Putin's daughter has called for support for the high-tech sector in Russia

Katerina Tikhonova, head of the Innopraktika Foundation and the younger daughter of dictator Vladimir Putin, spoke for the second day in a row at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). She spoke about the need to increase state support for “high-tech” industries in Russia.

During her video address at the session “The Nation’s Engineering Code: Restore or Rewrite?” she spent 15 minutes discussing her foundation’s work in the fields of technological development and workforce training. 

Concluding her speech, Tikhonova outlined the conditions under which engineering professions could become more prestigious in society.

“This includes technology transfer, our experience, bringing technologies up to corporate standards, personnel support for high-tech, educational initiatives, and popularization—all of this works toward a single goal: to restore the engineer’s status as a creator of real value and a strategic leader of technological sovereignty,” she said.

At the same time, in her speech, Tikhonova used the term “vysokotekh” instead of the common Anglicism “high-tech.” In Russian official and semi-official circles, there has indeed been a recent trend toward replacing loanwords: in particular, such terminology has already been used by certain officials, including Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. “Vysokotech” is also the name of a state program offering preferential loans for innovative businesses.

Against this backdrop, Putin previously stated the need to “consistently eliminate vulgar and mechanical foreign borrowings,” and since March, restrictions on the use of Anglicisms in advertising have been in effect in Russia.

[video width="1280" height="720" mp4="https://cdn-cabinet.ua.news/uploads/images/vysokoteh.mp4"][/video]