Statement by National Security Council Spokesman Mike Hammer on the U.S.-Russia Innovation Dialogue Video Conference

The White House - Office of the Press Secretary - March 22, 2010

On March 22, representatives from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, National Security Council, the State Department, and several American private sector high-tech companies participated in a video conference on e-government and the innovation economy with Russian government and private sector high-tech business representatives. This virtual meeting continues President Obama's policy of dual track engagement, establishing relationships between government and non-governmental actors as well as between American and Russian societies at large. The video conference built on connections made in February during a White House-State Department-led technology delegation to Moscow and Novosibirsk as part of the U.S.-Russia Innovation Dialogue, and Secretary Clinton's trip to Moscow last week. Today's meeting featured an expanded circle of U.S. and Russian private sector companies together with the Russian Minister of Communications and the Deputy Minister of Economic Development, all eager to exchange ideas and best practices on e-government, the promotion of entrepreneurship and the fostering of innovation.

The conversation was unprecedented not only in its format but in the enthusiastic generation of and agreement on ideas for joint work between our public and private sectors. As an initial first step, the White House‘s Chief Technology Officer agreed to work with the Russian Ministry of Communications to create an online collaboration platform, which will facilitate connections, interactions, and joint projects among Russian and U.S. officials, business executives, entrepreneurs, investors, and technologists. Dialogue participants also agreed to explore mechanisms for encouraging innovation, including contests, cloud software infrastructures, and other incentives. Acknowledging the tremendous potential for research and development in Russia, several private sector companies expressed interest in establishing research labs in Russia. In the field of e-government, U.S. participants agreed to connect U.S. industry with Russian software developers to integrate existing e-government applications and platforms into a Russian context in priority public service areas. The U.S. side also agreed to share knowledge and technology to help better identify Russian end-user priorities in obtaining public services at all levels of government.

Innovation remains one of the most important shared priorities between the U.S. and Russia, and this event demonstrates the value of the President's approach of engaging both the public and private sector in expanding and enriching our relationship with Russia.