Thirty-seven companies will battle for a place at Startup Village this week, when the Russian Startup Tour makes its fifth stop on the 12-stage trip in Yekaterinburg.
The Yekaterinburg Expo Center. Photo: www.ekaterinburgexpo.ru
Russia’s fourth-largest city, on the eastern fringes of the Ural Mountains, is hosting the event at the Expo Center, where attendees will receive training and master-classes on Wednesday before taking part in the famed pitch sessions on Thursday.
Around 1,000 people packed the exhibition hall on Wednesday morning to hear a rousing opening speech by Pekka Viljakainen, an advisor to Skolkovo president Victor Vekselberg.
"We're not looking for innovative ideas, but startup companies that can use them to make money," said the Finn, a renowned startup expert whose business style is illustrated by his 'Bulldozer' nickname.
"In the future, new jobs will be created not by big business, but by small innovative companies. And the good news is that creating these companies is down to you guys," Viljakainen added.
The packed Yekaterinburg Expo Center conference hall. Photo: sk.ru
In Thursday's pitch sessions, prizes are on offer for the best innovations in five categories: technology for children, IT, biomedical technology, efficient energy and industrial technology.
Among the 37 finalists in Yekaternburg, shortlisted from more than 100 applicants, are the following projects: Smart Home Cinema; a travel website called WhereWhen; and the intriguingly titled Robocart.
The Russian Startup Tour runs February through April and is the country’s biggest initiative to encourage entrepreneurship and commercialize innovations. It visits 10 cities across Russia and, for the first time this year, ventures abroad with trips to Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Minsk, Belarus.
It has thus far called in on Rostov, Tomsk, Nizhny Novgorod, and Kazan, facilitating around 10 million rubles in total investment and inviting around 26 startups to Moscow for the June 2-3 Startup Village at the Skolkovo Innovation Center.
Yekaterinburg is the final stop on the tour before it ventures out of Russia for the first time, visiting Almaty on March 19-20.