OREANDA-NEWS. The Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO and the Kauffman Fellows Academy announces the opening of a new educational programme - the Kauffman-SKOLKOVO Venture Capital Academy. This is the first time Kauffman has shared their highly sought after curriculum anywhere in the world outside Silicon Valley in this format.

This innovative ten-week Executive Education programme is designed for the country’s current venture capital leaders and future visionaries. Its broadest aim is to help catalyze Russia’s innovation ecosystem by growing a ‘smart money’ layer of robust and knowledgeable capital formation.

This highly competitive programme continues the selective reputation of the Kauffman Fellows. It is limited to 20-30 participants and utilizes a “blended learning” approach involving online lectures, intensive in-person seminars and project work building actual funds or taking current funds to the next level.

Graduates of the programme are also invited to join an exclusive global network of top limited partners, general partners, entrepreneurs and other professionals in the industry as Kauffman International Members.

The Kauffman-SKOLKOVO Venture Capital Academy participants are invited to join world-class lectures at the SKOLKOVO Startup Academy, a programme that runs in parallel and is focused on entrepreneurs building startups.

“We are honoured that the Kauffman Fellows Academy has chosen Russia to pilot a new ‘accelerated’ programme – for the first time in the world,” said Vladimir Preobrajensky, Director of Research at the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO. “The SKOLKOVO business school believes this will continue our tradition of innovative educational offerings.”

“Funds, as well as the companies they invest in, can no longer afford to be insular,” said Clint Korver, CEO of Kauffman Fellows Academy. “The trend is clearly towards global – in terms of talent, capital, markets, and technology. We hope Russia will form an interesting ‘laboratory’ for this innovative education experiment.”

“We see a huge potential in Russia for the development of business ideas combined with savvy deployment of capital,” said Val Jerdes, Partner at Innov8 Global Ventures. “VCs can’t just sit around waiting for quality deals to evolve, and entrepreneurs can’t bemoan the deficit of smart money – both must evolve together. We hope not only to provide knowledge that drives the innovation economy, but to deliver results.”

The launch of the programme is planned for April 11, 2013.