What CEO of the ICL Group Victor Dyachkov told to readers of “Business Online”?

— What does bring more profit to your company, sale of the equipment or creating the software?

— Last year we sold equipment and services related to equipment for 1.3 billion of the 5 billion roubles. So, the share of equipment is 20-22 per cent, and all the rest is related to services. To be more precise, the integration projects also include provision of equipment, although it is difficult to separate it because a system integrator supplies complex hardware and software systems. But even with this hardware its share will be less than 40 per cent, and the rest is works and services.

— What does the company do in the new trend towards import substitution?

— Should there be large orders, we could do more by ourselves. Today the chip production technology has changed. Among the directors of Tatarstan electronics enterprises I try to instill the idea to create in Kazan a common laboratory that could develop the logic circuitry in the design system integrated with the «Micron», and this Zelenograd factory would produce one chip of a large electronic board or multiple boards. This chain can be actually traced today, because it is theoretically possible and economically efficient.

—The ICL has built its own IT-village. Maybe, this is enough for Tatarstan, and Innopolis is not needed? Many people are very skeptical about this project. And how do you assess its chances of success?

— We plan to become a resident of the SEZ «Innopolis». There are a number of benefits, but also certain requirements. First, the company must be registered on this zone. So at the end of August — beginning of September we will register a new legal entity there and submit to the Supervisory Board of SEZ our set of documents to obtain a resident status.

The idea itself is very good. Thank God, now we had political leaders who see the future and the strength of the region not in oil and gas, and even not in technologies, but in human resources. The main thing is to attract to Innopolis talented mathematicians from all over the country. This is the point of view from which this project should be seen.

— What name your company will have in Innopolis and what will it do?

— Most likely, the company will be named «ICL System Technologies». Its area of activity will be research and development for the European and Russian markets. We have already identified for us these new directions, but they will be implemented in the «new city». And we also want to place there a part of our developments related to cloud computing. At first stage this company will employ 20-50 specialists. Number of personnel in the future will depend on the market and the efficiency of the Innopolis university, because we will still rely on local human resources.

To read answers to other questions, visit the «Business Online».