On March 2, City Manager of the Skolkovo Foundation Viktor Maslakov and President of the AREP company, which won the competition for the city-planning concept of the science city, Jean-Marie Dutilleul signed a contract on the start of design work on March 2.

Skolkovo and AREP signed a contract to start design work

AREP announced its victory in the competition February 25 President of the Skolkovo Foundation Viktor Vekselberg. Initially, 27 applications were submitted for participation in the competition. On December 20, 2010, two finalists of the competition were chosen at the meeting of the Foundation's Urban Planning Council – AREP and the Dutch company OMA. Further, the discussion of both concepts took place in a wide format, in particular, within the framework of online voting on the official website of the Skolkovo Foundation, representatives of the Foundation said, RIA Novosti reports.

The AREP concept, according to its creators, implies the creation of an urban village that combines the conveniences of a modern city with elements of rural life. The authors of the project propose to divide the space of the innovation city into five villages in accordance with the five areas of work of the innovation center. At the same time, a common area will be created in the center of the city, which will house the guest part, the research university and the necessary general-purpose facilities.

Implementation of the urban planning concept The innovation center will take five years and require 100-120 billion rubles, while the construction will be co-financed in equal shares by the state and private business.

Innovation Center Skolkovo in the Moscow region should become Russia's largest testing ground for the new economic policy. Special conditions for research and development will be created in a specially designated area, including for the creation of energy and energy-efficient technologies, nuclear, space, biomedical and computer technologies.