On September 27, Skolkovo hosted the Russian stage of the Chinese international startup competition IPIEC Global 2019. The competition was organized by Chinese unicorn WTOIP and consulting company Eurasia Development Limited, with the support of the Skolkovo Innovation Center, GenerationS, Technopark Strogino, MSU Science Park, GVA, Russky Technopark, and Startech.vc.

The Russian stage consisted of an online selection round followed by an in-person competition. More than 100 applications from Russia and the CIS were submitted, of which 16 projects were selected. They presented their solutions to an international jury led by WTOIP Senior Vice President Edmonton Rao and Eurasia Development Limited CEO Andrey Prokhorovich.

In his opening remarks, Edmonton Rao noted that selecting the 16 projects for the in-person presentations had been particularly difficult for the Chinese experts due to the overall high quality of the Russian projects.

Competition among the projects at Skolkovo was intense. Jury members Sergey Geylo of RVC, Daniil Kozlov of GVA, and Andrey Kleshchevnikov of Technopark Strogino actively questioned the teams in order to conduct a comprehensive assessment of each project.

The jury reviewed projects in medicine and healthcare, agriculture, smart manufacturing and sensors, AR/VR, and transportation.

After five hours of intensive work, the jury continued its deliberations before selecting the winners. The experts noted the strong commercial potential of all the projects.

As a result, five projects from Russia advanced to the semifinals. By comparison, only one project from England and two from Australia qualified for the semifinals.

1. Plazmoran — plasma arc equipment for wound treatment.

2. DRD Biotech — diagnostic tests for assessing brain damage.

3. MRM Proteomics R — precision proteomics technologies.

4. Concorde Aeroboats — a new-generation hovercraft vehicle.

5. Neuro Angel — a platform for cognitive performance and brain health.

The five winners of the Russian stage advanced to the competition’s semifinals and received the opportunity to participate free of charge in a technology tour across nine Chinese cities, where they will present their projects to Chinese industrial partners and investors.

The semifinal winners will then compete for the competition’s USD 100,000 grand prize.

We wish all the projects success and look forward to seeing everyone at IPIEC Global 2020.