Over 60 percent of startups that will pitch their presentations at Startup Village represent the IT industry. Guests of Skolkovo awaits a full program with the participation of top experts and market leaders who are well known in the IT industry.
Albert Efimov, Project Director of the Information Technology Cluster, shared some details about this promising event where during the IT program one can meet interesting people at Startup Village. According to Albert, the majority of the Startup Village’s IT events will take place in the pavilion of Information Technology Cluster, other areas will also be widely used for this event.
On the first day of the event the best startups with one of the most promising ideas will present their projects before a highly professional jury, one of the best in class in the Russian IT industry. On the second day the young innovators will participate in workshops and mentoring sessions and will learn about what is happening in the "big" information technology industry.
This two-day mega event at Skolkovo will open for "IT people" on May 27 during the pitch sessions where about a hundred IT startups will participate. They will pitch their projects to a team of experts in six different topics (tracks). Among them:
According to Albert Efimov, the largest competition among startups is expected in the first track, IT Business for Tomorrow. The jury consists of representatives of some of the world's largest IT companies, such as Intel, Microsoft, SAP, IBM, ABBYY, Evernote, Cisco, and other well-known global players. The jury panel will also be represented by top professors from a number of leading tech universities, well-known investment companies and banks that are active in the field of venture capital investments. The winners will have of course the opportunity to find an investor or strategic partner, and get valuable prizes from the curators of the pitch sessions. They include fully paid internships at global companies, also at their foreign offices, invitations to key global industry events, tangible cash prizes (up to several hundred thousand), sponsorship of office rent or consulting services at major Russian and international business accelerators, a guaranteed meeting with top investors and other equally good surprises for startups.
The second day, on May 28, will be marked by partner workshops that will be opened with a small plenary session “Market Trends in IT” in participants will include: IBM, Samsung, Microsoft, EMC, as well as investment company Russia Partners. Then the event will transform into a master class on one of the most important topics for IT startups, such as patenting, how to find an investor, Microsoft’s modern platform for startups, industrial design and how to operate in the global market.