MOSCOW – June 9, 2011 – Cisco unveiled the results of the Skolkovo Innovation Award: Powered by Cisco I-Prize, which was launched Nov. 22, 2010. In a three-stage event, six finalists presented their projects at Moscow City International Business Center and answered questions from the judging panel.
The first prize, totaling 3 million rubles (approx. US$108,000), was awarded to a Moscow team led by Evgeni Smetanin. Their project, "Strategy on Carpet," transforms computer game fantasies into reality in the form of toy robots. The winners are using the prize money to build a prototype to show potential investors at the Chicago Toy Fair.
The second prize of 1.5 million rubles (US$54,000) was awarded to another Moscow team, which presented a project titled "OKO Contactless Device Control System." "The mouse is the most commonly used computer interface device, but thanks to our system, users can operate their computers using their eyesight only," explained the team.
A Moscow Engineering and Physics Institute graduate student, Marta Egorova, became the third-place winner and received 750,000 rubles ($27,000) for her project, "Smart Conversion of Photo Collection into Photo Gallery." Egorova's idea can be appreciated by any amateur photographer, as she developed a smart system for sorting photos and building photo books or galleries. This idea was appreciated not only by the judging panel but also by more than 200 guests at the ceremony.
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