Skoltech ended 2022 with a remarkable event: the finals of Skoltech Triple Point PITCH 2022, a student startup competition. Run by and for students, the event supports Skoltech’s educational initiatives in innovation and entrepreneurship. Triple Point includes three independent competitions for projects of varied maturity: PITCH for ideas, ACCELERATE for prototypes, and LAUNCH for ready business solutions. In 2022, Triple Point focused on the Energy+ track, supported by Gazprom Neft and Energotechnohub Petersburg.

Each of the 10 finalists presented their project in a 90-second pitch to a panel of industry experts from Gazprom Neft, Energotekhnohub Petersburg, TMK Group, the New Industry Investment Fund, and the Skolkovo Foundation’s Energy Efficiency Cluster.

Naval Ship took first place with its desktop application for optimizing maritime logistics to oil platforms.

“Triple Point is an excellent opportunity to present your project in front of a distinguished jury of technology and business professionals from the Russian fuel and energy sector. Winning the competition is both an honor and strong encouragement to keep moving forward. Aside from their impressive achievements, each team had the courage to step onto the podium with a microphone and demonstrate their entrepreneurial zest,” Yanislav Morozov from Naval Ship says.

The second place went to SHARC, which is developing hydrophobic self-cleaning anti-reflective coatings — thin films easily applied to a solar panel.

“Triple Point was both a challenge and an incredibly useful experience for our team. While preparing for the competition, we worked hard on the project, delving into the analysis of green technology and its market and discovering many hidden aspects along the way. We found it both exciting and useful to look at other teams’ projects, which were of an exceptional quality that we haven’t seen before, making our second place all the more valuable and encouraging us to carry on with our project,” Sergey Troshin from SHARC comments.

ARSY placed third, presenting an AR online platform for real-time communication with virtual objects. The solution is intended for safety briefings.

“For me, Skoltech Triple Point was a string of tremendously useful events that helped embody an idea in a burgeoning project with ambitions, plans, and a close-knit team. Here, I found a specialist to fill the gap in our competences. At a Gazprom Neft lecture, I realized that our solution was interesting for the oil and gas sector. Having talked with experts, we chose our development path in the industry. We have won our first cash prize, which we will use for company development,” Vitaly Kazaku from ARSY notes.

The audience support award went to TeleMGRI with its hardware complex for optimizing the data transmission process in oil and gas well drilling.

“We had an opportunity to talk individually with each expert, get feedback and even personal contacts, which is very important for early-stage projects,” Arseny Chekalov from TeleMGRI comments.

CNT-flex, which is developing affordable, simple, and safe carbon nanotube fiber for flexible electronics, won a special prize for participating in TMK Group’s acceleration competition.

Next year, the organizers plan to launch new tracks.

The extensive audience that attended the pitch sessions and supported the participants included students from MSU, MIREA, MGRI, MIPT, ITMO, TPU, Pirogov Medical University, and the Polytechnic University of Milan.

“Created jointly with MIT, Triple Point helps us support early-stage student initiatives. MIT’s vast experience has shown the importance of supporting student endeavors and led to the emergence of an impressive number of successful startups. We will continue to develop and support Triple Point at Skoltech. We invite our colleagues and partners to join us in this undertaking. My congratulations to the winning startups! We look forward to hearing about your progress,” Professor Alexey Cheremisin, the head of Skoltech Triple Point, says.

“It’s great that this academic year we have relaunched the program with the support of Gazprom Neft. It is very important to support student initiatives in technological entrepreneurship. In the future, we hope to launch new project tracks, such as Social Tech and IT,” program co-founder and coordinator Arina Ivanova reflects.

“Triple Point is very important for promoting innovative student initiatives that arise in large quantities at the Innovation Workshop. Our program motivates students to develop their projects,” program co-founder and coordinator Andrey Chemikhin comments.

“Gazprom Neft supports new technological solutions for the energy sector. At Energotechnohub Petersburg, we offer a full range of support for nascent solutions from search for ideas to creation of new tech companies. Technology is created by people. For us, the most valuable thing in our partnership with Skoltech Triple Point is the opportunity to let young professionals offer a fresh perspective on the industry’s ambitious challenges and ask each other questions that often change our own views and overall approach to the solution. This makes the team stronger and the projects more viable,” the deputy head of the Energotechnohub Petersburg project office, Olesya Vanina says.

“Our team focuses on the search for and development of new technologies, projects, and startups that offer solutions to the current technological challenges of the fuel and energy sector. We view Skoltech Triple Point exactly as a source of such solutions. We pin our hopes on this program, which we expect to help generate ideas, build teams, propel technology companies from TRL 1 to TRL 9, and bring projects to the pilot testing and implementation stages. All this requires a strong commitment, involvement, and hard work both on the part of the organizers and the startup teams. This is what I wish for everyone in 2023!” Ksenia Oparovskaya, project manager at Gazprom Neft’s Technology Partnerships and Import Substitution Department, notes.

Skoltech is proud that along with excelling in their studies and research, students find time to transform their ideas into successful business projects.

Join the program’s chat and follow the news on its website. Skoltech Triple Point will launch new tracks next year. Don’t miss yours!

Contact: 

Arina Ivanova, program coordinator 

 

Contact information:
Skoltech Communications
+7 (495) 280 14 81