IT specialists should be role models for the young

Russia Beyond The Headlines speaks to deputy telecommunications and mass communications minister Mark Shmulevich about Russia’s potential as a global software exporter.Russia plans to increase IT exports so they rival the defence industry. How and when can this be done?

Software development is emerging as a key sector among Russian exports. In the decade leading up to the end of last year, Russia’s annual software exports rose to $4bn (£2.6bn) from $200-$300m (£132-£198m).

Arms exports remains the main driver, with $15bn of weapons sold last year. However, the software sector can expect to close in on defence over the next few years.

Exports are also growing thanks to outsourcing to Russia, and that’s what small firms do. When it comes to software, we have had some successful projects: Ecwid, Prognoz and Diasoft were start-ups that found their niches. The only question is if they are interested in staying in Russia or shifting their business to neighbouring countries or the US, where the business environment is often more favourable.

How can we encourage them to stay?

Two [areas] are critical to the development of the IT sector: a favourable tax regime and the availability of skilled staff.

Do you agree that sometimes Russian programmers can succeed where Chinese, Indian or Americans have failed?

Our graduates are excellent engineers, but there is a terrible shortage of them. Less than 1pc of the Russian workforce is employed in IT.
The ministry has a considerable challenge to address in making the profession more popular. We had a round-table conference on the personnel problem at the 10th Krasnoyarsk Economic Forum in Siberia not long ago. We are already putting into practice some of the ideas from the conference.

There is an American video on YouTube with the founders of Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter explaining why it is important to learn coding. Will Russia have anything of this kind?

We won’t copy the American idea, but such things are required. Videos are just one method. Our task is to turn IT specialists into a symbol. To this end, we should have TV shows and talk to students about career prospects.

When you were working on the development plan for the sector, were you building on the experience of countries that have succeeded in IT?

You can’t take someone else’s model and apply it to Russia. We have some important peculiarities and pitfalls. But we are keeping an eye on developments in other countries. We are also building on other countries’ experience in copyright protection. The fact that we are lagging behind gives us an advantage in, say, patent wars.
On infrastructure, we are exchanging experiences in the creation of technoparks with Singapore and Israel. But we still have a lot to do.