AFPC hosted the Washington visit of Russian State Duma member Ilya Ponomarev March 16-20, 2008.

A physicist by training, Ponomarev has had a varied professional experience during the turmoil of post-Soviet Russia, having started his own IT company in 1991 and later worked with the multinational oil field service company Schlumberger and the Russian petroleum giant Yukos as its vice president. Ponomarev was elected in last December’s parliamentary elections to represent the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, long a center of Russian science. He is now chairman of the newly formed Duma Subcommittee on High Technology Development.

During his visit, Ponomarev met with senior officials of the State Department, National Science Foundation (NSF), National Academy of Sciences (NAS), U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDF), Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), RAND, Microsoft and Freedom House.

In his meetings, Ponomarev emphasized Russia’s strength in science and technology, but extreme weakness in entrepreneurship. The central theme of his visit was Russia’s potential in innovation but need for improved mechanisms.