Russia’s efforts to develop its own Silicon Valley in the form of the 400-hectare-squared Skolkovo Innovation Center are progressing on schedule.  Aside from providing a streamlined and well-oiled path for outwards-flowing foreign direct investment (see the $1 million recently funneled by the Skolkovo Foundation into U.S. Silicone Valley startup Jelastic, a bid to encourage the company to set up a hub there), its developers hope Skolkovo will act as an ‘ecosystem‘ where researchers, entrepreneurs and investors can interact in a mutually-beneficial environment of the ultra-modern.  And so far, it’s working.  Some 20 big international names have already signed up to join.  But such things take time, says The Economist, which is skeptical about Russia’s rush-job to kickstart this initiative in just five years, with the problem of corruption continuing to spook would-be investors.

It will be much harder, however, to create the rest of the ecosystem. Silicon Valley has a critical mass of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists and, more importantly, a culture of turning whizzy ideas into profitable businesses. Such a culture takes decades to evolve. The Skolkovo Foundation, which runs the project, wants to jump-start it with cash—some $1 billion over five years. “We want to fill the institutional void and take some of the risk,” explains Alexander Lupachev, the organisation’s chief investment officer.