Tim Wall

A Russian hi-tech hub like "Silicon Valley and similar foreign centres" was one of the stand-out ideas in Dmitry Medvedev's annual address last week, but it wasn't fully fleshed out.

The president was presumably referring to Bangalore in India and Zhong Guan Cun in China. Both these high-tech centres have dramatically helped to develop those countries, while Russia has, as Medvedev put it, remained a "primitive raw materials economy".

The idea is hardly new - but it is necessary if the country is to shed its "humiliating dependence" on oil, gas and metals exports. The problems, of course, are not small.

First, where will the money come from? Will Russia's oligarchs invest in such a long-term project when they can more easily rake in huge profits from export sales, speculation and salting their money abroad?

Second, can the money be invested without being frittered away through corruption? Third, creating a Russian Silicon Valley also means both expanding state support for universities that breed modernisation and finally improving  low-tech infrastructure as well - better road and rail links, electricity and education.

And finally, is one Silicon Valley enough, given Russia's size and the big leaps required? For Russia to boldly go forward, we should be talking about multiple Silicon Valleys.

As well as Moscow and St. Petersburg, the wealth should be spread across the country to places like Vladivostok (a key hub for Russia's Asian-Pacific economic future).

And even - dare we say it - the North Caucasus. As long as Moscow is throwing in money to keep the region quiet, why not actually develop its economy and give its youth a future beyond religious fundamentalism?

Other important ideas: no-hassle, long-term visas for foreign and returning Russian technical specialists would help a lot, as would big investment in language training, particularly in English and Chinese.

But another, fundamental shift is also required. Just as Germany and Japan overtook their rivals after World War II by turning away from militarism and towards economic development, so Russia should bite the bullet and switch from military and space spending to creating goods of real value that improve people's lives.

Modernising the old slogan of converting "swords into ploughshares", Russia needs to trade in its swords for Silicon Valleys - and fast.

t.wall@moscownews.ru