The judging panel for the prestigious Global Free Zones of the Year award, established by the world's leading magazine on foreign direct investment, fDi Magazine, had high praise for Technopolis Moscow's application. As a result, the Russian free economic zone won six bespoke awards in the following categories: Cluster Development, Development of Public-Private Partnership, Real-Estate Flexibility, Red Tape Reduction, and Workforce Amenities, including a new category in 2020 – Covid-19 Support.
The Global Free Zones of the Year rating is the only international SEZ rating that is globally recognized and that has been published on a regular basis since 2014. In 2020, 100 applications from all over the world were submitted for participation in the rating. The activities carried out by each SEZ were reviewed across 80 categories.
"The Technopolis Moscow SEZ took part in the Global Free Zones of the Year rating of special economic zones around the world for the first time and demonstrated the best result achieved by a Russian SEZ in the entire history of the award. The experts had high praise for the possibilities offered by the Technopolis Moscow SEZ, including the localization of production capacities under offset contracts, amounting to a total of USD 150 million. The efforts are taken by the Technopolis Moscow SEZ aimed at combating the COVID-19 pandemic and supporting residents who had to quickly repurpose their production facilities were noted separately in the rating, in a new category for 2020. For example, during the period of temporary restrictions, the Technopolis Moscow SEZ reduced the rent for 100 manufacturers and allowed companies to save about USD 1 million in three months,” said Vladimir Efimov, Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Economic Policy and Land property Affairs.
The Technopolis Moscow SEZ includes five sites (Technopolis Moscow in Pechatniki, Alabushevo, Mikron, Angstrem, MIET) with a total area of over 200 hectares. The Special Economic Zone of Moscow has both greenfield and brownfield territories. To date, 180 Russian and international high-tech companies are located on the grounds of the Moscow SEZ.
The judging panel of the Global Free Zones of the Year award had high praise for the flexible conditions offered to the SEZ residents, its overall investment attractiveness, and the opportunities available for expanding production facilities. The infrastructure opportunities provided by the Moscow SEZ were noted separately, as well as the site area and their improvement and the educational cooperation carried out with leading universities in Russia and abroad.
“All corporate residents of the Moscow SEZ, regardless of the beneficiary country, receive equal tax benefits, duty-free import allowances, reduced long-term lease rates, flexible policy regarding the leased area, developed infrastructure and transport accessibility to major customers and large warehouses. These factors contribute not only to attracting new investors but also to the expansion of existing production facilities,” said Vladimir Efimov.
The Technopolis Moscow SEZ owes its success to the systematic measures carried out by the Moscow Government aimed at improving the investment climate and efficiency of the city's business infrastructure. Preferences from the city authorities given to residents of a special economic zone can help them to save significantly on taxes and other mandatory payments. It includes a zero-tax rate on fixed assets, reduced income tax, and duty-free imports. In addition, for residents of the Moscow SEZ, the amount of land redemption is one percent of its cadastral value.
Besides, in 2020, Moscow took high positions in other ratings published by fDi Intelligence. In the European Cities of the Future rating of the most attractive cities in terms of investment, Moscow came in the top five with regard to Human Capital and Conditions for Doing Business, and in the top 10 cities in terms of Economic Potential and Cost Efficiency among major European cities. Moscow is also one of the twenty most promising cities in Europe in terms of investments in technology, innovation, and startups – the Russian capital came in 18th place in the Tech Cities of the Future rating, out of a total of 76
