This year, young leaders competed in three categories: “Project of the Future” for early-stage solutions, “Changing Reality” for MVP-stage projects, and “Innovation Leaders” for projects with a ready-made innovative product, confirmed revenue, and an established legal entity. The competition covered fields such as medicine and pharmaceuticals, industry, ecology, logistics, and more.
Skoltech’s CropPhage won in the “Ecology and Environmental Protection” category (the “Project of the Future” nomination). The team is developing a safe bacteriophage-based treatment for fruits and vegetables. It extends shelf life for retailers while helping farmers prevent seed infections. The solution, currently in development, offers an alternative to chemical treatments, potentially reducing food waste and costs. The winners received a 500,000-ruble prize.
Another winner in the “Ecology and Environmental Protection” category (the “Changing Reality” nomination) is Skoltech’s Polysense, which tackles the shortage of critical electronic components in Russia. Flexible and thin-film devices, key to modern electronics, remain largely inaccessible to Russian developers. Skoltech researchers created polyatrialamine — a promising organic semiconductor — equipped a lab, and conducted in-depth market analysis to ensure industry relevance. The project was awarded one million rubles.
In the “Industry” category, two Skoltech projects took prizes. Hydrocom was recognized in “Changing Reality” and received 150,000 rubles. The team is developing underwater communication systems for divers, leveraging advanced noise-canceling tech and data processing algorithms to enhance clarity and reliability for both amateurs and professionals.
Another prize-winner is Skoltech’s startup Labadvance (the “Innovation Leaders” nomination), which engineers microfluidic devices for sample preparation and research — the only such company in the CIS. Their products serve oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, biotech, and small-scale chemistry. In 2024, the project attracted investment from the Russian Direct Investment Fund, and the team is now negotiating partnerships in the Middle East. At the competition, Labadvance won 200,000 rubles.
NeurOmix triumphed in “Medicine and Pharmaceuticals” (“Changing Reality”). The project offers the world’s first mental health test system based on lipid biomarkers in blood plasma linked to mental disorders — requiring just one blood test. This tool provides doctors with deeper diagnostic insights. Since 2022, the project has received support from Moscow authorities under a program managed by Medtech. The team was awarded one million rubles.
This year, the competition received over 5,000 applications, with winners sharing a prize pool of 20.7 million rubles. Top project authors will continue developing their ideas in the “Innovators Academy” — a large-scale tech accelerator and ecosystem.
The competition is organized by Moscow’s Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development, with the Human Capital Development non-profit organization as operator.
