Editing Akademgorodok (section)

==Akademgorodok in the post-Soviet era==
The collapse of the Soviet Union saw many scientists, including whole cadres of Russia's top minds in the physical and theoretical sciences, reduced to [[penury]]. Beginning in the mid-1990s, as economic reforms allowed private investment in Russia, Akademgorodok saw the beginnings of venture funding. In 1992, a software company called [[Novosoft]] was founded here, and its chief client was [[IBM]]. Around this time [[CenterOfFinancialTechnologies|CFT]] started, which specializes in banking and financial software. By 1997, private investment reached [[US$]]10 million; by 2006, it was $150 million, reaching about $1 billion by 2015.<ref name=graun16/>

[[Intel]] and [[Schlumberger]] have brought work to Akademgorodok, and other companies are following them into the area. Many scientists, including [[Mikhail Lavrentyev|Lavrentyev]]'s son, also named Mikhail and also an accomplished mathematician in his own right, were deeply involved in this renaissance. Currently its population stands at over 100,000 and there are over 40 research institutes located within Akademgorodok. While still minuscule by the standards of other countries, the private venture effort in Akademgorodok has breathed new life into what was once one of the Soviet Union's premier scientific centers.<ref>''Fortune'', April 2, 2007.</ref>

{{As of|2015}}, 300 companies had been set up since 2011, employing about 9,000 people and generating 17bn roubles (£175M) annually.<ref name=graun16/>

The area is sometimes called "Silicon Forest" or "Silicon Taiga".<ref>
[https://blogs.wsj.com/informedreader/2007/03/19/russias-siberian-high-tech-haven/ Russia's Siberian High-Tech Haven], Wall Street Journal blog, 19 March 2007.</ref><ref>[https://money.cnn.com/2007/03/23/technology/silicon_siberia.fortune/index.htm Tech in a very cold place: A former Soviet science center is a hotbed of software innovation], ''Fortune Magazine'', by Brett Forrest, 23 March 2007.</ref> A much larger technology center in the former Soviet Union is the [[Skolkovo Innovation Center]], conveniently located on the outskirts of Moscow, a $4bn state project with annual revenues of $1bn.<ref name=graun16/>