Vladivostok, Russia - MTS PJSC (NYSE: MBT, MOEX: MTSS), the largest Russian telecom operator, Skolkovo Foundation, Sistema Asia and Enterprise Singapore- a government agency under Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, signed a cooperation agreement at the Eastern Economic Forum. The partnership is aimed at introducing technology startups from Singapore into the Russian market, as well as supporting the entry of the startups from Russia to the Singapore market.
The MTS Startup Hub team, together with their partners, will select on a regular basis Singapore-based technology companies for the pilot implementation of the selected startups in MTS digital solutions with the prospect of further long-term business cooperation. The partnership will also allow the companies to participate in the MTS StartUp Hub acceleration program, offering its products for implementation in Singapore and subsequently to the region.
Going through Skolkovo Softlanding program and obtaining Skolkovo residency will make easier for foreign companies to enter into the Russian market. Sistema Asia’s Sales Jet platform in Singapore will allow MTS to attract the most popular technologies to Russia. Enterprise Singapore will provide support to the Russian startups planning to enter into the Singapore market and introduce suitable Singapore tech startups to the partners.
“The concluded agreement is a good example of international multilateral partnership for the successful exchange of technologies between the leading innovative countries of the world. MTS actively cooperates not only with Russian startup communities but also with foreign technology funds and IT companies: innovation hubs of MTS Startup Hub have already opened in Germany, Israel, and with companies from Singapore. Now we got the opportunity to exchange experience, and implement joint projects with companies from Singapore. Also, MTS continues to expand opportunities for participants of the accelerator MTS StartUp Hub - now cooperation with MTS also opens up prospects for entering economically attractive foreign markets”, says Dmitry Kurin, head of the MTS StartUp Hub.
“Russia is a fast-growing market for technology companies and startups. We look forward to working with our partners to plug Singapore companies into Russia’s vibrant technology and innovation ecosystem and seek new business collaborations. At the same, we encourage Russian startups to plug into Singapore’s established innovation system, co-innovate with the international and Singapore enterprises here and scale their businesses into Southeast Asia,” says Mr G. Jayakrishnan, Global Markets Director for Central and East Europe, Enterprise Singapore.
«Singapore and Russia are two nations which are at the forefront of technological disruption, and we believe that combining the two ecosystems will help realise the forward-thinking ideas of technology entrepreneurs by scaling up their businesses internationally,” said Sergey Savchenko, CEO of Sistema Asia. “We are therefore proud to leverage on our Sales Jet platform to help this multilateral agreement – which brings together leading stakeholders of both countries’ technology ecosystems – to promote innovation that, in turn, can generate real, transformative technological impact.”
«We have well-established relations with our Singapore-based partners, and we are excited to launch yet another joint initiative that creates new opportunities for tech entrepreneurs both in Russia and Singapore and utilizes all the benefits that the parties of the agreement can provide. We look forward to have Singaporean startups and SMEs on board of our Softlanding program», says Igor Drozdov, Chairman of the Executive Board, Skolkovo Foundation.
MTS StartUp Hub is an innovative platform of MTS PJSC created to develop technological projects into a profitable business. It consists of a corporate accelerator, 5G incubator, CVC Corporate Venture Capital fund, a Fast track program to launch pilots faster, and international representations.
Enterprise Singapore is the Singapore government agency championing enterprise development. It works with committed companies to build capabilities, innovate and internationalise.
The Skolkovo Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in September 2010 by the Russian government with the objective of accelerating Russia’s transformation from a resource-intensive to an innovation-based economy. To achieve this objective, the Foundation is overseeing the creation of the Skolkovo Innovation Center, composed of more than 1,900 high-tech startups, Skolkovo Technopark, the Skolkovo Institute of Technology (Skoltech) - a new graduate research University established in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - and Skolkovo city, located near Moscow. Together, these entities establish a vibrant ecosystem of technology innovation and entrepreneurship.
Sistema Asia Pte. Ltd. is Singapore based investment holding company; invests in high growth technology and promotes technology transfer programs such as Sales Jet platform in Singapore and South-east Asia and its presence extends to India. Sistema Asia is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sistema Public Joint Stock Financial Corporation (Sistema PJSFC).
