• Update available for Startup Village

    Improvements in this version of Startup Village: Record crowds, new setting, creative catering. Like the leading smartphone apps, Startup Village is constantly evolving. The third edition of Russia and Eastern Europe’s biggest startup event is no...

    26 May, 13:03 Nowak David
  • ‘Keep Calm and Make Robots’

    In business, they say, failure is the first step on the ladder to success. If that’s true, Daria Kaftan is headed in the right direction. Daria Kaftan, the 24-year-old rock-chick innovator and familiar face in the Skolkovo ecosystem. Photo: sk.ru...

    06 May, 16:49 Nowak David
  • Startup Tour makes final stop of 2015 in Krasnogorsk

    KRASNOGORSK, Moscow Region - Russia's biggest innovations roadshow wound up last week in the Moscow region town of Krasnogorsk. Moscow Region Government headquarters in Krasnogorsk. Photo: sk.ru The Startup Tour, whose goal is to stimulate high...

    29 April, 11:54 Nowak David
  • Startup Tour puts Ufa on the map of Russian innovation

    The Startup Tour completed its penultimate stop this week on its three-month journey around Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, putting the central city of Ufa firmly on the map of Russian innovation. ThUfa's State Petrochemical Technological University...

    23 April, 10:42 Nowak David
  • Startup Tour: Biomed rules in Belarus

    Seventeen innovations received recognition at the Minsk stage of the Startup Tour this week, with four projects winning a place in the pitch sessions at Startup Village in Moscow this summer. The winners of the Belarus pitch sessions. Photo: sk.ru ...

    16 April, 14:15 Nowak David
  • Belarus enthusiastic for Startup Tour – Vasily Belov

    The energy of the participants at the Minsk stage of the Startup Tour is something to behold, said Skolkovo’s senior vice president for innovations Vasily Belov. Vasily Belov in Minsk. Photo: sk.ru The tour is calling in on Belarus this week...

    15 April, 9:23 Nowak David
  • Catalyzing angel investment in Almaty

    ALMATY, Kazakhstan - It’s springtime in downtown Almaty, though winter is blowing its last frigid gusts off the snowy peaks of the Zailiyskiy Alatau mountain range and around the city's skyscrapers and Soviet-built housing blocks. At a downtown...

    30 March, 12:05 Nowak David
  • A glimpse inside Kazakh innovation

    ALMATY, Kazakhstan – Anar Akbarli typifies the new generation of innovators from Central Asia: Progressive, tenacious, and very, very smart. His is a generation tasked with providing a new string to the Kazakh economy’s bow, and if his product pitch...

    26 March, 10:25 Nowak David
  • A forum of robots, a meeting of minds

    The third Skolkovo Robotics International Conference was a runaway success, attracting a wide array of participants from all corners of the planet and, critically, encouraging the discipline to flourish domestically. The March 20-22 event at the Skolkovo...

    24 March, 11:16 Nowak David
  • 10 simple rules for international success

    ALMATY, Kazakhstan – As part of the March 19-20 Startup Tour in Kazakhstan’s second city, Skolkovo’s startup guru Pekka Viljakainen gave a master-class on initiating a high-tech business. During the Finn’s 35-minute presentation at the...

    24 March, 9:54 Nowak David
  • Startup Tour opens door to Skolkovo ecosystem in Kazakhstan

    ALMATY, Kazakhstan - The Kazakh stage of the Startup Tour concluded on Friday with several innovations winning a place at the Startup Village in June and, perhaps more significantly, the foundations put in place for of a new era of high-tech cooperation between...

    20 March, 17:17 Nowak David
  • ‘A wonderful day to start a business’

    ALMATY, Kazakhstan - Pekka Viljakainen is sick to the back teeth of hearing people blame the lack of startups on the financial crisis. A national Kazakh television network interviews Pekka Viljakainen. Photo: sk.ru The Finnish tech entrepreneur...

    19 March, 9:14 Nowak David
  • The day the Russian Startup Tour ceases to be ‘Russian’

    A key message that Skolkovo transmits its startups is the need to expand into new territories. Now it is leading by example: This week, Russia’s biggest innovations roadshow ventures abroad for the first time in its five-year history. Almaty - the...

    13 March, 14:02 Nowak David
  • From the Urals with innovations: Four teams make Startup Village 2015

    The fifth stage of the Russian Startup Tour culminated this week with four teams from Yekaterinburg winning an invitation to the Startup Village in Moscow. The finalists in Yekaterinburg. Photo: sk.ru The capital of the Ural Mountains region was...

    13 March, 10:25 Nowak David
  • Russian Startup Tour swings into Yekaterinburg

    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...

    10 March, 16:46 Nowak David
  • Startup Tour: Kazan yields DNA analysis, river cleansing technology

    The Russian Startup Tour unearthed some innovative gems in Kazan over the last two days, with six startups invited to Startup Village in Moscow and four million rubles in investments handed out. At the pitch competition in the Kazan IT park on Tuesday and...

    04 March, 19:23 Nowak David
  • Russian Startup Tour reaches Kazan

    More than 140 startups registered an interest to take part in the Kazan stage of the Russian Startup Tour, the fourth stop on the innovations roadshow that runs Tuesday and Wednesday in the Tatarstan capital. The Kazan Kremlin. Photo: flickr The...

    02 March, 10:43 Nowak David
  • Nizhny Novgorod offers 29 projects for Russian Startup Tour

    The Russian Startup Tour gathers pace this week with a visit to Nizhny Novgorod, where 29 finalists are to compete for places at June’s Startup Village and a special guest will provide a glimpse into the future of the automobile industry. Nizhny...

    16 February, 10:33 Nowak David
  • Russian Startup Tour rolls into Siberia

    The second stage of the Russian Startup Tour began this week in the Siberian city of Tomsk, a renowned innovations hub. One of the facilities at Tomsk's Special Economic Zone. Photo: Investment Portal of the Tomsk Region The tour is Russia’s...

    10 February, 16:28 Nowak David
  • ‘Got an idea? We’ve got your back,’ Russian startups told

    Victor Vekselberg took to the regions on Tuesday to convey an important message to Russia’s startup community: If you have an idea for an innovation, you’ve got Skolkovo’s support. Victor Vekselberg addressing startups in Rostov-on-Don...

    03 February, 11:43 Nowak David
  • Strained economy plays into hands of Russian Startup Tour – Pekka Viljakainen

    If it’s true that innovation thrives when economies start to buckle, then the timing couldn’t be better for Russia’s biggest innovations roadshow, says Skolkovo’s top startup guru Pekka Viljakainen. Photo: sk.ru The 2015...

    27 January, 9:03 Nowak David