The Sochi Innovation Valley project (SIV) was presented at St. Petersburg Innovation Forum, which took place last weekend. The future residents of the center are IT startupers and investors.
All projects will be devoted to five majors: touristic services, sports projects connected with both common and rare sports, health care and post-hospital rehabilitation innovations, agro-industry techniques and technologies — Sochi is in subtropical area, so it is a perfect place for testing them — and entertainment applications and projects.
«The main advantage of this center is that its' residents will manage to get feedback from clients who use their services and technologies promptly. The investors will not spend much time to understand whether a startup is effective and profitable or not. We have chosen these five directions because it is easy to develop them in Sochi. Having tested the projects, one can implement them in other Russia’s regions,» noted Andrey Tambovtsev, head of the SIV’s Organizing Committee.
The expert also mentioned that the Center will be funded by non-governmental sources only. This will encourage them to compete and be more independent. Each startup team will have to work hard because they will not be supported by grants.
The Sochi Innovation Valley will be based on the infrastructure developed for the Olympic Games. Currently these buildings that were previously used for sport purposes stand idle. The government will not oblige residents to pay for rent. Instead of that they will have to register legal entities in Sochi and pay required taxes. According to the organizers, thanks to the Innovation Valley Russian scientists will be able to work in Sochi as opposed to leave the country.
While discussing the SIV project, the participants of Innovation Forum also focused on the problems of Sochi that could be solved with the assistance of the Center. For instance, the ecological conditions in this region are far from being perfect — it faces problems related to air and sea pollution as well as rubbish removal.
The officials of the center discussed the potential collaboration with representatives of ITMO University at the «Startup Beach» International Conference which took place this year in Sochi.
«The infrastructure of the city is yet to be developed. We are going to implement high technologies that will contribute to the economic growth of the region,» noted Igor Kuprienko, the deputy dean for innovation and project activity of the Faculty of Technological Management and Innovations.
According to «Interfax» media agency, the potential residents of the Valley presented their projects at the previous session of the International Innovation Forum. For example, «Travelgent» service is a platform for booking hotels all around the world, the «Butler» is a new assistant for housing and utility sector — by using it one can manage apartment buildings. The startupers also presented the following projects: «Tripwican» is an online service for looking for entertainment, «Bil24» app helps to book tickets for various events, «S-City» is a project of an online tourist guide around Sochi.
The experts believe that ITMO University will develop innovation projects for the SIV and participate in the academic mobility, so as to provide student exchange with Sochi State University, which is to work at the basis of the CIV.
