On September 15–16, Moscow hosted the first Russia-China Forum “Investment in Innovation.” The event provided a platform for an open dialogue between professional investors from Russia and China. Its main objective was to present the opportunities offered by the institutional and technological environment for developing mutually beneficial bilateral financial partnerships.

Key topics included cooperation on the establishment of joint funds, participation of Chinese investors in Russian technology companies, joint projects supporting companies entering the Chinese and Russian markets, and experience-sharing programs.

For Chinese participants, the most attractive areas of the Russian market are technologies, including sectors in which Russia has traditionally been strong, such as information and communications technology, robotics, nanotechnology, medicine and biotechnology. Russian entrepreneurs and investors, in turn, are interested in China’s financial and consumer markets, as well as its accumulated experience in rapidly bringing new technological solutions into production.

The Forum was organized by RVC, the Council for Science and Innovation of the Russia-China Committee for Friendship, Peace and Development, and the Venture Capital Committee of the China Association for the Promotion of Science and Technology Finance.

More than 200 representatives of the investment community attended the event. Participants included Evgeny Kuznetsov, Acting CEO of RVC; Gao Hongwei, Chairman of the Board of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of China’s Manned Space Program; Sergey Nedoroslev, Co-Chairman of Business Russia; Lian Zhong, Vice President of Shenzhen Capital Group; Alexander Galitsky, Founder and Managing Partner of Almaz Capital Partners; Eric Wang, Deputy Investment Director at TDR Capital; Alexander Lupachev, Director at Russia Partners; Xu Xiaoping, Secretary General of the Venture Capital Committee of the China Association for the Promotion of Science and Technology Finance; and Andrey Prokhorovich, CEO of Eurasia Development Ltd.

During the panel discussion “Russia and China: A Horizon of Opportunities and Success Stories of Technology Companies Entering the Two Markets,” Andrey Prokhorovich spoke about the mistakes most commonly made by Russian entrepreneurs planning to enter the Chinese market.
These include:

Over the two days of the Forum, a number of roundtable discussions and presentations by leading international experts in technology and investment were also held.

The main topics included the current state of the Russian and Chinese investment landscapes and venture capital markets, the specifics of bilateral cooperation in technology, as well as the legal aspects of establishing investment funds and structuring cross-border transactions.