The journey Plastic Logic has taken from a research laboratory in Cambridge, UK, to a new special economic zone just outside Moscow, Russia, via the US, Germany and a swathe of investors from all avenues and geographies says much about how technological innovation is developed and funded in a globalised world.
When Vladimir Putin, prime minister of Russia, says "da," or yes, then the country’s system lines up in support. So when Putin is handed a prototype of an electronic reader from a revolutionary new form of semiconductor specially loaded with articles he might like, and he does, then it puts the seal of approval on perhaps the most significant cross-border venture capital deal of the past decade.
And in the final weeks leading up to Christmas, his approval, along with…
