VEB and NTV are closing the receipt of applications from startups for the Million-Rouble Idea TV programme, but there is still a chance to “hop onboard”

The Russia-wide casting tour for the Million-Rouble Idea TV programme is coming to an end. The aim of the casting process was to identify the best technology projects for the new season. Vnesheconombank as the project initiator and NTV have filmed the casting in 10 locations across Russia – from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok. Startups that have failed to take part in the casting have only few days left to apply for the show, which can be done via the project’s website. The names of the innovators who will present their ideas and developments during the autumn season will become known in July.

Tens of teams have taken part in the casting process in each city. Experts have noted several general trends that currently influence the development of regional eco-systems. They include the consistency of processes that shape the innovative landscape in Russia.

“We have decided to show in the new season that the geography of Russian innovation is much wider than many think. Information on regional projects was gathered through different channels. As Skolkovo’s partners, we have also screened projects of Skolkovo’s Startup Tour and then organised our own casting tour, having covered about twenty locations in total. As a result, we have been able not only to build a database of high-potential innovations, but also to get a clear understanding of how Russian regional startup eco-systems are evolving.

Rather than a patchwork of standalone stories, we have seen entire systems featuring technoparks, business incubators, engineering competence centres, venture funds, and even children’s technical centres such as Quantorium, a children’s technopark in Voronezh, as well as industry-specific associations and government entities that provide startups with support across a range of areas.

Today, there are two factors that have the strongest effect on the development of urban startup eco-systems. They include a strong local university and large regional companies – industrial partners of startups that drive the demand for innovation. Their combination results in the creation of technology competence centres across Russia, which will give a new impetus for the regions to develop in the new digital economy,” said Aleksey Ivanchenko, Deputy Chairman and member of the Management Board at Vnesheconombank.

A strong interest in technology-related startups from high school and university students is another noticeable trend. For example, the experts have singled out the Electronic Portfolio, a project by a 15-year-old Erika Bergen from Sochi, among other projects by young participants of the casting tour. She has designed a cloud-based service that allows users (school students) to create and save their portfolios (awards and diplomas certifying their participation in contests and competitions), with an option for providing universities and other stakeholders with access to their personal portfolios. TimeChart from Yekaterinburg is another interesting school-related project representing an application that can automatically draft a class timetable. It was created by school students at request of their principal. At the casting in the Volga Federal District, an eleventh-grader from Kazan has presented SugMeter, a prototype of a portable device to test blood sugar without breaking the skin. The project relies on the application of infrared spectroscopy methods. In Vladivostok, the judging panel has been surprised by a project of a first-year student who has designed headphones in the form of earrings.

Almost in all cities, the presentations made by startup founders demonstrated the correlation between innovations and engineering competences on the one hand and the local market demand on the other hand. For example, solutions presented by technology startups from the Krasnodar Territory predictably featured many agricultural technology projects such as: Magrotech, an online farming service to estimate the economics of fertiliser application and forecast the crop yield; a solution for infrared drying of agricultural feedstock; and a technology to process oilseed by-products. The technology competences of the Urals region include three key areas: industrial projects, IT, and healthcare. Local projects also feature many products for heavy industries, e.g. metal casting, as well as multiple hardware solutions backed by strong IT capabilities. The bio-cluster of the Far Eastern University in Vladivostok has produced strong regional projects in bio-medicine, e.g. several bionic prosthetics solutions.

“Investors need fresh projects that do not have much visibility, and the regions are becoming a source for a high-quality pipeline of such solutions. Even our colleagues from other development institutions, who consistently monitor regional startup eco-systems, were surprised to have found something new during the casting process. There are projects that can be successfully connected to the National Technology Initiative. For example, IRWay, a Urals company. The guys have designed a high-potential infrared night-vision solution based on an algorithm for mathematical analysis of images to prevent the blinding from the lights of oncoming vehicles. We have seen projects with strong export potential and will recommend them to our colleagues at the Russian Export Centre. They include the project by Observer, a company that has designed an all-terrain wheelchair. The Benelux countries, with their well-developed camping industry, can become a promising market for this startup, while the Netherlands in particular have the dunes impassable for standard wheelchairs. Finally, there are many social and infrastructure projects that require government investment to move forward. I hope that we will see many of these companies in the autumn season of the programme, which will hopefully become a starting point for their success going forward,” said Oleg Teplov, CEO at VEB-Innovations, commenting on the closing of the casting tour.

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