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As Russian president visits Silicon Valley, Cisco announces $1B investment

Cisco Systems today announced a $1 billion initiative to drive entrepreneurship and innovation in Russia at a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

"Simply put, we're all in," Cisco CEO John Chambers told Medvedev.

Medvedev was joined by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at a demonstration of Cisco's video conferencing, business social networking and sports casting technology.

The new effort was characterized as a "wide-ranging series of collaborative initiatives" in Russia and the U.S.

An agreement was signed before the press by Chambers and Viktor Vekselberg, who is heading a project to develop a Russian Silicon Valley in Skolkovo, near Moscow.

The Cisco initiative in five phases will :

# Commit an initial $100 million in venture money. The company said it will increase the number of Cisco networking academies in Russia to 300, teaching people how to work with Cisco equipment.

# Establish an innovation and venture platform in Skolkovo, which will make Skolkovo an advanced Internet-connected city using Cisco technoloy.

# Establish a second global headquarters of Cisco's Emerging Technology Group in Skolkovo.

# Provide $175,000 in prize money to winning entrepreneurial teams in Russia.

The company said it will partner with existing businesses, venture capital and technology companies to develop projects such as a smart grid, financial services, broadband and social networking.

Medvedev is scheduled to tour Apple in Cupertino and speak at Stanford University this afternoon.