Last week a panel of Russian and international experts announced the winners of BIT, Russia’s largest competition of technology teams and business plans.
Following a series of investment pitches, Appercode of Novosibirsk was named Russia’s Best Startup. The Siberian team has created a flexible platform for the rapid and inexpensive development of mobile apps simultaneously for a range of operating systems.
BioMicroGels from the Ekaterinburg in the Urals and 3DMetalPrint from Ufa in the Volga Federal District shared second place. The former has tapped into microbiology and petrochemical science to develop a solution to remove oil residue from water, and the latter has come up with a method of manufacturing high-strength parts from metal powders using 3D printing.
Third prize went to Moscow’s WayRay, a startup developing an innovative holographic car navigator based on an added-reality principle. Unlike conventional projection screens, the WayRay solution generates a hologram image that a driver can see on the windshield.
The four best and brightest shared 5 million rubles (approximately $154,000) in BIT prize money.
To evaluate the projects, the jury used a special Russian Startup Rating (RSR) methodology.
The BIT competition is organized by RVC, the state-owned fund of funds for innovation, with support from several government bodies at the federal level. This year the contest had an initial pool of 1,500 applicant projects from all over Russia and neighboring countries. Following a two-week acceleration program called Generation S organized by RVC and the Moscow Center for Innovation, 19 select teams reached the final stage.
A group of sizable market players, including IBM, Intel, Kaspersky Lab, SAP and Aeroflot, supported the event as sponsors and partners.
