Interview with TAdviser: RFRIT CEO Alexander Pavlov - about the start of issuing new grants and a new fund strategy

Pavlov Alexander: Firstly, I will take the opportunity and invite to participate in grant competitions. We are interested in supporting the best, most promising solutions, and for this there should be the widest possible funnel of projects at the entrance. Do not be afraid, do not doubt and try.

Today, applications for two competitions for grant support have opened: for IT projects and for companies implementing digital solutions.

An IT project can claim amounts from 20 million to 300 million rubles. At the same time, we removed the restrictions on OKVED and the amount of revenue and added the possibility of obtaining grants for the development of software and hardware complexes. There was a desire from companies to expand the possible timing of the project - not everyone fit into the year - and now grantees have 1.5 years.

Companies for the implementation of IT solutions can receive 120 million to 300 million rubles, while for individual projects - laying the foundations for digitalization - the minimum threshold is reduced to 10 million. We also expanded the possibilities for using these funds, for example, we made the bar for employees' salaries higher.

Already, we understand that these support measures are in great demand by companies - in less than 2 weeks, more than 3,000 representatives of Russian IT companies and developers visited our explaining webinars. You can find out more and apply on the site ит-гранты.рф.

Pavlov Alexander: There came a moment in which external and internal causes joined together. The Government had decided to reform development institutions. RFRIT, like Skolkovo, the Innovation Promotion Fund, Rusnano was transferred to the management of the ВЭБ.РФ Development Corporation for more effective work in achieving national development goals.

At the same time, there was a rethinking of the fund's activities, because the development of information technologies is much more than grant support. This includes building a dialogue with the IT industry, identifying its requests, implementing system non-financial support measures, and exporting.

The new strategy of the fund was approved by the Committee on Innovation and IT under the chairmanship of Dmitry Chernyshenko and approved by the Supervisory Board of the RFRIT. The strategy is a "flexible" document, and together with IT companies, we track high-speed changes in the global digital agenda.

Pavlov Alexander: Communication with the IT industry will definitely be one of the new directions, because we work for it, responding to the requests and needs of companies. A platform will soon be created on the basis of the fund, where industry representatives at any time, 24/7, will be able to learn about all available support measures, seek advice, leave a proposal or report a problem.

Another new vector is the development and support of Open Source developers. For our state, this is a new area of ​ ​ support, while according to various estimates, by 2024, 50% to 70% of total IT development will be based on open code. Now the fund is actively participating in the preparation of the Open Source strategy, the development of which was initiated by the Ministry of Digital Affairs of Russia.

Pavlov Alexander: First of all, these are countries and regions where Russia already has developed infrastructure and tools. These are union associations - the EAEU, the SCO, the BRICS. Then countries where Russian digital solutions are competitive. For example, Vietnam, UAE, Qatar, Malaysia, Cuba. In the context of export, one of the primary tasks of the fund is to create a marketplace for Russian digital solutions.

Pavlov Alexander: In the near future we will launch a program to support the digitalization of small and medium-sized businesses. The fund will compensate for half of the cost of cloud solutions, and thus companies will be able to purchase them at a good discount. We understand the vulnerability of small companies and how vital State assistance is for them.

This measure of support, like grants, is being implemented as part of the federal project "Digital Technologies" of the national program "Digital Economy of the Russian Federation," which is supervised by the Ministry of Digital Affairs of Russia.