It is Russias perennial problem how to wean the economy off its reliance on oil and gas? The answer, hope Russias leaders, lies with high technology and high finance.
Russia already has some world-class companies specializing in cutting-edge sectors. One is Rusnano, a state-owned nanotechnology company that was established in 2007. Rusnano, which is headed by Anatoly Chubais, one of the architects of Russias privatization programme in the early 1990s, is spearheading the nations push to become one of the worlds leading centres for nanotechnology the study of controlling matter on...