Altai State University students presented innovative developments at the start-up session "NTI-ALTAI"

The startup session is a joint initiative of a consortium of higher educational institutions of Altai Krai, which aims to popularize technological entrepreneurship in the areas of the National Technology Initiative (NTI) markets among young people, as well as to create an environment for generating innovative projects as part of the development of the Altai Research and Education Center. The flagship university of Altai Krai was one of the main organizers of the event.

At the opening of the startup session, Vice-Rector for Scientific and Innovative Development Svetlana Maksimova noted:

“The development of technologies, support for high-tech companies, building a favorable environment are essential factors for creating a competitive economy in the country. In order to provide conditions for the creation of breakthrough scientific developments in the priority areas of scientific and technological development of the Russian Federation and the transfer of advanced technologies in the interests of the socio-economic development of Altai Krai, the university carries out targeted work, namely, the Center for the Development of Technological Entrepreneurship, Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Management. The platform for generating innovations “Crazy Ideas Club” was created. The following activities were developed to improve the infrastructure for the acceleration of student projects: the Evrika Center for Youth and Innovative Creativity, the student business incubator of innovative projects at Altai State University, the Welcome Center, the MultVili animation studio; center of health food, Eco-workshop "AltayFelt", IT-service "LogoTipe", OMGames, etc. All this contributes to the development of a scientific and innovative environment for support of startups at the university, rapid implementation and commercialization of new developments, and their introduction to the market."

“Colleagues from Novosibirsk joined the initiative of the consortium of higher education institutions of Altai Krai, and we got quite an interesting and productive result of joint activities. We have a very strong pool of experts, thanks to which young innovators receive effective feedback, which allows them to timely adjust the development trajectory of their startups. It is also important to note that a start-up session is a platform for the formation of interuniversity, interdisciplinary project teams,” said Olga Vysotskaya, project coordinator at AltSU, director of the Center for Technological Entrepreneurship Development, Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property Management at AltSU.

The startup session began on Monday with the presentation of successful cases from business representatives, through the example of which students could see how modern business really develops, what marketing and economic problems it solves. All of this was organized to help young people improve their presentations.

The second day of the session, according to Olga Vysotskaya, was devoted to an educational intensive course. The representatives of "University 20-35" who participated in it, spoke about the architecture of projects, building business models, working on a technology project and so on. And our Novosibirsk colleagues shared their experience in implementing the “Startup as a Diploma” practice, thanks to which students acquire business competencies in the process of studying at the university, helping them to refine their projects to the point of entering the market. During the second day of the session, Head of the HealthNet Infrastructure Center Maria Galyamova also spoke to the “NTI-ALTAI” participants. She told about the HealthNet market trends, since the last session united two promising areas of the NTI market for Altai Krai - FoodNet and HealthNet.

The final event was an expert session of technology projects of universities of Altai Krai and Novosibirsk State Technical University, which were evaluated by representatives of business, government bodies, the scientific community, etc. In total, 17 business projects were presented.

“Our company is now focused on innovative projects, especially those related to biotechnology, and we are interested in promising students who can offer original developments,” explained one of the experts at the startup session, Investment Director of the Efko corporation, the largest Russian manufacturer of special fats and margarine Igor Sidorov. “As an expert, I, of course, pay attention to the elaboration of the project, its competitive advantages, how it qualitatively differs from similar developments, and how it may be of interest to our company. Efko Corporation is a regular participant in various startup sessions, where it looks for promising youth and promising projects. Therefore, on behalf of our company, I want to wish young researchers not to be afraid to work on complex projects, because where there are difficulties there are prospects and great opportunities."

As a result of the expert session, the second place in terms of the amount of points was taken by the project "Dry honey - a component of personalized functional nutrition", which was presented by the 2nd year student of the Institute of Chemistry and Chemical and Pharmaceutical Technologies of Altai State University Ekaterina Makeeva, a member of the Meta-Resource team - a resident of the Student Business Incubator innovative projects of Altai State University.

Special prizes from the EFKO corporation were awarded to projects of students of the Institute of Chemical Physics and Technology of Altai State University:
• "Obtaining composite materials based on chitosan and cellulose for 3D printing of skin fragments" (Alexandra Strebkova),
• "Production of a line of functional food products based on protein isolate of lupine seeds" (Elizaveta  Balaganskaya).

Also, EFKO noted the project of the student of the Institute of History and International Relations of Altai State University David Charusov “Development of cameras for multi-spectral images of unmanned aerial vehicles, an automated monitoring system and an intelligent methodology for express assessment of the effectiveness of pollination of entomophilous crops and honey collection for use in plant growing and beekeeping”.

All projects will receive further support from the Student Business Incubator of Altai State University and the Center for the Development of Technological Entrepreneurship.