Digest of Russian programs to support IT startups # 4

Since 2012, the Open University Skolkovo annually holds the Summer School. This year is no exception. From June 28 to July 3, the OtUS Summer School “Science as a Business” will be held on the territory of the Skolkovo Innovation Center, which will bring together talented young researchers from Russia and the CIS interested in networking, creating interdisciplinary teams and projects, promoting scientific and innovative activities.

The school will be attended by 130 people, 28 of whom represent the CIS countries. To become a member of the Summer School you must pass a preliminary selection. Selection for the upcoming school is already closed, but we are planning to hold the Winter and Summer School next year - follow our news!

We have scheduled summer programs with the HSE Business Incubator. Unfortunately, this year, due to the delay in the commissioning of the Business Center, such programs will not take place. In my opinion, the holding of summer programs can attract attention in the case when there will be a practical result for all participants.

In the summer, we hold a standard program of seminars and round tables for our residents and those who want to become them. However, we do not focus on the time of year. The main difference of this year is the active work with the “Foundation for the Promotion of the Development of Small Forms of Enterprises in the Scientific and Technical Sphere” under the program “Start-1”. Technopark "Strogino" is ready to provide the necessary information for participation in this program and to assist in the preparation of documents.

For us [for the HSE {Inc} ”Business Incubator] summer is time to test new educational formats, strengthen relationships with customers and partners, time for more informal communication. Traditionally, the Summer School for partners from infrastructure organizations takes place in July, where we share experiences with each other on how to develop the ecosystem, attract and develop talented start-up teams.

This year, we will have at least 2 outbound accelerators - for social projects in the Crimea, on the seashore, and for IT startups - in a forest camp near Tver. This year we will again go on an internship in Singapore, we will study “from the inside” the realities of launching global startups.

On June 15, we launched the Sabantuy CEO Camp accelerator in an IT park in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny, together with RIS Ventures. In fact, this is the first international accelerator in the country. Start-ups from Turkey, Serbia and the United Arab Emirates came to Russia especially for the educational program.

At Sabantuy CEO Camp, we invite experts and successful graduates of the ABRT-Mangrove CEO Camp program. The main trackers of the program are Nikolay Mityushin and Ilya Antipov. Acceleration will last until July 11 and will end with a grand Demo Day with the participation of representatives of venture funds and leading experts of the Russian IT / Internet / Mobile market.

In order to get into the accelerator, the projects had to pass a special selection. As part of the expedition StartUpSabantuy we drove through 13 cities of Russia + Dubai, Istanbul, Belgrade and New Garden. Each was selected, and the two best projects (according to experts) received an invitation to the accelerator. We call them StartUp Batyrs. Participation in the program is free. The goal is to prepare projects for meeting with investors.

We work a lot with students and young specialists of the city of Sarov. We have special summer schools for developing entrepreneurial skills. We also conduct “Schools of Physics” together with representatives of the RFNC VNIEF for young specialists of the State Corporation “Rosatom” and work a lot with schoolchildren of the Nizhny Novgorod region and not only. We organize robotics tournaments, math competitions.

Special summer programs for us are a priority tool for attracting new young teams to the Business Incubator of the Sarov Technopark, as well as a way to popularize the concepts of “Technopark” and “Technological Entrepreneurship” among schoolchildren.

As such, we do not conduct special “summer” programs in the technopark. At the same time, in the summer period, the training of residents of the business incubator under the business incubation program of the Zhiguli Valley continues in the technopark. This technopark program is designed for start-up teams with business projects at the initial stage of development.

Within the framework of this program, a technopark provides project teams with fully equipped workplaces, free training, assistance in promoting projects, writing a business plan, and much more. The business incubation program of the Zhiguli Valley Technopark is designed for a year, after which successful startups will be able to obtain the status of a Technopark resident.

Also, free training programs for small and medium-sized businesses, including residents of the Zhiguli Valley, continue to operate in the technology park. These are mainly trainings and seminars on management and work with personnel for groups of 10-20 people.

So, in July-August, in the technopark the following trainings are planned:

• Conflict Management;
• Methods of KPI implementation in the enterprise;
• Standardization of TWI operations.

In creating our Summer programs, we always focus on a specific audience. So it happened this time: the Summer School is aimed at young scientists, employees of research institutes, who are not afraid of additional knowledge.

The topic of the upcoming school is “Science as a business”, we selected participants to the school who are potentially able to take leadership positions, become managers in science, they are focused on the commercialization of research results.

Judging by the competition of 2.5 people per place - the topic of commercialization is becoming very popular in the academic environment. But we have never positioned our programs as educational, so we can’t call us an “extra semester”.

Of course, not every student considers summer programs as an investment in a successful future, but there are always and will be such guys. Our task is to offer really interesting programs and work formats, say, outbound accelerators (in the mountains, by the sea, in nature), when right after gymnastics a morning strategic session is held, then a hike in the mountains, an excursion or a rest at sea, and in the evening a few more hours You can work productively with coaches on your project.

Such a format effectively unites the team, a change of activities provides an opportunity to rest, and this is always an unforgettable time for the participants. So it turns out that this year, few can afford to spend the summer abroad, so that groups of on-site trainings are recruited effectively.

Our programs are not so long and students are not afraid. It’s more like immersion in a really working environment of innovative entrepreneurs that have already taken place and acquaintance with how the Russian technology park works. This is of key interest. In the course of the programs, we interact with the residents of the Sarov technopark, we invite the audience to cooperate with them if they have such an interest.