The information technology business in Moscow would benefit from developing a comfortable residential community for specialists, Communications and Press Minister Nikolai Nikiforov said Monday at a meeting with Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
The meeting, held at the Digital October Center for New Technologies and High-Tech Business, was focused on the development of and state support for the IT industry in the capital, the ministry said.
It was attended by top government officials, representatives of the Skolkovo innovation center, venture funds, top IT firms and venture entrepreneurs, the ministry said.
“To foster and keep IT talents in Moscow, one must create high-quality living conditions,” Nikiforov said at the meeting.
He proposed construction of a residential community in Moscow housing 25,000 to 30,000 IT specialists and their families. He added that the first stage of the project should have only rental housing, which could be privatized after 10 years, Interfax reported.
Nikiforov said the ministry is ready to discuss the project with City Hall. He suggested that the private-public form of partnership, by which private investments would be managed by state officials, would be the preferred way for administering the project.
He also proposed development of closer ties with five secondary schools in Moscow specializing in information technology. That would popularize work in the IT sector and help distinguish talent, Nikiforov said.
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