You would think it doesn’t matter what part of the globe you’re at. As long as you’re well fed and life is easy. But things aren’t so simple. Entering (walking into, flying into, swimming into :)) some civilized island, right away you feel the special atmosphere of that place. Sometimes neutral. Sometimes friendly. Sometimes hostile. And most of the time you cannot figure out if it is caused by the people, buildings or something intangible. But sometimes you feel like you are visiting your friends – you’re always welcome. I feel that way in Saint-Petersburg and Prague. It is rare when you feel like you came home, where everything is familiar, warm and cozy. I feel that way in Paris, San Francisco, Vancouver. And sometimes you get this feeling that a huge or important part of your past life is connected to this place – Paris, once again, Naples…

I haven’t swam this year yet. I was busy with work, business trips. And here I am on June 12^th, near the ocean. In the morning – to the beach. The sky is dark, the wind is fast, storm has come upon. I didn’t risk it. So, I thought, it all leads for me to open the season on the 13^th. My favorite number! But in the morning I had work, had to take care of an urgent project. M-hm, – I thought again, – the 13^th didn’t work, weird… After lunch our friends took us to show the beauty of British Columbia. The nature is simply out of ordinary, fantastic! And as we were coming back to Vancouver, they offered to go for a swim. The 13^th did work! Although, the water was only 12-14 degrees (or 13? :)), but the swimming season is open! And I opened it in the ocean!!!

Konstantin Y. Smolentsev
http://smolentsev.com

Konstantin Y. Smolentsev Dear Vladislav! I work a lot with venture investors: European and North American, especially Canadian funds. How do you see formation of a competitive investment appeal of Russia? Or without it as part of a project, even led by a person with "great managerial experience, a good reputation in business circles, and credibility in the government" can solve such an ambitious task of the state as the IFC, which in the words of our President, "besides, can become a center for financial innovation»? Simply put, what spheres we can and should be more competitive in the world financial market? And how can it be achieved realistically?

Vladislav Inozemtsev In terms of innovations we cannot be appealing today on any ground. Our innovative work is extremely fragmented. I know a lot of people who over the past years have been creatively and selflessly involved in developing innovations. Russia has a lot of original technologies. The problem is that they are very difficult to commercialize and almost impossible to implement, because the volume of existing monopolies, on one side, and the volume within the private sector – from the other, – is devastating. Most processes are tied not only to the technological element, but also an element of interest of managers, suppliers, contractors, workers and consumers. The scale of corruption here is comparable to the scale of corruption in state government. Maybe even more. As an innovative economy, we can not be of interest to the West in the next 10-15 years. Of course, you can create some pockets of innovation, but it's not economics. Investment appeal of «Skolkovo», even if it is big, is not Russia's investment appeal. And if we want to have serious competitive advantages, then it can be only one thing – diversification of resources on the local market. We have to, finally, admit that our attempts to level prices with the world and achieve energy efficiency did not give any results. Today our energy efficiency is higher than in late Soviet by 12-13%, although in Poland, for example, more than twice as much. Even with higher prices on our oil, gas and electricity on the local market we will not see serious market mechanism of energy saving. I think it would be more correct to go the other way. I do not know how this can be done technically – though mass devaluation, a sharp change in tariff policy or government subsidies, but it is necessary to make resources on the domestic market very cheap. It is necessary because then Western investors can come to us, having here cheap resources like in China and other countries to manufacture the final product.

http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=1407997

Konstantin Y. Smolentsev
http://smolentsev.com

On Saturdays our corporation traditionally analyzes our position in the information space, including in the World Wide Web – Internet.

The results of the analysis are very important for us. Firstly, position of our corporation in the external environment, dynamics of strengthened attention to our services. Secondly, analysis of the successes of our clients – that too shows efficiency of our work, reaction of the market to the quality of our services. Thirdly, we grade work of the competitors of our clients – that is also a reason to think and structure our recommendations. Victory in informational battles are no less important than in traditional ones.

Sometimes you see useless black PR. At first glance useless. Sometimes it is easy to explain. It is the easiest way to get attention via anonymous and work the contract for some person, without causing too much attention, including famous firms into a company. Then again there can be another variant. Someone feels bad when others are doing well. One of those variants we saw today. Another slander. Author was as per usual, «anonymous». But in the company where we appeared was satisfying, our neighbors in the list are Business Angel Fund AddVenture, famous Scandinavian venture fund CapMan, venture fund Almaz Capital Partners and other major players of Russian and world investment markets. For us it is also a reason to optimistically look at ourselves, we are ranked high, equal to leaders. You can’t just be a plebe in a royal company. Plebes can only squeak something bad from behind the bushes in the dark and run away fast. What can you do, Internet is an open space, it is a part of human culture. Culture, where there is good and bad, bright and dark…

Konstantin Y. Smolentsev
http://smolentsev.com

"He places the fool in high positions often,
But the nobles dwell in low estate.
I have seen slaves upon horses,
And princes, like slaves, walking on the ground.
And moreover I saw under the sun,
in the place of judgment,
that wickedness was there;
and the place of righteousness,
that iniquity was there.
I said in mine heart, God shall
judge the righteous and the wicked:
for there is a time there
for every purpose and for every work.
And I said: all is vanity. " (Ecclesiastes)

Konstantin Y. Smolentsev
http://smolentsev.com