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June 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 7
saying by Skolkovo web site. "We proposed this to Italian companies and they were enthusiastic to get into the Russian innovation ecosystem."
"Then, just as when you go to the most remote place in the world you find a pizza, we found there is already an Italian company working in Skolkovo: Tau Industrial Robotics," he added.
Skolkovo Innovation Centre, a hub for tech startups, has been the Startup Village's traditional venue since its inception five years ago.
Focused on information technology, energy, biomedical/healthcare, nuclear and space/ telecoms, Skolkovo remains an innovation island in an economy, which still heavily depends on exports of energy supplies but strives to establish itself as a global player in technology.
Skolkovo, the country's largest hubs for startups, attracts tech companies by various incentives, including tax privileges, non-refundable grants of up to $10 million, marketing support for international events and access to foreign investors.
In line with most current tech trends, Skolkovo launched a centre of competences for blockchain technologies two years ago, which currently hosts nearly two dozen startups, working in such areas as fintech, healthtech, Internet of Things (IoT), gaming and entertainment.
Meanwhile, just two weeks before this year's Startup Village kicked off, major Russian lender Alfa Bank invested in Skolkovo's flagship project Cardsmobile, the creator of a mobile wallet app, in the highest fintech deal in Russia this year so far.
Another noteworthy project featured at the Start- up Village was PayControl, the only certified solu- tion in Russia for implementation of a qualified e-signature for smartphones.
Among deals struck during this year's Startup Village were RUB300bn ($4.8mn) investment in
the venture fund Skolkovo Ventures from Russian Helicopters and the same value investment from the United Aircraft Corporation. Meanwhile, the country's largest online lender Tinkoff struck deals with three Skolkovo resident startups.
Traditionally, part of the conference was a startup competition whose winners were announced at the closing ceremony.
Startups competed in two categories: for tech startups that are already formally established and already operating, and an ideas category for early- stage companies.
The first place of RUB5mn ($80,000) in the operating companies category was awarded to Sergei Karamzin of Trombodynamica (Hemacore), which developed tests to help doctors to prevent thrombosis.
The company already operates in Russia, as well as in some Western European markets, generating revenue of nearly $1mn to date.
"I know the project is complicated, like any medical project, and revenues at that level are
an excellent result," Kirill Kaem, the Skolkovo Foundation’s senior vice president for innovations, who presented the awards, said in a statement on the Startup Village web site.
The second prize of RUB3mn ($48,000) went
to Robot Vera, a cloud-based robot who helps companies to fill vacancies. Robot Vera can call candidates to discuss job vacancies with them, answer their questions and conduct preliminary interviews.
The third prize of RUB2mn ($32,000) was awarded to ParkWise, a smart parking platform that informs users of street parking availability.
In the competition's section for early-stage companies, the main RUB2mn ($32,000) prize was awarded to chatme.ai, a smart assistant that uses artificial intelligence.