Russia is famous for its outstanding scientists; many of whom flourished under the Soviet system, which devoted much public attention and financial resources to scientific developments. When the old system collapsed, researchers had to adjust to the new conditions of the market economy. Some decided to change careers while others emigrated. The most devoted fought for the survival of Russia’s scientific reputation, but few managed to use their knowledge and to create their own successful businesses; Alla Polegenkaya is an example of someone who did.

Alla Polegenkaya is a graduate in from Moscow Technical University and the author of 14 scientific inventions. She founded her own computer software firm Cogitum-Russian Word in 1993. Today the company is a leader in Russian software-localization (the translation of software packages into English) and has clients all over the world. Polegenkaya spoke with The Leader to outline her innovations and how they were achieved.

You have obtained 13 author’s certificates in the Soviet times and only one since the fall of the Soviet Union. Why was the period before Perestroika more productive for you?
I remember that time with gratitude because it offered opportunities to realize any ideas, and scientists had extremely interesting tasks to accomplish. Life back then was really quite interesting for researchers. Before Perestroika you didn’t have to think about earning your daily bread, about paying wages, taxes, and rent, you could focus fully on science — and it was wonderful. I think that we have had such a break-through in science only because people had a guaranteed salary, although very small, it was enough of survive on. Today scientists simply cannot work because they always have to think about earning money.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, you left the Scientific Research Institute and joined computer company SP Paragraph? as head of the marketing department, how did you adapt to this new environment?
Yes, state institutions stopped supporting scientific investigations, so I had to start from ground zero. I guess you could have given me any work, and I would have succeeded. If you had made me a street cleaner, I am sure I would have invented something fashionable and imporessive. When I began working for, SP Paragraph, computers were something totally new for me and I had a hard time dealing with them at the beginning.

When I headed the marketing department, I simply knew that we needed to sell. I didn’t wait for instructions from the top, I simply saw that work needed to be done, and I did it. At that time SP Paragraph had staff working on a handwriting recognition program, which Apple wanted to buy from them. It was like a giant favoring a mouse, and the money was so big and the prospects so good, that the management decided to close down in Russia and to move to the States. Everybody wanted to live a stable life, and America at that time looked like an ideal society.

Why didn’t you leave with the rest to settle overseas in the “ideal society”?
I had created a very good team, and I felt responsible for it. When I started thinking about separating and creating my own firm. But my friends told me I was crazy— they said, that if I did it, I would earn less than a secretary at Paragraph. I faced many problems, nothing but risk. I could loose everything, but I was worried about my employees, because I knew it was hard to find work at that time. So I made my choice, established Russian Word, and my people are still very grateful to me for that.

How did you manage to make Russian Word such a successful company?
We started out selling software. We were practically the first to do so in Russia, and it was a very good business. We were working with the feeling that, if we stayed together, we had to go hand in hand until we reached the top. Nobody even thought about searching for a better place. Having sold software, we took up software localization.

What does “software localization” mean?
It is very easy: If a program is written in English, the interface, and help are of course also in English. And what we started doing was translating whole software packages to make them convenient for Russian users. We had to invest a lot and in the beginning we hardly had any profit. But we saw the demand for this product on the market, and we didn’t want to just sell other companies’ products. After a while we started getting orders from such companies as Novell, Corel, and Microsoft, which are still our partners.

Your company also translates software for medical equipment. How did you get involved in that?
Yes, we localize complex medical equipment. We used to publish a journal that was called “Computer Technologies in Medicine”. In the Russian medical world there was no literature that could give doctors an idea of what equipment was available. Although the publication was a success with doctors, it was very difficult to find advertisers and to make the journal pay for itself. We stayed afloat for three years, but we made a profit only with the last issue, which came out just before the crisis. After August ’98 we had to quit, although we had become very popular, as it always happens when you put your soul into something.

What other directions are you working in now?
Since 1997 we have been investigating the sphere of knowledge systems. We’ve discovered that people who work with the Internet and other sources of information find it very hard to manage the abundance of data that flows their way. When serious issues are discussed in the society, it is very difficult to form an opinion because we hear only fragments of information. Those who have access to information win, the rest live in ignorance. We created many models and eventually produced an original software product, which we called SenseViewer.

What does SenseViewer do?
This technology helps to separate information into constituent parts, allowing a user to compare points of view. When you click on a text abstract, you can see at once, whether it is a quote from a legal document, or somebody’s personal opinion, or an encyclopedia excerpt. Plus you can instantly jump to another piece that expresses an opposite point of view.

We introduced this technology in cooperation with the State Duma, our only Russian client. We have created an informational-analytical system for the Legislature Committee, and helped it launch its Web site earlier this year. We made several presentations of our technology, and now we have the Ministry of Internal affairs and the Presidential Administration interested in our product. We have received phone calls from ITAR-TASS and from different organization that do market analysis. Everybody has the same problem: huge amounts of information which they can’t profit from. It is like sacks of gold lying around futilely. We want to allow people to use this information, and we intend to change the Internet completely with the help of our technology.

How do you evaluate what you have already achieved?
I believe that our main advantage is our attitude. We have very good professionals who are working honestly. All of their work is top-notch, no matter how much money they are getting for it. They work overtime, but never make a big deal of it. Also I am proud that we do not export resources, or wealth from Russia. On the contrary, we import foreign currency and let professionals stay here, because people are Russia’s treasure. I think that, one should live where he was born. I’ve realized that the biggest happiness for a person is to live in his or her country and to have a good occupation.