The Russian Ministry of Education and Science, in partnership with the Innovation Promotion Foundation, announced the winners of the first stage of their "Student Startup" competition that is part of the National Project "University Technological Entrepreneurship Platform". 2,300 applications were submitted and 650 projects were selected, including 19 startups from NSU students. Each of the projects will receive 1,000,000 rubles to support the startup.
Valery Falkov, Head of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, talked about the competition,
Students from all regions in the country should have equal opportunities to realize their entrepreneurial potential. Over 250 universities, both technical and humanitarian, participated in the first stage of the competition. Moscow, the Republic of Tatarstan, St. Petersburg, Tomsk, and Novosibirsk regions have the most winners.
NSU had winning projects in five out of seven competition categories: Digital Technologies (7 startups), Medicine and Health Technologies (5 startups), New Materials and Chemical Technologies (1 startup), New Devices and Intelligent Production Technologies (4 startups), Biotechnologies (2 startups). Each of the student developments solves an important problem including how to control seismic surveys, prevent ADHD in elementary school students, detect the development of osteoporosis at an early stage, treat wastewater, how to automate the analysis of wood defects, etc.
Mikhail Fedoruk, Rector of NSU, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, described the strategy that led to this success,
The regular flow of student startups that are recognized at the national level is the result of the successful realization of the research and entrepreneurial potential of our students. This is impossible without a reliable scientific and educational foundation on the one hand, and infrastructural opportunities in the form of a creative space and interaction with the country's leading technopark on the other. And, of course, the flexible thinking, observation, and sense of purpose that young people bring to the process looking for solutions to the problems that concern them. I congratulate our students and wish them well moving from a socially significant idea to creating the products necessary for the technological development of both the Novosibirsk Region and the country as a whole as soon as possible.
Earlier this year, NSU won the competition to participate in the National Project "Advanced Engineering Schools" that will transform the University from a research university to an entrepreneurial university.
