High-tech ombudsman found under the chair of Katerina Tikhonova

First Deputy Head of the Innopraktika Foundation Natalya Popova took the post of public ombudsman for the protection of high-tech companies. “Innopraktika” is headed by Katerina Tikhonova, whom the media call the daughter of Vladimir Putin.
12.12.2019
Forbes
Origin source
One of the leaders of the Innopraktika Foundation Natalia Popova will become a public ombudsman in the field of protecting the rights of high-tech leading companies. This follows from the announcements published on the website of Boris Titov, the Commissioner for the Protection of Entrepreneurs' Rights under the President.

Natalya Popova - First Deputy General Director of Innoprakty Katerina Tikhonova. She also runs the Science program on the Russia 24 television channel. Tikhonov agency Reuters and Bloomberg called the daughter of President Vladimir Putin (officially this has never been confirmed or refuted). Natalya Popova is the wife of the head of the RDIF Kirill Dmitriev, wrote FT.

Forbes sent inquiries to the press services of Boris Titov and the Innopraktika Foundation and is awaiting a response.

Advocate for Innovators

From a message on the website of the business ombudsman, it follows that Popova begins her work in December 2019. Its tasks will include the development and promotion of state policy measures to create conditions for the development of technology and innovation companies, in particular, eliminating excessive regulatory requirements, expanding access to financial resources, introducing tax incentives, etc. Another area is “protecting rights and legal interests of business entities that have confirmed a high level of competencies in the field of technological and innovative development, ”follows from a message on the site.

Among Popova's tasks are the work to identify systemic problems in this sector, the work on complaints and appeals of individual entrepreneurs. Another task is to submit proposals to the interdepartmental working group of the Prosecutor General’s Office on the elimination of violations of the rights of entrepreneurs.

The key platform that will provide the expertise of businessmen in this area will be the Association of Fast-Growing Technology Companies. Its members are "leading Russian manufacturing enterprises in the field of electrical engineering, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals and the digital economy, which are participants in the priority project of the Ministry of Economic Development to support high-tech leading companies."

According to Forbes, the head of the association’s expert council Dan Medovnikov, the organization unites fast-growing medium-sized high-tech companies - "from hundreds of millions of rubles to tens of billions of rubles." Among them, more than 80 companies, including pharmaceutical Biocad, cyber security companies InfoWatch, Kaspersky Lab and others, follow from information on the association’s website. “Such companies were selected in the priority projects of the Ministry of Economic Development. Minek, Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Ministry of Industry and Development Institutions have joined forces to help these companies grow rapidly. In practice, for example, they organized pitch sessions with major players, including state corporations - Russian Railways, Rostec, Roskosmos, etc., ”Medovnikov said. The association was registered by the Ministry of Justice in August 2019.

“The overall goal of the association is to create a lobby for national champions. As world studies show, these companies are the main drivers of economic growth. With them the state should work especially. But the state says: "We can’t work with every single company, it’s wrong." Therefore, an association was made, ”Medovnikov told Forbes.

What does the Innopraktika Foundation do

The National Intellectual Development Fund (NIR), which operates under the Innopraktika brand, was established by Moscow State University in 2012. Its board of trustees includes Moscow State University rector Viktor Sadovnichy, as well as leaders of major Russian companies - Alexey Miller (Gazprom), Kirill Dmitriev (RDIF), Igor Sechin (Rosneft), Nikolai Tokarev (Transneft), Sergey Chemezov ( Rostec), Alexey Likhachev (Rosatom), Boris Kovalchuk (Inter RAO) and others.

In 2015, RBC reported that Innopraktika was engaged in a large-scale expansion project for Moscow State University - the construction of a scientific and technological valley. The project cost is estimated at 110-120 billion rubles, the BBC Russian Service reported citing a source. In 2019, the fund received contracts for 125 million rubles. Everything - from the "daughter" of Rosatom Atomenergoprom, follows from the data of SPARK. The fund concluded approximately the same amount of contracts in 2018 - two each from the subsidiaries of Rosneft and Rosatom.

Innopractic's net profit in 2018 increased by 39% - from 44 million rubles to 61.17 million rubles. Revenues increased by 65%, from 296 million rubles in 2017 to 488 million rubles, follows from SPARK data.

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