Successful export cases in the sphere of high-tech products were presented at the Exposition

On May 10, as part of the National Priorities Day "International Cooperation and Export", an expert panel masterclass "Presentation of Successful Export Cases in the Sphere of High-Tech Products" was held.

Skolkovo residents representing various market areas - from construction and cybermedicine to educational technologies and satellite ground station supplies — spoke about how "high-tech" exports are made, what are the main competitive advantages of a "complex" product for a foreign buyer and what problems companies from different technology sectors have to face.

Participants of the discussions included Head of Education and Acceleration Programs Department at IEC Polina Nikitenko, International Development Director of Motorica Marina Fadeeva, Deputy Commercial Director of SPUTNIKS Olga Kornienko, CEO of Clean Energy Denis Kuznetsov, International Development Director of Geropharm Irina Emchenko, CEO of ANRIA and ANRIA Research Anastasia Arkhangelskaya and Vice-President of the Association of Artificial Intelligence Development Laboratories Robert Vasiliev. The meeting was moderated by Alena Friesen, Head of International Projects at the Skolkovo Foundation.

"No matter how complex the product is, and no matter what the market itself is, in any case communications and business are built between people. Therefore, for success it is very important to remove the barriers of stereotypes, to be friendly and open, with a willingness to go to new partnerships. This is the only way to conquer export markets," emphasized Alena Friesen.

Polina Nikitenko spoke about the high importance of accelerators and other export support measures, and also voiced the most important, in her opinion, components of success in entering foreign markets.

"Firstly, a dedicated team is absolutely necessary; the company will most likely not limit itself to one person. Secondly, no matter how banal it may sound, you need to work. You should not stop at passing one program, you need to strive further, to work out contacts, strategies and so on, because the road will only go as far as the one who walks. And, of course, you need a budget for marketing," said Polina Nikitenko.

Export activities are not only profitable, but also fascinating, because even despite a certain success with domestic consumers, entering new markets seldom allows you to use previous experience as a "box" solution.

Marina Fadeeva spoke about the limiting factors that the company had to face when working with foreign partners, but emphasized that the implementation of a "complex" product in the modern world, despite the existing difficulties, is quite promising.

"For example, as far as our line of business is concerned, we see that attention to assistive technologies is growing very strongly all over the planet. The population is growing up, aging, and in the next 3-5 years a large amount of state funding will be directed to this area, so what we are doing now is very inspiring for us, and we see great prospects in it," said Marina Fadeeva.

Olga Kornienko told about the specifics of production activities and export tools used by the company.

"Export is one of the most difficult branches for us, because satellites are very specific goods, for which it is sometimes difficult to find a buyer even here in Russia. On the other hand, the narrowness of the market also dictates its own advantages, because our client already knows what he comes for," she said.

Olga Kornienko also noted the largely decisive importance of personal contacts when working with foreign partners: "Especially those markets that we are now jointly targeting — Africa, Arab countries, Asia - all of them are very fond of personal contacts, personal disposition, something invented especially for them. It is desirable to hold negotiations in person, all sorts of zooms and video calls - of course, this is also good, but it is always better to come in person to talk to them".

Irina Yemchenko noted that one of the important elements of competitive advantage is to provide comprehensive services to foreign partners.

"Just having a product is not enough, so for ourselves we have developed a kind of formula for success: first, we have all the most demanded insulins in our portfolio. In addition, it is very important to be ready to work according to different models: for example, we can supply finished products, and we can localize production on the territory of partners. It is also very important that the therapy is selected correctly, so we have a lot of training projects for both the doctor and the patient. And the package offer is one of the main elements that give us a competitive advantage," she summarized. 

Let us remind you that the RUSSIA EXPO is held on the territory of VDNH in Moscow from November 4 to July 8. Visitors are presented expositions of 89 Russian regions, leading federal agencies, corporations and public organizations. More than 12 million people have already visited the Exposition.