Russian StartUp Tour, a unique road show of 10 development institutes from 16 Russian cities, ventured to the furthest city in the program today, gathering dozens of start-ups in Vladivostok in the Primorye region.
Hundreds of young entrepreneurs from Vladivostok, Komsomolsk-on-Amur and other cities in the Primorye region gathered together on April 1, 2013, in the business incubator zone at Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service. The meeting featured a large crowd of students, remarkable young men and women, who here in this region where the Transsiberian ends and the Pacific Ocean begins, will surely build an innovative future for Russia.
The beautiful, sunny spring weather and light ocean breeze added a sense of levity, kindness and celebration to the event, resulting in an excellent and constructive day for young entrepreneurs, students and visitors to the development institutes. The “Being an entrepreneur is hard but not dangerous” session has already earned itself a good reputation. The session was opened by Pekka Viliakainen, adviser to the president of the Skolkovo Fund on working with startups.
The session was followed by presentations by development institutes, SkolTech University and IBM, one of the fund's partners. The first session gave way to short pitches, in which over a dozen start-ups took part, three of which were like the best by the expert pool. They all received an invitation to participate in programs at development institutes, as well as in May events at Skolkovo's StartUp Village.
Among the winners was one startup that invented a technology involving innovative screws (screw cylinders) for the extraction of oil and other substances, another company that came up with a new type of bandaging based on natural minerals and the “Autohelp” start-up, which invented an automatic scanner which lets drivers know of any malfunction in the "iron horse." All the main experts from the StartUp Tour came to support the entrepreneurial community with coaching, advice and contacts. Pekka Viliakainen called for proactiveness and openness, and from city to city he has had the same message:
“Don't be afraid to start your own business!”. Moreover, the government is ready to lend support to any interesting projects. In any country in the world, government is not very much into business, but it has created mechanisms to support small businesses, arrangements for mentoring. Remember, you are not here today because your teacher told you to come, but because all of this has great significance for your futurePekka Viliakainen
Igor Bogachev, the executive director of the information technology cluster, took over from there and called for the young innovators to create their own businesses, telling them the following:
The success of this road show for startups is only possible if the people who are present here decide to build their business in Russia. If they understand that it is not really so difficult, and that there are plenty of ideas for how to support these initiatives in our country. The IT market is still very young and it's there all for you, for the young and the educated. We'll help you pick out the most promising areas and show you what direction it is best to move in.
Vasily Belov, executive director of the energy-efficient technologies cluster, said:
We came just to tell you about the upcoming event, Startup Village. Startup Village is a perfect platform to raise capital, find colleagues and communicate. And it's just for you. The Skolkovo Fund, together with other development institutess, is providing you with the opportunity to get support from the state for your startup. We are prepared to support you from when you design the business to the financing stage, and we are ready to give you professional contacts. It is crucial that you have the chance to meet with potential clients at the point even when there is still no product, and we will also help you do that.
Mikhail Myagkov, vice president for academic affairs at SkolTech, told the audience, which consisted mainly of students, about the success of the first set of universities to get involved and the role played by cooperation with MIT. SkolTech has many graduate students from the regions, he stressed, which show results that are no less brilliant than that of their colleagues from the capital and St. Petersburg. Next, Olesya Naletova, manager of the Investsluzhby Foundation, described the peculiarities of interaction between startups and the investment community.
Vasily Belov also called on audience members to carefully review the programs offered by development institutes on their sites. "You won't get all the answers in the few minutes that you listen to the presentations." And another tip from Belov: "I advise you to take a look at what your colleagues in other countries are doing, what kind of competitors you have on a global level, and think globally."
The speakers all pointed out that the Russian StartUp Tour is not just a road show of development institutes, but a program for the support of start-ups. Uncovering all the possibilities of such support is the tour's most important task. With that in mind, representatives of other development institutes tried to get across one main message to the audience: there are already a great deal of tools of state support. They also tried to talk as much as possible and explain the key features and benefits of their programs. For perhaps the first time in the StartUp Tour, the following phrase rang out: "Development institutes are starting to compete for the start-ups!" And the main conclusion from this phrase is that it all depends on the innovators, on their talents and ability to build a support system.
As Pekka Viliakaianen noted, the Russian StartUp Tour is not the last event to be held by the Skolkovo Fund. "We will come again and again, until you really feel certain that you truly want to be an entrepreneur."