The winners of the first stage of the Startup Tour in the Siberian city of Irkutsk have been announced, as the nationwide search for promising tech startups prepares to move to the far eastern city of Vladivostok.
Igor Karavaev, centre, and Pekka Viljakainen, right, present Dmitry Kirgin with his invitation to the Startup Village. Photo: Sk.ru
Events ran for two days in Irkutsk, during which startup hopefuls had the opportunity to pitch their ideas and attend workshops, as well as network with representatives of the local business community and regional authorities.
“I felt that they’re glad to have us here,” said Pekka Viljakainen, the driving force behind the project and an advisor to the president of the Skolkovo Foundation that organises the travelling event.
“The governor, who was formerly a deputy in the State Duma, really understands the federal context and necessity of innovation for the creation of new jobs,” said Viljakainen, a Finnish entrepreneur who launched his own tech startup when he was 13 that eventually grew to employ up to 20,000 people.
Viljakainen, who urged participants to focus on how to sell their ideas above all else, said he was pleased that more than 600 people had attended the event, and that over 100 projects had been presented.
“But I was even more pleased by the quality of the questions asked by Irkutsk journalists,” he said. “Three years ago I was mostly asked what a startup is. Now we’re communicating on a whole new level.”
The Startup Tour will go on to visit another 12 cities across Russia and in neighbouring countries. The winner in each region will attend the Startup Village held in Moscow on June 2-3.
In Irkutsk, the invitation to the Startup Village was awarded to Dmitry Kirgin, a 29-year-old assistant professor in the energy faculty of Irkutsk Technical University.
“I didn’t expect to win at all,” said Kirgin, who entered his system for locating a leak in a pipe in the competition's IT category.
A traditional wooden building in the centre of Irkutsk. Photo: Sk.ru.
Vasily Ryzhonkov, head of the mobile technology centre of Skolkovo’s IT cluster, said he was deeply impressed by the high standard of the projects in the category he was judging.
“The main thing is that their authors were thinking on a big scale: they’re focused on both the Russian and global market. I’d also single out the good work of Irkutsk Technical University – it produced a lot of good projects,” he said.
Ryzhonkov said Kirgin's winning idea had great commercialization potential.
“According to the startup’s estimates, the country loses 3 billion rubles ($38 million) every year from such leaks in sewage pipes alone,” said Ryzhonkov. “In Irkutsk alone there are 700 kilometers of piping. That testifies to the major economic effect that the introduction of this system could bring about.”
Igor Karavaev, the director of Skolkovo’s nuclear technology cluster who headed the jury in the industrial technology and materials category, said there was a huge gulf between the best two projects in his category and the remaining 10, not least in the presentation of the projects.
“In many cases we encountered a lack of understanding among the teams about how to create a startup business,” he said. “In my category, out of 12 projects there were two very strong teams, which accordingly took first and second places, and already correspond to Skolkovo criteria. One of them – the one that took first place – is already preparing to become a Skolkovo resident,” he said.
The winners pose for a photo at the close of the Irkutsk stage of the Startup Tour. Photo: Sk.ru.
The full list of winners of the Irkutsk Startup Tour is:
In IT:
1st place: Dmitry Kirgin, with his system for measuring the distance from a leak in a pipe
2nd place: Alexander Roshchin, with his TOI HOTEL mobile system for hotels and hotel guests
3rd place: Alexander Dzhurk, with his Ture Audop (TTA) audio codec
In Energy and Energy-Efficient Technology
1st place: Anatoly Goroshchenov, for his system of waste utilisation
2nd place: Sergei Matveev, for his creation of an autonomous heating system based on alternative energy sources
3rd place: Stepan Tiguntsev, for his wind power station
In Biotechnology in Agriculture and Industry
1st place: Mikhail Neustroev, EcoDSP
2nd place: Sergei Perevoznikov, Baikal Organic
3rd place: Alyona Nemchinova, for her development of technology for making apple juice
In Industrial Technology and Materials
1st place: Yegor Kuzin, for his system for determining the distance to a leak in a pipe
2nd place: Alexander Shchitnikov, for his emergency seismic system of communication for mines
3rd place: Anna Chen-Yun-Tai, for her APIS COR 3D construction printer
In Biological and Medical Technology
1st place: Vitaly Gumanenko, for his production of external fixation devices
2nd place: Sergei Murik, for his creation of an automated system for assessing nerve tissue
3rd place: Sergei Stelmakh for his system for producing polymer antimicrobial and wound healing materials