“The new agreement gives us the opportunity to continue to attract strong teachers and strong partners to Skoltech. Thanks to the fact that MIT has recognized us, Skoltech remains one of the largest universities in the world. The partners have neglected the policy for cooperation, it is very important for science,” Fertman said. The Skoltech Curriculum includes a number of disciplines of potential military or espionage value, including data, high-performance computing, materials science and advanced manufacturing technologies. Shortly after MIT and Skolkovo colored the initial agreement in 2011, Russian arms company KAMAZ announced the construction of a research and development center on the Skolkovo campus. On October 26, 2011, Skoltech signed a trilateral agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Skolkovo Foundation for the first three years of a collaboration to build capacity in training, research and entrepreneurship at Skoltech. The agreement signed in October 2011 provided MIT with a total of $302.5 million – US$150.5 million for MIT`s development of the Skoltech program and an additional $152 million for MIT to use it “for its own development” under the 99 contract. Ed Crawley of MIT denied the relationship was based on money. According to an MIT spokeswoman, the latest five-year contract comes from Skoltech with new funds. But MIT declined to disclose the amount on the grounds of confidentiality. MOSCOW, December 17 /TASS/.
The signing of a new agreement between the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, USA) is a success not only for the Skolkovo Innovation Center, but for Russian science as a whole, said Viktor Vekselberg, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Skolkovo Foundation, TASS on Tuesday. The partnership began in 2010 with an agreement between MIT and the Russian Skolkovo Foundation to create a Skolkovo Institute for Science and Technology (Skoltech). The Institute would be the cornerstone of a new Skolkovo Innovation Center, a $3 billion project to build a Russian version of Silicon Valley, or Kendall Square, outside Moscow.