The fund VEB-Innovations, created by the state corporation Vnesheconombank (VEB) for financial assistance to projects of the Skolkovo Fund, will start operating in January 2012, news agency RIA Novosti reports citing VEB.

“Vnesheconombank has been working on the project under the Strategy of Innovation Development of the RF till 2020, approved recently. Under plans, the fund will support existing innovation programs, as well as develop new initiatives, directed at creation of innovation sector in the RF economy,” the VEB said.

The main goal of the fund’s operations is to support development innovation programs of the RF government, creation of “infrastructure of innovations” in the RF, raising high-risk (venture) investment into the Russian innovation companies, helping to attract foreign advanced technologies into the RF, promotion of Russian innovations on the global market, raising direct finance from international investors.

The issues of forming this fund, approved by the advisory board of Vnesheconombank in April 2011, were discussed at a meeting between Vladimir Dmitriyev, the chairman of the VEB, with the representatives of the development instititutes.

As Mikhail Kopeykin, the deputy chairman of VEB, said earlier, Vnesheconombank intends to increase the share of investment into innovation projects in its credit portfolio from 20% to 100%. According to him, applications for financing from projects with an “insufficient” innovation component will be rejected. The projects will be assessed through an existing special method.

The Skolkovo innovations center is to become the largest testing landfill of the new economic policy in Russia. The specially allocated territory outside the Moscow city is to provide special conditions for R&D in the sectors of energy and energy efficient technologies, nuclear, space, biomedical and computer technologies.