16 • REKLAMA MIAMI • NO.11 (379) • ИЮНЬ • 2019
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FROM RUSSIA WITH W WI TH H NEWS S
RUSSIA RAISES $2BLN FOR INVESTMENT IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE A state fund has tapped foreign investors to support domestic tech companies. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has raised $2 billion from foreign investors to support domestic companies developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions, the Vedomosti business daily reported, citing a report the RDIF has prepared for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on AI advancement in Russia. Russia is seeking to boost a start-up ecosystem, and the country’s traditional education emphasis on the hard sciences has helped many companies embrace technology. Russia is, for example, already a global force in fintech, and actively supports nano-technology. The funds for AI development were raised from «partners from large sovereign funds and global corporations from the Middle East and Asia,» RDIF representatives told Vedomosti. The RDIF manages $10 billion of its own funds and $40 billion
of co-investments. Between five and 10 AI-related investments annually are now planned. Analysts surveyed by Vedomosti believe that $2 billion is a large amount for the nascent Russian AI market, but noted that investment initially overshooting the market size is normal practice. The RDIF said it has screened 100 Russian AI projects and narrowed them down to 20 that are now being negotiated. Among those are Oncobox, a start up that diagnoses and selects oncology treatments, and Motorica, which develops functional prosthetics. Previous reports said that the RDIF will also invest in VisionLabs face recognition technology, a company Russia’s largest bank Sberbank has previously invested in. The RDIF will meet with Vladimir Putin in Sberbank’s coding school, School 21, and the bank’s CEO German Gref will be the keynote speaker, along with Deputy Prime Minister Maksim Akimov. Sberbank is at the forefront of Russian digital development, having adopted an ambitious digitallydriven strategy. The RBC news website has reported that the agenda of the meeting will include introducing AI technologies into the Russian economy, systems of state governance, industry and agriculture.
TOURISTS AVOID MOSCOW DUE TO PERCEIVED HIGH COSTS, LACK OF SAFETY – STUDY Tourists are not traveling to Moscow because they think it’s too expensive and unsafe, according to a Boston Consulting Group (BCG) survey obtained by Russia’s RBC news website on Tuesday. BCG polled 3,500 tourists and classified their answers into two categories to reflect the respondents’ biases and structural barriers. The consulting group didn’t disclose the percentages of each response. BCG said responses that mentioned high costs, lack of safety and excessively long flights to Moscow were filed under the “biases” category, RBC cited its research as saying. “Potential tourists form an image based on their stereotypes about Russia,” the agency was quoted as saying. Responses naming Russia’s poor geopolitical
image, difficulties with obtaining a visa and a language barrier were categorized as “structural barriers,” BCG said. The consulting firm forecast that Moscow could be among the world’s fastest-growing tourist destinations by 2025 if its administration adopts a comprehensive strategy tailored toward improving potential visitors’ experiences.
REVIVED RUSSIAN VOLCANO COULD CAUSE ‘POMPEII-LIKE’ DESTRUCTION, SCIENTISTS WARN
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An extinct volcano that has awoken in Far East Russia could unleash destruction not seen since the ancient Roman city of Pompeii was destroyed by volcanic eruption nearly 2,000 years ago, scientists warn. Geophysicists said in new research that increased seismicity and “magma intrusions” measured at the Bolshaya Udina volcano since late 2017 justify its reclassification
from “extinct” to “active.” The “catastrophic” amount of ash that would spread from the long-dormant volcano in the Kamchatka region could wreak havoc far beyond Russia if the volcano erupts, said Ivan Kulakov, the study’s lead author. “Remember Pompeii: The awakening of Vesuvius was preceded by a lull of several thousand years. And the eruption in 1600 in Peru led to cooling in Europe and hunger in Russia,” Kulakov was quoted as saying Wednesday. He compared the potential Bolshaya Udina eruption to the gigantic 1956 eruption of the Bezymianny volcano, which was also thought to be extinct until then. It is impossible to predict when or whether Bolshaya Udina would erupt, Kulakov told the Russian Academy of Sciences’ weekly publication in Siberia. Around 60 percent of the world’s seismically active volcanoes end up erupting, the outlet reported.
PUTIN SPOKESMAN’S DAUGHTER: HOMOSEXUALITY ‘UNNATURAL’ The daughter of President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has stirred controversy on social media for not sharing some of her followers’ concerns about homosexuality being punished by the death penalty in certain Muslim countries. Dmitry Peskov’s daughter Yelizaveta Peskova marked the end of Ramadan with an Instagram post Tuesday. There, one user asked if she was concerned “by the fact that homosexuality is punished by death in Islam,” according to a screenshot of an Instagram story shared by Pyotr Verzilov, a member of the anti-Kremlin group Pussy Riot. “There are laws of nature, and these things
[homosexuality] are haram for me,” Peskova replied, using a term denoting a forbidden act or item in Islam, according to the screenshot. “It’s a good thing that Liza’s dad has money and Liza will never have to make a career in the West, because no company will hire a person with these views,” Verzilov remarked. Strict Islamic law known as Sharia permits the death penalty for adultery and homosexuality. Pop culture websites have inferred that Peskova may be dating a Muslim based on past Instagram posts of trips to Russia’s North Caucasus republic of Chechnya.