GE signs preliminary deal on Skolkovo research center

General Electric (GE) signed on Thursday a preliminary agreement to establish a research center at the Skolkovo hi-tech hub being created near Moscow. Viktor Vekselberg, the president of the Skolkovo Foundation, said at the signing ceremony that a final agreement on the project should be in place by the end of the year. "We welcome the decision by GE to implement such a significant project," the billionaire businessman is quoted as saying in a foundation press release. "The specific size and format of this involvement will, I hope, be agreed before the end of the year." The plans currently provide for the U.S. corporation to establish a center for around 50 scientists to conduct research primarily focusing on energy efficiency, health and information technology. GE chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt hailed the agreement as "a vivid example" of the company's long-term commitment to Russia. "We are confident that GE's new research center in Skolkovo will become a universal platform for the application of Russian scientific potential in specific business projects, as well as for the introduction of advanced GE technologies in Russia," he is quoted as saying in the press release. Seen as a key part of President Dmitry Medvedev's drive to modernize Russia's commodity-dependent economy, Skolkovo is intended to be an ultra-modern science community for the development and commercialization of new technologies. The hub, being set up just outside Moscow, will focus on research in five priority spheres: energy, information technology, communication, biomedical research and nuclear technology.