

Industry Association (APKIT) where it plays a role of Software Development

and Export Committee.

www.russoft.org

SPb CIO ClubSt. Petersburg CIO Club is a professional community uniting IT directors of

leading companies of the Northwestern region of the Russian Federation.

The organization's major objectives lie in providing support and

strengthening the development of professional community of IT directors.

Established in 2004, the Club is at present the largest professional IT

community in Russia.

www.spbcioclub.ru
http://www.russoft.org/http://www.russoft.org/http://www.spbcioclub.ru/http://www.spbcioclub.ru/http://www.spbcioclub.ru/http://www.russoft.org/


29/100


1.8 Key eventsSt. Petersburg hosts a number of key events in the IT sector:

Web Ready

Web Ready is an open contest of innovative Internet & Mobile projects.

Its final is held as an investment forum. More than 1,400 projects from

100 cities and 14 countries took part in the contest during the last 3years. In 2012 the contest will take place on June 1 October 14, the final

will be held on November 30.

The mission of Web Ready lies in assisting the best Internet & Mobile

startups in promotion, finding investment and partners.

Participation in Web Ready provides entrepreneurs with the possibility to

attract investors and clients, receive professional expert project

evaluation as well as promote projects. Investors and business angels get

an access to the pool of over 600 projects as well as an opportunity to

hold negotiations with investment-attractive projects. Business partners

receive a large-scale advertising campaign aimed at businessmen,

students, business and investment professionals as well as anopportunity to search for partners and technological innovations. Finally,

infrastructural partners receive organizational, informational and

methodological support for holding regional stages of Web Ready.

Project success stories include:

Yam Labs - investment of 500 thousand US dollars SaeX - investment of 500 thousand US dollars, grant from Skolkovo Cloudmach - investment of 500 thousand US dollars Copiny - investment of 500 thousand US dollars from Softline

Ventures and angel investment

Timebooker investment from Yandex Apt a me 1.2 million roubles from Gurnard Perch Sophisticated

Technologies

ITmozg investment from Headhunter (Mail.ru Group) InSales - earnings increased tenfold, number of clients increased

sixfold

Alloka - turnover and number of clients increased threefoldhttp://web-ready.ru

Other important IT events held in St. Petersburg in 2013 are presented in Table 1.
http://web-ready.ru/http://web-ready.ru/http://web-ready.ru/


30/100

Table 1. Key IT events in St. Petersburg (2013)

Start date End date Name Description Web

May, 2013 Application Developer

Days

Application Developer Days is the conference on programming targeted

at leading developers and architects.

http://addconf.ru/index-

news.sdf

May, 2013 CodeCamp This event is targeted at specialists who develop navigation systems for

ships, protection systems for nuclear power stations, software for

Internet companies, control system for traffic lights, mobile

applications, etc. It is also targeted at specialists in the software

development sector as well as fields associated with it.

http://codecamp.su

May, 2013 ProfsoUX ProfsoUX is the conference on usability and user interaction design. www.profsoux.ru

June 19,

2013

June 21, 2013 IFAC Conference on

Manufacturing Modelling,

Management and Control

MIM '2013

IFAC MIM '2013 Conference is the next one in the series of IFAC events

on Manufacturing Modelling, Management, and Control, organized

since 1993. The scope of the event covers the issues of PLM and

product design support systems, virtual reality, mass communication,

design and reconfiguration of manufacturing systems, facility planning

and materials handling, inventory control, production planning and

scheduling and many others.

http://mim2013.org

June, 2013 IT Breakfast at

St. Petersburg

International Economic

Forum

Russian IT and Internet companies are well placed to take advantage of

global trends in the sector and gain a leading position in emerging

niches. IT Breakfast will be devoted to the issues pertaining to the

sectors transition from emulating foreign solutions to establishing andpromoting unique domestically made products and services. The event

will also focus on discussing other measures required to nurture

Russias Internet economy.

http://forumspb.com
http://addconf.ru/index-news.sdfhttp://addconf.ru/index-news.sdfhttp://codecamp.su/http://codecamp.su/http://www.profsoux.ru/http://www.profsoux.ru/http://mim2013.org/http://mim2013.org/http://forumspb.com/http://forumspb.com/http://forumspb.com/http://mim2013.org/http://www.profs

Documents

St.Petersburg Software and Information Technology Services Industry