Russia makes a fresh attempt to get France to help it develop its AI research capacity

As it looks to catch up with and, if possible, overtake its competitors in the artificial intelligence (AI) field, Moscow has launched a no-expenses-spared drive to improve its research and innovation capacities. The Russian Academy of Sciences’ Program Systems Institute, which is one of Russia’s main centres of AI research, issued a call at the end of November for a contractor able to use AI to carry out a study of the psychological profile of social networks users. In so doing, it opened the way to wider-ranging sociological studies . The Skolkovo Foundation, which has strong government support and heads Russia’s equivalent of Silicon Valley ,  is on the same track and is looking to serve as host for a new technology cluster.

As part of its drive to set up digital innovation structures, Moscow is looking to form partnerships with foreign organisations, including France’s National Institute for Digital Research and Technology (INRIA). Despite France’s reservations about Russia’s ambitions, the institute has formed a partnership with the Program Systems Institute.

Research centre panel                    

In the academic pool assembled by Moscow, universities and research centres have been particularly sought after in recent months by deputy prime minister Dmitry Chernyshenko. This multi-tasker, who has charge of such diverse sectors as the digital economy and innovation, communication, the media, culture, tourism and sport, is heading a wide-ranging federal project launched by the Russian Government Analytical Centre to develop AI research and development. In early October, a panel of research centres, including the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Kazan’s Innopolis University, the Saint Petersburg University of Information Technology, Mechanics and Optics, and Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, was constituted. Its members will now be able to receive federal subsidies over the three-year period to the end of 2024 to help them speed up innovation in AI.

Up and downs in relations with Paris

Despite the Russian charm offensive, Franco-Russian cooperation on AI is not a given. In February, a first bilateral AI conference took place under a cloud after the European Union expelled seven Russian agents on suspicion of spying to gain access to AI know-how, as Intelligence Online reported at the time .

Despite the mistrust generated by the toxic political climate, the affair has not caused long-term damage to Franco-Russian relations in the digital sphere, as was demonstrated by the holding of a first meeting of the two countries’ joint working group on innovation and digital technology on 19 November. Set up in 2019 and co-chaired by Russian deputy economic development minister Vladislav Fedoulov and INRIA chief executive Bruno Sportisse, the group aims to share good practice and bring together public bodies and companies in the digital field to come up with public-private development initatives.

The group is composed of executives from French start-up development body French Tech, which has a branch in Moscow headed by Euryale Chatelard, head of the Russian subsidiary of French web host Ecritel, and representatives of the Skolkovo Foundation. France is represented at the foundation by Franco-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry head Emmanuel Quidet, who chairs its audit committee. French Tech and the Skolkovo Foundation have been in contact with a good number of companies, including France’s BlaBlaCar, Atos and Linagora, Russian surveillance specialist SearchInform , and Dassault Systems to discuss regulation of the digital market. The next meeting, which Moscow has already announced, will be held next year in Russia.