Dzmitry Tsetserukou presents the Smart Baby Bed Platform
For the first time on the Skoltech Translational Research and Innovation conference, the presentations were solely of Skoltech projects. These projects, from improving gaze contact during videoconferences to an alternative Hepatitis C therapeutics, were presented to Skoltech students, faculty, mentors and industry representatives (you can find the descriptions of all of today’s presentations here).
The Skoltech Translational Research and Innovation program bridges the gap between laboratory and marketplace, with the aim of driving innovation and entrepreneurship in Russia. It provides support for teams, assists the establishment of proof of concept and commercialization, including pre-start up identification of high potential market opportunities, intellectual property management, and, if appropriate, team development.
José Estabil, Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, MIT Skoltech Initiative
Dmitry Pebalk, Skoltech Innovation Program manager, explains the importance of this event: “This is the first time that Seven Skoltech projects, purely Skoltech
projects, initiated and managed by Skoltech faculty, are shown in the conference. I think it’s a big step forward for the whole institution, because we are not only discussing innovation anymore, we are practicing it!”
José Estabil, Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, MIT Skoltech Initiative, shared his impression: “I think the range of technologies shows the breadth of interests in Skoltech, and in particular I’m impressed that every one of them has a core scientific basis and they’re thinking about how to fix a useful problem to industry. A second thing that I find also very important and a milestone that this is organized solely by Skoltech. I’m very impressed with the level of work that they’ve put together. I’m really happy”
Dr. Alexey Kosik, president of Gravitonus, Inc.
After the presentations and a lunch break, the conference held a master-class with special guest and one of the program’s mentors, Dr. Alexey Kosik, president of Gravitonus, Inc. The interactive master-class, “How to present you project to industrial partner and negotiate terms of collaboration”, was an appropriate way to end the conference.
Kosik commented afterwards regarding the whole day: “I saw these presentations 4-5 times before. Today there was a progress in comparison to the previous times. Today they actually showed their clear plans and path towards intellectual property protection, towards plan for prototyping, towards a plan for additional marketing activities. It was good”.
But the research teams cannot sit still after the conference. The day after, they present their projects in the “Open Innovation” forum, at the Skoltech stand. We wish them all luck and success.
