Poly-Russie 2009

Committed to training future leaders who are open to the world

“Russia is not a newly developing economic market, it is one currently undergoing a complete transformation.” This statement of fact, declared by Justin De Lanauze, sums up the impression that Poly-Russie 2009 made on the twenty or so future engineers from Québec who took part in the trade mission last May. The mission proved to be a rewarding experience in many respects and helped put an end to North American clichés, enabling students from the École polytechnique de Montréal to return home with the certitude that it is indeed possible to do business with the new Russia.

“Since the fall of the Communist regime, Russia has had to learn to live with capitalism and free enterprise and it hasn’t always been easy. Today, there’s a new generation of entrepreneurs, who are younger and more open and who have learned to live with the new regime. This makes all the difference,” asserts Justin, who admits to having spent at least a year preparing for the project, dedicating 20 to 25 hours of his time every week.

For Poly-Russie 2009, four potential industrial sectors for collaboration between Québec and Russia were pinpointed: mining and metals, gas and oil, aeronautics and aerospace engineering, and nanotechnologies and the biopharmaceutical industry. Initially, the students visited Québec industries active in these sectors so as to get an idea of how to promote and manage the economic development of the industries.

“The shock was impressive,” says Justin, the mission’s spokesman. “We quickly realized that the rationale for development over there is the exact opposite of here. While here in Québec a lot is invested in R&D, in Russia it is simply out of the question. They want to invest in product marketing, see tangible results and are even willing to finance up to 90% of the costs involved in setting up foreign businesses that wish to bring their technology to Russia.”

According to the spokesman, the students also observed that the Russian government is ready to invest huge amounts to help businesses so that they play a key role. “In reality, economic development focuses on the big players rather than small and medium-sized enterprises like here in Québec. Nor are they concerned with diversification. They don’t like taking risks and prefer short-term management. This is why they make big investments that will ensure rapid progress.”

Ever since the Poly-Monde missions were established in 1989 by students at the École polytechnique de Montréal, they have enabled participants to become more open to the world and to gain hands-on experience thanks to the study of innovation and international business practices.

Poly-Russie is no exception. “The CEO of a Québec company, one of the mission’s partners, told us that through commitment such as ours we could get a two-year head start in terms of professional experience. I have no trouble believing him. We have broadened our horizons from a technical, economic and, more importantly, social standpoint,” says Justin, who hopes that the main conclusions of their report, to be published in November 2009, will be picked up by Québec economic journals and thus prompt local businesses to forge economic ties with Russia.

Poly-Russie 2009