RUSSIA, FRANCE CELEBRATE 50 YEARS OF SCIENCE COOPERATION WITH THE BIOTECH RUSFRANCE 2016 CONFERENCE AT SKOLKOVO

This year France and Russia are celebrating 50 years of cooperation in the field of science and technology with a program of 40 events.
“Fifty years ago, President [Charles] de Gaulle came to the Soviet Union for a two-week visit,” Alexis Michel, science and technology counsellor at the French Embassy in Russia, told the conference.
The French leader visited many science centers, Moscow State University and Akademgorodok, the purpose-built science town in the city of Novosibirsk. Several cooperation agreements were signed in science and technology and space, and are still in place today.

In fact, cooperation began much earlier – three centuries ago – with the visit of Peter the Great to Paris in 1717. The reformist tsar visited the French Academy of Sciences, and on his return to Russia ordered the creation of an equivalent institution in St. Petersburg based on what he had seen in France.
Today, the two countries produce 1,700 joint scientific publications every year – a 55-percent increase on the last 10 years, according to French Embassy statistics. At the beginning of this year, French Tech Moscow was launched, which aims to open the door to French startups that want to expand onto the Russian market.
Last year, the French and Russian governments signed an agreement to recognize each other’s diplomas, and the countries also have what Michel described as a de facto “zero rejection” visa policy for scientists.
“On average, there are 50 French researchers on any given day in Russia, who are here for an average of 10 days,” said Michel.
While Russia has a strong foundation of scientific knowledge, that expertise is not always turned into technology.
More information:
https://sk.ru/news/b/articles/archive/2016/10/19/russia-france-celebrate-50-years-of-science-cooperation-with-biotech-conference-at-skolkovo.aspx