Anatoly Motkin is a technology investor and the founder and president at StrategEast, a center for a new economy on a mission to reinforce the values of the rule of law and private property protection in Eurasian and Baltic countries through the transition from natural‑resource‑based to knowledge-driven economies.
The contemporary history of the post-Soviet countries in Eurasia is the history of resource-oriented economies. These countries used to export what they managed to mine or grow. But now, the situation is starting to change. Not because they are running out of resources – the Stone Age came to an end not because people ran out of stones.
Now, people have an understanding that it is vitally important to diversify the economy and switch from the industrial model to the knowledge economy, primarily