Bridge the gap between lab and market, laptop and the real world. That’s what innovation is essentially about. That’s what Skoltech’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is about. And that’s what 6 projects supported by the center have to achieve. 

Innovation can be found in the most unexpected places. Image courtesy Dan Mason, flickr

On June 3rd half a dozen teams will present their progress so far and hear expert advice on the way forward. Should these young researchers change course or push ahead in the current direction?

The 4th Innovation Program Conference is due to coincide with the Startup Village events, and take place on June 3, from 10:00 to 17:30, inside the Skoltech tent.

Research teams will present their projects and receive feedback on their progress since last autumn, when they were awarded a year of funding by the Skoltech Innovation Program (SIP). Projects will be assessed by their potential to translate research into market and to drive innovation and entrepreneurship in Russia.

While each project is unique in its focus, all projects share a general mission of using proven scientific findings to create practical real-world applications.

Participation in the conference is open to anyone sharing the center’s enthusiasm for early stage innovative projects and a willingness to support them. The Program aims to develop a common methodology and a series of novel approaches to organizing research and development in universities and research institutes. This year’s gathering is organized with support from the Skolkovo Foundation and API Moscow, Moscow Innovation Development Center.

ABOUT the SIP

The SIP provides critical support for participating teams. We help establish proof of concept and assist advancing technology towards commercialization, including pre-start up identification of high potential market opportunities, intellectual property management, and, if appropriate, team development. The Program helps reduce two major types of risk – technical and marketing, ensuring that the invention meets the market’s tech requirements and finds its niche. Thus, SIP promotes applied research and motivates research teams to take risk and be entrepreneurial.

The Program is developed in collaboration with the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The Deshpande Center and MIT have an unparalleled track record of success in tech commercialization. Projects are selected in

the following areas: IT, Energy, Biomedicine, Space, and Peaceful Nuclear Technologies. Successful outcomes for each participating research team will be licensing its technology to industry. Skoltech provides support and assistance to the participants until they reach this result.

* The Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) is a private graduate research university in Skolkovo, Russia, a suburb of Moscow. Established in 2011 in collaboration with MIT, Skoltech educates global leaders in innovation, advance scientific knowledge, and foster new technologies to address critical issues facing Russia and the world. Applying international research and educational models, the university integrates the best Russian scientific traditions with twenty-first century entrepreneurship and innovation.