The 2016 Startup Tour, the Skolkovo Foundation’s travelling quest for promising tech startups, made its first stop outside Russia this week with a visit to the Kazakh city of Almaty.
Almost 700 budding entrepreneurs and scientists from around Kazakhstan, as well as neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, gathered in Almaty, the former Kazakh capital, to pitch their ideas to a jury of experts at the Almaty Management University. The winners won tickets to the Startup Village, the biggest startup conference in Eastern Europe, which will be held at the Skolkovo Innovation Centre in June. There they will get the chance to present their concept to an international audience of investors and experts.
Winners of the Almaty stage of the Startup Tour pose for a photo with their prizes. Photo: Sk.ru
Jury members told Sk.ru that the most interesting projects were seen in the biotechnologies in agriculture and industry category.
The Startup Tour was visiting Almaty for the second year running, and this year saw attendance increase by 50 percent. Its only other port of call outside Russia is the Belarussian capital Minsk, where the event will drop in on April 7-8.
With more than 120,000 students, about 40 universities and nearly half of the country’s scientists, Almaty is considered Kazakhstan’s intellectual capital. It is also the former Soviet country's biggest city, outstripping the capital Astana. The Startup Tour in Kazakhstan is held in partnership with Almaty Tech Garden, an innovative technologies foundation.