Surfancy, a project designed by Skolkovo resident SensArt to turn any surface into an interactive touch screen, has been named the winner of an accelerator programme run by MEGA, the chain of giant malls across Russia owned and operated by IKEA. As well as being awarded 3.5 million rubles ($54,000), the team will also have the chance to implement its technology in MEGA malls.
The winning team Surfancy will get 3.5 million rubles and the chance to install their technology at MEGA malls. Photo: SensArt.
The Surfancy team was one of 10 startups selected from 200 applicants to take part in the MEGA Accelerator, run by IKEA Centres Russia and GVA LaunchGurus and the first accelerator in Russia aimed specifically at startups working on retail solutions. Under the programme, Surfancy unveiled an interactive billboard at MEGA Khimki in the Moscow region as a pilot project to provide visitors with information about store offers and sales.
“Within the accelerator, our task was to adapt Surfancy technology for use at MEGA,” said Dmitry Litmanovich, head of SensArt, a resident of Skolkovo’s IT cluster.
“The idea of an interactive billboard emerged from a combination of two factors: on the one hand, the main advantage of advertising billboards in shopping centres is that a lot of people see them. But the disadvantage is that it’s hard to test how effective they are. On the other hand, there are interactive panels that visitors can use, but they are very small. We decided to create an interactive Surfancy billboard that would cover a large area, be interactive and make it possible to collect statistics on the advertisement’s efficiency,” he explained.
The team’s original idea for the pilot project was to demonstrate information about the mall’s food court. But when they later launched a guide to the sales, the number of interactions with the billboard rose from 100 during the course of a week to 1,000 in two days.
“That progress was a surprise even for us, but once we saw that people were interested in playing with the interactive wall, we realised our hypotheses were correct,” said Litmanovich.
“We were able to prove that interactive billboards are interesting for shoppers and that the statistics compiled by the system makes it possible to test the effectiveness of advertising offers. That is a major advantage for MEGA’s tenant stores,” he added.
“We believe in the great potential of SensArt’s idea, and that Surfancy technology will create a new communications channel between MEGA and its visitors,” said Milen Genchev, deputy director of KIEA Centres Russia and curator of the MEGA Accelerator.
“MEGA Accelerator has been an inspiring experience for us: we admired the creative minds, enthusiasm and commercial approach of the teams and have decided to continue working with some of them,” added Genchev.
SensArt sees three possible uses for its technology in retail: in interactive window displays to attract customers into a store, in “live” plasma panels hosting games or information, and interactive billboards like their pilot project at MEGA Khimki.
“Firstly, it’s entertainment for shoppers when they visit the centre,” said Litmanovich. “For shops, it means increased interest in their brand and more advertising space at MEGA. Out of 36 shops that we surveyed, 27 expressed an interest in advertising on an interactive Surfancy platform,” he added.
Surfancy’s victory in the accelerator programme shows how innovative technology created by a small startup can be transformed into a unique solution for major retail companies, said Olga Strelova, head of the technology for retail centre within Skolkovo’s IT cluster.
“Surfancy is a great example of a startup that began in a garage,” said Vasily Ryzhonkov, Surfancy’s project manager at Skolkovo.
“The project has come a long way in turning its technology into a product and in the search for a business model. It has taken part in several Russian tech competitions, it won the Web&Tech Ready [IT competition], and has taken part in retail conferences. All of this is the tricky path of a startup to its first sales and the result of its work at the Skolkovo seed accelerator and MEGA accelerator,” said Ryzhonkov.
“The pilot project in the mall allowed the team to adapt their hypotheses and develop an optimum business model. It’s only the first step, but it’s a very important one,” he added.