A “socially important and technologically advanced” robotic solution was picked for the first prize at last week’s Startup Village, a sizable annual competition for young technology innovators held at Skolkovo, Russia’s largest state-sponsored innovation hub under construction just outside Moscow.
ExoAtlet walked away with the first prize, following two days of rigorous pitching sessions that featured 21 contenders selected from 750 national semifinalists.
The startup, created by a talented team of professors and postgraduates at Lomonosov Moscow State University’s Research Institute of Mechanics, was awarded 900,000 rubles (about $26,000) and special privileges to operate in Moscow.
The team worked on designing and developing Russia’s first exoskeleton, an innovative software and hardware construct designed to reinforce the human musculoskeletal system. It is a solution that is primarily intended to help the physically handicapped, but could also assist in hauling heavy loads and even curbing terrorist efforts. According to ExoAtlet Founder and CEO Ekaterina Bereziy, the company has already developed an operational exoskeleton prototype capable of lifting up to 200kg.
The group of runner-ups, which received smaller awards ranging from 150,000 rubles ($4,300) to a ticket to the 2014 Soccer World Cup in Brazil, also included Radio Gigabit, a young Nizhny Novgorod-based developer of steerable lens antenna technology for millimeter-wave telecom systems; Nanooptics, a four-year-old designer of digital planar holography solutions for integral optics set up by Nanooptic Devices, a Russo-American company; and Ivideon, a cloud-based video surveillance service enabling users to access their cameras and archive records remotely via a computer, smartphone or tablet.
Announced in 2010, the Skolkovo ‘science city’ currently houses 48 residents in the Hypercube, its only fully completed building — a fraction of the 1,000-strong ‘exterritorial resident’ body operating in other Russian cities and benefiting from a special Skolkovo tax regime and access to funding. It is now awaiting a new office center slated for completion in less than two months, designed to increase the number of residents located at the technopark to as many as 150 companies.
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a Skolkovo champion who attended the Startup Village events, told participants and guests that as a priority national innovation project, Skolkovo “will be brought to fruition” irrespective of any financial difficulties. He thus confirmed the official Kremlin stance that “Skolkovo is here to stay” voiced a year ago by President Putin’s chief of staff – despite a series of scandals and sharp criticism that plagued the Skolkovo project in 2012 and 2013.
The ‘science city’ is expected to receive more than $4 billion in government funding from 2013 to 2020.
Source: Skolkovo Foundation
