The Samruk Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund plans to establish a subsidiary in Silicon Valley, California.
A working group consisting of the heads of a number of Samruk Kazyna companies, led by Chairman of the organisation Umirzak Shukeyev, visited companies of Silicon Valley on April 9-10, where they were acquainted with the work of Stanford University, Berkeley, as well as such well-known innovative companies as Tesla Motors, SolarCity and other start-up companies.
“The sides discussed the possibility of cooperation in the development of clean energy, gas chemistry, transport, medicine, agriculture, education and IT. In particular, they considered the possibility of creating Samruk Innovation, a company based in Silicon Valley,” said a Samruk Kazyna press release.
In the course of the visit, Samruk Kazyna companies provided information about the upcoming Astana EXPO 2017 international specialised exhibition, the Green Quarter project in the capital of Kazakhstan and the Kaz PV project for the production of solar panels.
Representatives of Stanford, SolarCity and Tesla Motors were invited to Kazakhstan to participate in the Astana Economic Forum in May and discuss joint projects in preparation for EXPO 2017. The proposal was met with interest in the business and academic circles in Silicon Valley, according to the press release. At a meeting with a member of the Board of Directors of SolarCity and Chief Executive Officer of Tesla Motors Elon Musk, several options for cooperation beyond participation in the EXPO were developed.
