Silicon Taiga is a

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

for

Akademgorodok Akademgorodok ( rus, Академгородок, p=ɐkəˌdʲemɡərɐˈdok, "Academic Town") is a part of the Sovetsky City District, Novosibirsk, Sovetsky District of the city of Novosibirsk, Russia, located south of the city center and abou ...

, a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n research and development center that is located near Novosibirsk. The nickname is a reference to the

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...

, a renowned IT region found in Northern California. The term was first introduced to the Western press by

Newsweek magazine ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widel ...

in 1999.

Location

The town is situated partly on the

River Ob A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

, and partly on the shore of a Novosibirsk artificial reservoir that was created by a

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

on the river. Informally, this reservoir is called the Ob Sea. The dam contains a large

hydroelectric power plant Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

that was constructed in the 1950s. The town itself has no skyscrapers, and only one remote speedway connecting it to the city of Novosibirsk. Office buildings and residences are connected by many intertwined, footworn paths.

History

In the 1950s the former

Academy of Sciences of the USSR The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...

founded its Siberian Division, today known as the Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences, with a center of

scientific research The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific m ...

in Akademgorodok, where they established a dozen research institutes. To keep institutes supplied with fresh minds,

Novosibirsk State University Novosibirsk State University is a public research university located in Novosibirsk, Russia. The university was founded in 1958, on the principles of integration of education and science, early involvement of students with research activities an ...

(NSU) was founded by the resolution of the

Council of Ministers of the USSR The Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( rus, Совет министров СССР, r=Sovet Ministrov SSSR, p=sɐˈvʲet mʲɪˈnʲistrəf ɛsɛsɛˈsɛr; sometimes abbreviated to ''Sovmin'' or referred to as the '' ...

on January 9, 1958.

Distinctive

The distinctive feature of NSU is its system of competitive selection and its training of talented youth. NSU is the only university in Siberia to have developed a multilevel model of continuing education. The University was built and developed simultaneously with the Novosibirsk scientific center and is focused on training highly qualified specialists for scientific work and tutoring. Since its foundation in 1958, more than fifty thousand specialists graduated from Novosibirsk State University; more than six thousand have defended their PhD dissertations, and over one thousand five hundred have received

doctoral degrees A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

. In 2009, NSU achieved the status of a national research university. This high honor was granted by the Russian Government on a competitive basis for a period of ten years.

Information Technology Outsourcing

The first IT companies were established in Akademgorodok in the 1990s. After the collapse of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, the government's investments into scientific activity were greatly reduced, and many scientists left long established institutions on a quest for better conditions. Some of these scientists decided to leave Russia in search of jobs in foreign scientific organizations all over the world. Others established their own

private business A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...

es, which were

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. ...

-related high-tech IT companies. Many of these companies grew up into large, internationally recommended providers of software products and services. Their strategy was simple: the new IT companies would adopt the tried and true principles of the already established, famous IT corporations. All IT companies in the Silicon Taiga can be divided into the two categories according to the

offshore programming Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...

business model A business model describes how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value,''Business Model Generation'', Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Alan Smith, and 470 practitioners from 45 countries, self-published, 2010 in economic, soci ...

they employ: The firms that provide

Offshore Development Center Offshoring is the relocation of a business process from one country to another—typically an operational process, such as manufacturing, or supporting processes, such as accounting. Usually this refers to a company business, although state gover ...

(ODC), and mostly develop new custom products ( NPD), and the firms that are oriented to the

SAAS Software as a service (SaaS ) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. SaaS is also known as "on-demand software" and Web-based/Web-hosted software. SaaS is con ...

model. Meantime the global giants in the field of software and high-tech products, such as IBM, Intel Corporation, and Schlumberger, saw this growing trend and established

branch office A branch office is an outlet of a company or, more generally, an organization that – unlike a subsidiary – does not constitute a separate legal entity, while being physically separated from the organization's main office. Branching is particu ...

s in the Silicon Taiga.

Innovative technology park

The summer of 2010 saw the launch of an innovative technology park in Akademgorodok, which brought together economic and intellectual power in the area, thus expanding innovation in Russia. Today, the Silicon Taiga is not just a collection of IT companies; it is a beneficial environment, in which the Russian national system of innovations can continue to flourish.

Companies and subsidiaries

The following is a partial list of past and present notable companies founded in the Silicon Taiga or which have a major subsidiary located there: * Alawar Entertainment * Arello Mobile * ATAPY Software * Axmor * Azoft * Baker Hughes * BCS-IT * Fortess * HP (By establishing HP’s International Institute of Technology in Novosibirsk State University) * Intel Corporation * Novosoft * Parallels * Schlumberger *

Sibers Sibers is an Information Technology Outsourcing company that is headquartered in Akademgorodok, Silicon Taiga, Russia. Currently, Sibers is one of the largest IT outsourcing companies in Russia with development offices located in Akademgorodok ...

* Velvetech * Vito technologyMike Schramm
About Vito Technology's achievements
June 13, 2010

References

{{Reflist

External links

The Siberian Akadempark
a cradle of Russian high-tech innovations High-technology business districts Economy of Novosibirsk Information technology places Science and technology in Siberia