California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is no stranger to Russia. He was there often in his earlier career in "physical education," but now he is in Russia as head of the State of California, in the top ten of the largest world economies and where already several hundred thousand Russians are at work helping to build the technology portion of that state's growth and importance. And how many smart engineers in their Russian homes are supporting the California companies via the Internet? No one really knows that. But clearly the connection between the brains and energy in these two global centers is solid and growing. President Medvedev was absolutely right in stepping first into California on his recent visit to the United States. Governor Schwarzenegger is absolutely right in returning to Russia now. In fact they are not starting anything new, but "officially" recognizing what was already going on. And that is good. Russia's ambition to become a hi-tech economy can be a reality if the groundwork is prepared and the air cleared.
I have often stated that Russia's greatest natural resources were not its "mines," but its "minds." My own experience starting a telecom company in the 1990s taught me that. I had never before worked with such well-educated and resourceful young people in my many years of international and domestic business building. The big hurdle for the envisioned Skolkovo technology center, the "Russian Silicon Valley," is understanding that in America success grows from the bottom up, and in Russia it attempts to be decreed from the top down and that never works. Only in a free atmosphere of private enterprise under a fair and democratic rule-of-law will the individual initiative find the incentive and freedom to blossom. Many will succeed, and some will fail, but that's all right for success, as in any free economy is dependent on the individual, not the government. This term "rule-of-law" is misunderstood for in Russia it so often means a "rule-of-thumbs" and there is no real freedom to thrive, only to survive. But the government, under Medvedev, has taken a crucial step and at least endorsed the potential of a center of technological innovation and business success. The real test will be the reduction and hopeful elimination of the rampant moral and economic corruption and criminality so evident in the Russian economy today. That is a cultural change.
The California Governor is hosting prospective investors from Silicon Valley looking for opportunities at the country's potential flagship technology hub. They need to know their investments are secure and not at the risk of political manipulation and financial opportunism. Now what is the chance of that? I have to venture that it is better than before. A country governed by a man who is a fan of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple and who enjoys the Russian political irony of Mikhail Bulgakov (a favorite of mine) and is a fan of the Harry Potter's mysticism, should understand the wrenching transformation in Russia today and what it will take to move it forward in a realistic global market.
There is an attitudinal uniqueness about California that plays a part in this mutual attraction. We raised our family in New England. As an entrepreneur, when I discussed a new idea with friends, I was used to the usual response of "Why would you do that?" We all loved New England and shared the suspicion that California was a land of undisciplined surfers and joy seekers. But family events had us moving to California. I quickly found that new ideas often met with "Why not?" California is open to new ideas and energetic business developers. With the Governor are some of these men; men like, Dixon Doll of DCM, Donald Dixon of Trident Capital, Mark Gorenberg of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Dick Kramlich and Scott Sandell of New Enterprise Associates, Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Faysal Sohail of CMEA Capital.
I spoke once in a business convention in Moscow. It was in the depth of the 1998 depression. Another American speaker ran a technological think-tank in Moscow and he said something very prophetic which I will never forget. He said, "Americans and Russians make the best partners. For the Russians can invent anything, they just don't know what to do with it- while the Americans can manufacture and market anything, they just don't know where to find it. Put them together and you have a great team."
Let's hope for and expect the best in this meeting of the "Governator" of California and the "innovator" Russian President.
Frederick R. Andresen, a California-based businessman and author of "Walking on Ice, an American Businessman in Russia" and novel "Dos Gringos," contributed this commentary to RIA Novosti's English News Service.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
