Russian companies should invest more in the creation of venture funds, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday.
"The trend of Russian companies' increasing expenditure on research and development has already become obvious, but we have little venture capital," Medvedev said at a government meeting discussing the modernization and technological development of the economy.
There were 108 venture funds in Russia, Medvedev said, but only 43 of them with a total capital of $2 billion actually functioned.
"It depends on what we compare it with, but this is not a large figure for a country like ours in comparison with funds existing in other developed countries," he said.
Medvedev said he would order the government to work out changes in legislation to make venture fund operations easier so that they would not be held responsible for a certain percentage of failed projects, which is natural in the innovation industry.
"Otherwise venture capital will never appear in Russia because every time people demand a report and if the result is negative, there will be problems," he said.
MOSCOW, July 27 (RIA Novosti)
