ITMO University Digest: business projects, initiatives and advice to entrepreneurs

The ITMO University hosts a large number of initiatives dedicated to the development of innovative business - from hackathons and lectures of participants in the venture community to partnership agreements with leading companies and representative offices of other countries.

In today's digest, we will publish a selection of materials about the projects of students and graduates of the University, as well as stories about events and useful initiatives that take place at the university - perhaps some of them will interest future innovators.

Flickr / Dennis Skley / CC
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Graduate Projects (and Graduate Projects)

Smart feeder and collar: how to save the pet owner from unnecessary worries

A story about the development of Alexander Efremov, an undergraduate student at the Department of Secure Information Technologies at ITMO University, who creates smart gadgets for pets — a feeding trough and collar, which allow you to automatically feed the animal and also track its condition while the owner is not at home. Feeding trough, equipped with scales and a system of automatic feeding of food and water, will help not to leave the pet hungry. It is planned to build in the collar a heart rate monitor, a pedometer (to track the state of the animal on the mobile application) and a GPS tracker in case the animal is lost.

Business from college: how to create a quest service Surprise Me

A great interview with the founder of the project on the creation of quests Surprise me (and the project manager ITMO.STORE) Alexander Golovaty. The story of what attracts developers to the project, why it is important to test hypotheses, where to find the first clients and how to continue to engage in the project, combining it with other tasks and simultaneously working somewhere else.

How to make money on wanting to get out of the room and why people like it

The undergraduate student at ITMO University, Mikhail Tarasov, shares his experience in creating his own project - mobile escape-rooms (quests in reality) and gives recommendations to those who want to work in this direction. On the history of the project, the prospects of quests as a business and about how the FabLab of ITMO University helped the project, read the article.

Course on career: Courseburg platform will become a guide in the field of additional education

ITMO University graduate Alexander Alkhov is the founder of Courseburg’s marketplace for schools and training centers. In an interview, he talks about how his project is arranged, and also gives the results of his own market research of courses and additional education: which niches (including in IT) are “overheated” and which, on the contrary, are in demand by the market. Read more about how the project was created, read in this article .

In Search of Lost Seals: ITMO University student has developed an application to help search for missing pets

ITMO University student Maxim Averin talks about how he and other members of the 3bots team won the audience award at the Vkontakte hackathon last November and taught the neural network to find missing animals.

Just add water: good nutrition at one-two-three

The material on the functional cocktail FOYT, which was created by Artem Lepeshkin, a graduate of the Department of Applied Biotechnology at ITMO University. Cocktail can replace one of the meals and is completely natural in contrast to the analogues. The article describes how the project developed - starting with the idea and ending with the attraction of investments and plans for the future.

Entertainment Walk: How does the Kickcity service decide the question “where to go?”

The Kickcity project (an application for finding and organizing events) is a graduate of the iDealMachine accelerator. Its founder, Gideon Nwese, talks about how this service appeared, how it works, and why its creators did not involve crowdfunding and turned first into the pre-accelerator and then into the accelerator of the ITMO University.

Saving a drowning man - the work of an innovative startup Aquatic Saver

Another graduate of the ITMO University acceleration program, the Aquatic Saver bracelet, which had no analogues in the world at the time of its creation. This gadget is worn around the neck and when an alarming situation arises in the water, it turns into a gas-filled rescue collar. At the same time, the device informs the rescue services and close people the coordinates of the victim. Such a device will weigh about 170 grams. and it will be more like a necklace, and not a spasbor. Read more about the development in this material.

Russian exoskeletons: how to market a high-tech startup

Material about domestic developments in the field of exoskeletons - from medical gadgets to projects for rescuers EMERCOM. Among the Russian devices there is the development of a student of the department of light guide photonics of the ITMO University Nikita Lipovich - this is an active orthosis that helps in the rehabilitation of patients with knee injuries.

A graduate student designed a prototype of an accessible keyboard for blind people.

A postgraduate student at the Department of Mechatronics at the Faculty of Control Systems and Robotics at ITMO University Maxim Dadochkin is developing a functional and inexpensive keyboard for the visually impaired, using Braille. The story of how the project appeared and developed.

Tips for new projects

Startups vs. Venture Officials: Why You Need to Do Everything Yourself

At the end of last year, at the World Entrepreneurship Week, ITMO University held a round table “Innovators and venture capital officials: you can’t wait for cooperation”. It, in particular, raised uncomfortable questions: for example, about why investors prefer IT projects and almost don’t invest in hardware or what a startup starter should actually expect from investor money. Read about this and other topics discussed at the round table in this article.

Why investors will not give money to your startup and how to fix it

Yevgeny Turvinenko, director of the Venture Club business angels club in St. Petersburg, and Vsevolod Khorunzhiy, an expert on business speeches and presentations of the UP UP business school, conducted an Ideal Pitch interactive lecture at ITMO University. In the material about the event, read about the key points of a successful speech to investors.

How to create a university environment for the implementation of NTI

The head of the international laboratory “Mechanics and Energy Systems” (MES), Pavel Bulat, talks about how the university should become in the near future in order to meet the requirements of the National Technology Initiative and become a platform for the development of technological projects.

SafeNet: Future Security Concept

As part of a series of open lectures on the future and present of markets and technologies in the context of the National Technology Initiative, President of the RUSSOFT Non-Profit Partnership RUSSOFT Valentin Makarov spoke at ITMO University. The material about this meeting is about a new concept of cyber security, which should be implemented by 2035.

Where we are going with STI: co-author of the project Dmitry Peskov talks about his prospects

Dmitry Peskov's open lecture: co-author of the project of the National Technology Initiative spoke at the ITMO University. In this article - a detailed story about what initiatives, projects and directions should “shoot” in the coming years and how the modern technological and entrepreneurial landscape in the country is changing.

And to help and earn: at the University ITMO will be taught to build a business that is useful to society

The first acceleration program in the field of social entrepreneurship was launched at ITMO University. About what social entrepreneurship is different from the usual and how they will teach him - in this material.

Who needs small innovative enterprises in universities

Report on the results of the meeting of lawyers and representatives of technology parks, business incubators and acceleration programs of St. Petersburg State University, Moscow State University, Polytechnic University. Peter the Great, Technopark "Ingria" and ITMO University and a story about what is MIP, what problems such companies face and how to solve them.

Initiatives

Reload year: how students promote biotechnology development

The material about the final (in 2016) event in the ITMO 3.0 project, in which students working with research projects in the laboratories of the ITMO University, had the opportunity to figure out how to promote the results of their scientific work to the market.

Israel will show the world developers of St. Petersburg technology parks

Residents of the ITMO University technopark participated in a pitch session at the Israeli Consulate General. As part of the interaction of Russian technology parks and Israeli businesses, domestic developments have the opportunity to enter a foreign market: why this is interesting for Israel and what prospects it gives to domestic projects, read this material.

Agreement of the ITMO University and the Arkhangelsk Region: to cooperate with the regions in order to enter the international market

The university has become a partner of the Arkhangelsk Region Development Corporation. This article is about how ITMO University will be able to help local projects and what the idea and priorities of such cooperation are.

Dubai Accelerator TURN8 has chosen two Russian startups to invest

ITMO University’s Technopark was selected for Dubai Venture Fund TURN8: a story about the selection finalists and their projects, as well as the strengths of these businesses noted by international investors.

Developing cooperation: representatives of the Technopark of the ITMO University visited Belgium and Luxembourg with a business mission

The task of the University team was to establish cooperation with leading research and innovation universities in Belgium, as well as to conduct negotiations on cooperation with major European technology companies. On the results of the trip and the results of the initiative - in this article.

Electrolux is looking for talents: the company representatives met with ITMO University innovators

ITMO University cooperates with the company and holds for its representatives meetings with scientists and students of the University. About what projects and technologies Electrolux is interested in, and why companies and universities need to develop such cooperation, in this material.

Model for assembly: a two-day 3D hackathon has passed in Petersburg

As part of the Autodesk Developer Day at ITMO University, there is a hackathon dedicated to the development of solutions for Autodesk 3D modeling packages. Material about what the contestants offered to the jury last year and how their ideas were evaluated.

ITMO University creates new tools for regional innovation development

ITMO University expands its interaction with representatives of government, business and universities in the regions of Russia. A story about what events and initiatives help to get support from the ITMO University, even if the project is not initially connected with developments, students or graduates of ITMO.

Undergraduates of MTF will conduct projects of the accelerator Future Technologies

A story about the University’s new initiative, in which the startup accelerator Future Technologies and the Department of Industrial Management and Technology Transfer at the ITMI University ITMO will attract undergraduate students to help with accelerator projects.

Techno-style: what brokers are needed for production and universities

What is technological brokerage, is it possible to learn and how does the modern interaction between the university and the business work in this material.

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PS Already this Wednesday (May 24, 2017) in the American Rapid City will take place the final of the World Championship on Sports Programming ACM ICPC 2017 (ITMO University is one of the leaders of the championship). Watch the live broadcast of the championship and support our team!