The Kremlin wants to engineer its own Silicon Valley. In a plan revealed in February, the Russian high-tech haven will come complete with new-wave architecture and all the comforts of a resort, a place for Russian geniuses to get together and invent the biggest thing since, well, the Internet. That's the hope, anyway. President Dmitri Medvedev, who has cultivated the image of a tech-savvy liberal, is staking much of his economic vision on the plan's success. And Russia has a resource that other nations envy: a fervid hacker culture with a reputation for excellence or, at least, for daring.
Since the Soviet collapse, no major platforms have emerged in Russia for its computer experts to innovate. As a result many of them have emigrated, while many others have turned to hacking, a field where Russians seem to excel. In January, police arrested a 40-year-old computer whiz for hacking into a Moscow advertising mainframe and making a giant billboard display a clip of hardcore pornography over one of the city's main streets. To avoid detection, the man had routed his attack through a proxy in the region of Chechnya, a sophisticated trick. But for all his skills, the man was found to be unemployed. He told police he had done it "just to give people a laugh." The Russian government's idea now seems to be giving minds like his something more productive to do.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Can a Russian Silicon Valley Spur Tech Innovation? - TIME
Author: Simon Shuster
