Институт развития информационного общества

Victor Stroganov

Victor Stroganov Was born in 1947 in the Far East. He graduated from school in Vilnius in 1965 with a silver medal.

In 1971 he graduated from the Faculty of Radio Engineering and Cybernetics of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

He worked for four years at the enterprise of the defense complex of the Central Research Institute “Kometa”.

In 1975 he moved to the Computing Center of the Moscow branch of the USSR Stroybank (Construction Bank). He was engaged in the development of the automated system “Bank Operational Day”.

In parallel with his work at the Stroybank of the USSR, he actively participated in the youth movement of Scientific and Technical Creativity of Youth (STCY). As a result of this activity, the Public Design Bureau “Poisk” (Search) was created at the Moscow City Komsomol Committee.

In 1976-77, Poisk presented its developments to the all-Union final exhibitions of the STCY movement at the USSR Exhibition of Economic Achievements and was awarded gold medals at the USSR Exhibition of Economic Achievements. The organizers of the Poisk Design Bureau, including Viktor Stroganov, also received gold medals. The creators of this bureau were nominated for the Lenin Komsomol Prize and reached the last round of determining the winners.

The creation of Poisk design Bureau was an experiment supported by the Komsomol in those years. Creative scientific and technical youth could express themselves in the scientific and technical sphere in such a social form, without constraining their initiative with the plans of the enterprises. Work at Poisk was also proactive outside of working hours.

The secretariat of the Central Committee of the Komsomol recognized this experiment as successful in 1978, and put forward the initiative to create a new enterprise on the basis of Poisk Design Bureau within the structure of the USSR Ministry of Radio Industry – the Moscow Experimental Computing Center. In 1978-1985 Viktor Stroganov worked as deputy director of this center, which functioned on the instructions of the USSR Ministry of Radio Industry and the Central Committee of the Komsomol.

In 1985 V. Stroganov was invited to work at the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Renewed in 1985, the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs began work on the introduction of modern information technologies in the activities of the Ministry and its foreign offices. Viktor Stroganov was offered to head the division that served as the Customer. The work was not easy: to translate needs of the Ministry from the diplomatic language into the technical one. V. Stroganov often went to foreign missions to examine their information needs. He participated in the creation of a cooperation of developers headed by the Research Institute “Voskhod”, participated in the creation of the Scientific Research Center for Informatics at the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1990, despite the inertness and resistance of the Ministry’s apparatus, the first stage of the General Automated Information System of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was introduced.

After leaving the Ministry in 1991, he was invited by the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR A.A. Bessmertnykh to the Foreign Policy Association, which Bessmertnykh created in 1992. For a long time V. Stroganov was its freelance member.

In 1991, V. Stroganov returned to his former organization as General Director. By this time, it became known as the Open Joint Stock Company “ELEKS Association” and was engaged in the sale of computers and software.

In 1994, V. Stroganov moved to work in the UNIT group of companies (UNIT GROUP), created on the basis of the ELEKS Association. He was engaged in the development of the group’s development strategy, participated in the creation and promotion of the UNIT brand in Russia. 1996-2000 headed the representative office of UNIT GROUP INTERNATIONAL (USA) in Russia. According to the Gallup report for 1998, the UNIT trademark was included in the ten most famous brands of household appliances purchased in Russia.

In 1998, as part of UNIT GROUP, the IT-company UnitSpace LLC was created. From 1998 to 2004, V. Stroganov was the general director of this company, which was engaged in R&D in the field of information technology, and also participated in the implementation of the Federal Target Program “E-Russia” and the City Target Program “E-Moscow”.

In 2004, V. Stroganov was invited to work as the Executive Director of the Institute of the Information Society, where he has been working to this day.