Novosibirsk Oblast
Founded 1893 where the Trans-Siberian Railway crosses the Ob River, Novosibirsk became Russia's third-largest city and home to Akademgorodok—a 1957 'Academic Town' now hosting 40+ research institutes. Intel and Schlumberger operate in 'Silicon Taiga' where 350+ tech companies employ 9,000. The Akademgorodok 2.0 megaproject targets 274 billion rubles in scientific infrastructure.
Novosibirsk exists because the Trans-Siberian Railway needed to cross the Ob River somewhere—and in 1893, engineers chose this spot. Within a century, the railway junction became Russia's third-largest city and Siberia's most populous, with 1.6 million residents. But what makes Novosibirsk genuinely unusual is what Soviet planners built 30 kilometers south: Akademgorodok, a purpose-built 'Academic Town' that became Russia's third-most-important research center after Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Akademgorodok was founded in 1957 as the Siberian Branch of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Scientists were lured east with promises of research freedom, forest housing, and distance from Moscow's bureaucracy. The gamble worked: over 40 research institutes now operate in what some call 'Silicon Taiga' or 'Silicon Forest.' Intel and Schlumberger have established operations here. By 2015, private investment reached approximately $1 billion, with 300 tech companies employing 9,000 people.
The Akademgorodok 2.0 megaproject aims to expand this scientific infrastructure massively: 31 research and innovation projects worth 274 billion rubles, 67 social and transport infrastructure projects worth 155 billion rubles, and 13 high-tech industries worth 20 billion rubles. The Academpark hosts over 350 resident companies in instrumentation, IT, biotechnology, and nanotechnology.
In April 2024, Deputy Governor Maxim Kudryavtsev was elected mayor of Novosibirsk by city council deputies. The oblast's population of roughly 2.8 million makes it Siberia's most urbanized region, with the capital containing over half the total.
By 2026, Novosibirsk Oblast will likely continue its dual identity: railway junction and technology hub, a 130-year-old city growing around a 70-year-old science experiment. Whether Akademgorodok 2.0 achieves its ambitions depends on whether Russia can attract the capital and talent that sanctions have constrained—but the forest laboratories remain operational.