SAN JOSE, Calif., 20 April 2010 - U.S. business leaders and Russian government officials and business executives met recently over a multipoint Cisco TelePresenceTM session to build on the U.S.-Russia Innovation Dialogue initiated during the February public/private delegation to Moscow and Novosibirsk followed by last month's visit to Russia by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. During the subsequent Cisco TelePresence session, officials and executives from Washington, Moscow, Los Angeles, New York and San Jose discussed a wide range of issues, including the introduction of online access to government services, the development of information and telecommunications technologies, the creation of technoparks, usage of full-service networks, and the entry of Russian IT companies into foreign markets.
Facts/Highlights
- The conversation focused on some of the challenges and opportunities that concern Russian businesses, such as entry into the U.S. market. The parties agreed on the necessity of a collaboration platform in which Russian businesses can discuss investment opportunities with U.S. investors.
- The U.S. delegation acknowledged the rapid development of e-government initiatives in Russia and the various milestones the Russian government has reached in the county's national ICT strategy. U.S. and Russian officials agreed to exchange ideas and share best practices on successful e-government implementations.
- In San Jose, Cisco's representation was led by Padmasree Warrior, chief technology officer. Members of the US State Department and several senior executives from Intel, SAP, EDventure Holdings, Microsoft, Howcast, Social Gaming Network, eBay, Mozilla and a number of other companies joined the Cisco TelePresence session from San Jose, Los Angeles and New York.
- The Russian audience included Igor Schegolev, minister of telecommunications; Ilya Massukh, aide to minister Schegolev, Artem Ermolayev, director of the government policy department for informatics and information technology at the Ministry of Telecommunications; Stanislav Voskresensky, deputy minister of economic development; and representatives of some of Russia's leading IT companies, including ABBYY, Kaspersky Lab, Rostelecom and Yandex.
- The Cisco TelePresence meeting was a follow-up to the first U.S.-Russia Innovation Dialogue conducted recently via a delegation visit to Russia. Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior was a member of the delegation, which consisted of members of the White House, US State Department, American senior executives and digital influencers such as Ashton Kutcher.
- Over a weeklong trip through Moscow and Novosibirsk, Siberia, the U.S. delegation engaged in conversations with a cross-section of Russian government stakeholders and representatives of nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, startups, universities, and student bodies.
- The U.S.-Russian Dialogue has committed to 20 deliverables within the areas of education, entrepreneurship training and mentorship, anti-trafficking and child protection, cyber-crime, health, e-governance and collaboration, and cultural collaboration.
Executive Quotes
- Padmasree Warrior, CTO, Cisco
"In today's global business environment, sustainable competitive advantages will be realized by organizations that move quickly to embrace collaborative processes and the tools that allow their employees, customers and partners to intelligently connect and interact anytime, anywhere, via any device. What we enabled with Cisco TelePresence through this discussion is truly historic."
