What is Startup Village?
10 000 participants, 2 000 Startups, 500 investors, 350 journalists, 170 sessions and master-classes on the venue of 80 000 sq. meters.
Set in the scenic grounds of the four Technopark Office Center buildings just outside Moscow, Startup Village is a two-day, open-air festival of innovation and entrepreneurship designed to stimulate the high-tech sector of the Russian economy.
Startup Village extends over the picturesque lake and woods behind the complex, utilizing an 80,000-square-meter chunk of the 400 hectare innovation center.
More than 10,000 guests wind their way around the buildings, stages, marquees over the two days. More than 2,000 of them are startups looking for investment, grants, mentorship and Skolkovo residency, while around 500 are investors and representatives of investment funds, another 500 are speakers including former F1 star Mika Hakkinen, AvtoVAZ CEO Bo Andersson and TechCrunch editor Mike Butcher etc.
Covered by 350 journalists from the leading domestic and international media outlets, Startup Village boasts more than 170 panel discussions, workshops, mentor sessions and master-classes.
The Startup Bazaar gathers 70 Skolkovo resident companies exhibiting their innovations, many of which are interactive.
The key event of Startup Village is the pitch competition held across six categories. Winners of the Startup Village pitch contest are considered to have passed the application stage for Skolkovo residency, a status that provides startups with all manner of benefits from tax exemption to discounted office space, from acceleration programs to mentorship. All finalists collected a check on a sum of money depending in the place they took.
More than a dozen major were agreements signed or announced during the event, including a Biocity initiative between Skolkovo Foundation and fellow IASP member Turku Science Park, Finland; a deal linking Skolkovo resident company Ivideon and Impulse VC; and an accord to create a SOVZOND R&D Centre at the Skolkovo Innovation Centre.
A wide range of Russian and foreign distinguished officials have visited Skolkovo event. Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich took part in the grand opening calling Startup Village “a festival of people burning with the desire to bring their ideas to life, to create something beautiful and interesting for people.”
Foreign ambassadors, many of whom had visited Skolkovo years ago, were surprised, what’s been achieved, what potential we have.
Mr. Dmitry Medvedev, Russian Prime Minister, paid a visit within the last day of the event. He opened the first street of Skolkovo Innovation Center and extended his congratulations to Skoltech’s first graduates ceremonially awarding them the first diploma.
It was an incredible event highly appreciated by Russian and international innovation community.
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