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Aiming for the stars: Private entrepreneurs in the EBRD region look to invest in high-tech

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Successful entrepreneurs met at the EBRD Annual Meeting to share experiences and discuss how to spur investment in technology in the EBRD region.

Evgeni Utkin, Chairman of Supervisory Board at Kvazar-Micro Corporation.

Yigal Erlich, founder and managing partner of the Israeli Yozma Group.

In today's world, people’s well-being depends on technology for everything from daily communication to healthcare and access to public services. Economic well-being depends on innovation and technological breakthroughs.

The EBRD brought together at its Annual Meeting in Kiev successful entrepreneurs to share experiences and guide young investors from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Russia on how to spur investment in technology.

Yigal Erlich, founder and managing partner of the Israeli Yozma Group, a leading venture capital group, is considered as the founding father of the Israeli venture capital industry and one of the most prominent figures in the Israel high-tech arena. He believes that governments’ involvement is vital for the development of the industry. “A few years ago the Israeli government started to co-fund projects with the private sector. This gave a boost to the high – tech sector. ”

Mr Erlich urged investors in the room to lobby their governments to invest in innovation and education in technology. “You have to hurry up and invest now or foreign companies will take over and your countries will lose markets,” he advised.

“Unfortunately technology isn’t high on the governments agenda, at least in Russia and Ukraine,” reminded Evgeni Utkin, Chairman of Supervisory Board at Kvazar‐Micro Corporation. Mr Utkin argues that gas and oil make the headlines in Russia, while agribusiness and construction are key topics in Ukraine. But both countries have vast opportunities to become regional champions in technology.

Lack of finance and education are the main obstacles to the sector’s development. Mr Utkin stressed that the industry is craving skilled people who can run big businesses. It is also lacking finance to research and create. The hunger to learn and to generate new business ideas is the biggest weapon in the hands of young entrepreneurs throughout the region.

“We can compete in today’s entrepreneurial world,” concluded Mr Utkin. As a former president of JSC SITRONICS, Russia’s largest industrial conglomerate of high-tech companies, Mr Utkin knows a lot about success. It was he who led the company to an initial public offering on the Moscow and London Stock Exchanges in February 2007and is now planning to invest in the growth of the high-tech sector in Ukraine.

By Marjola Xhunga, Communications Advisor.
19 May 2008