The application for obtaining status of participant in the establishment and operations of the Skolkovo Innovation centre (hereinafter - the "project participant”) is carried out by filling out an electronic form at a special section of the site. The application is completed online and does not require your personal presence in the offices of the Foundation. Regardless of your actual location (in Russia or another country) you can apply and obtain the status of a project participant.

The application for obtaining participant status can be submitted in two ways.

First – file an application on behalf of the legal entity, established in accordance with the Russian legislation. At first, the application will be evaluated by the Foundation on its compliance with the formal grounds, and if approved, it will be sent to one or more Expert Boards of the Foundation (an Expert Board exists for each priority area). In case of a positive decision, the Foundation will decide on issuing a Certificate of Entry into the Register of Legal Entities of the Participant. This procedure is governed by the "Regulations on assignment and loss of project participant status for the establishment and operations of the Skolkovo Innovation centre."

Information on project participants, as well as on the resources allocated by the Foundation to innovative projects, is published in the special section of the site.

Second - on behalf of any person or entity, including an individual entrepreneur or a foreign company, file an application for preliminary examination of the innovative project. After passing the preliminary examination, the application shall be evaluated by the members of an Expert Board of the Foundation. Upon their positive conclusion, a decision on the compliance of the project with the criteria for an innovative project will be taken. With this positive decision, the applicant may (if necessary) create a Russian legal entity, which then, without consideration of the application on its merits, will become a project participant. This procedure is governed by the "Regulations on the preliminary examination of projects” and the "Regulations on assignment and loss of project participant status for the establishment and operations of the Skolkovo Innovation centre."

Requirements for the project participant are listed in the Federal Law No. 244-FZ "On the Skolkovo Innovation centre and in the "Regulations on conferring the status of participant in the project for the establishment and operations of the Skolkovo Innovation centre". Thus, Paragraph 2 of the Regulations specifies the following conditions:
A) The applicant is a legal entity, established under the laws of the Russian Federation, and
B) The constituent documents of the applicant permit the legal entity to perform exclusively activities for the implementation of research, development and commercialisation of the research results in the areas identified in Paragraph 8 of Article 10 of Federal Law No. 244-FZ "On the Skolkovo Innovation centre" (belonging to the following areas: energy efficiency and conservation, nuclear technology, space technology, medical technology, strategic computer technology and software), as well as other activities, required for the research, development and commercialisation of their results.

C) The applicant undertakes to carry out research activities in accordance with Federal Law No. 244-FZ "On the Skolkovo Innovation centre" and the rules approved by the Foundation, as well as to place its permanent executive bodies in the Innovation centre by January 1, 2014.

D) The applicant is planning to implement and to meet the criteria of Paragraph 2, (provide a reference to Subparagraph E, below), Subparagraph E of Paragraph 2 of the Regulations.

E) The project, submitted by the applicant, involves a specialist, conducting research and (or) teaching activities in Russia and (or) in foreign educational and (or) scientific establishments, which is confirmed by his written statement.

F) The project, submitted by the applicant:
• corresponds to the priority areas of activities;
• involves the development and (or) the commercialisation of products and (or) technologies that are unique and (or) have a competitive advantage over world analogues;
• provides for the participation of a foreign specialist, who has considerable authority in the investment and (or) the research fields. The participation of the person and (or) his or her intention to participate in the project is confirmed by his or her written statement.

We should note that the compliance of the application with points A, B, E, Paragraph 2 of the Regulations is evaluated by the Foundation during the formal examination and Subparagraph F – is evaluated by the Expert Board of the Foundation during the consideration of the application. 

At present there are two procedures for dealing with applications received by the Foundation:

• Consideration of applications for the status of Skolkovo project participant

• Consideration of applications for preliminary examination of the project 

Skolkovo offers tax incentives to companies participating in the project. In some cases, participants may qualify for grants. Skolkovo, as a development institution, is willing to offer a variety of support options to companies. Grants are given only to participants, and their distribution is carried out on a competitive basis. If you already have the status of a participant, you can address the head of your cluster and inquire about a possible grant. 

Grants are given to participants at no cost, in accordance with the investment policies, published on the website. 

No, not all. Currently, the ratio of grant recipients and participants in the project is 1 to 5. 

The application for a grant is submitted by the cluster in cooperation with a project participant. 

The specific requirements for attracting foreign labour in order to implement the Skolkovo project are regulated by Article 16 of the Federal Law "On the Skolkovo Innovation centre". This article specifies the preferential conditions:
- legal entities are not required to obtain permits for attracting and employing  foreign workers;
- entry invitations and work permits are issued without regard to quotas (not only to foreign workers, but also to adult family members of highly skilled experts). The necessary documents are prepared by experts of the Foundation’s Department for Cooperation with Government Authorities.

It is, and it is not. On the one part, now the project is unique. There is nothing similar in Russia.

On the other part, the ultimate goal of Skolkovo is to practice mechanisms and technologies for organizing and building innovation cities. Successful solutions tested in Skolkovo will be implemented in other cities to help develop innovations in the whole country.

Procurement is regulated by Procurement policy, Procurement regulation, Tender committee regulation, bid evaluation rules and criteria. You can read the text of these documents at the page "Internal documents".

Four principles are applied: openness, transparency, safeguarding Foundation's interests and collegial decisions in procurement issues.

Bid evaluation criteria:

• Contract price or product unit price;
• Consumer properties, functional or qualitative characteristics of the product;
• Tenderer's qualification when placing an order for works or services;
• Operational and maintenance costs;
• Time (period) of product delivery, work execution and service rendering;
• Guarantee period for products, works or services.

Concerning all questions related to organization of procurement for Foundation units you can address Procurement directorate: Directorate phone - +7 (495) 967 01 48.