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Roscongress Foundation to Take Innovation Space to a Whole New Level at SPEIF 2019

Roscongress Foundation to Take Innovation Space to a Whole New Level at SPEIF 2019

Innovation Space will open at St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019 as part of Building Trust, a unique Roscongress Foundation platform. 

The number of projects taking part in the Innovation Space grew threefold and now amounts to 28. Young professionals will have a chance to present their projects in IT, e-commerce, smart city, industry to the investment community. 

Business programme has expanded significantly as well. VR presentations, pitch sessions, meeting with young technology leaders, and over 20 panel discussions will take place during all Forum days.

“We worked the entire year to make the Innovation Space a truly breakthrough project via a variety of formats. The space is really important to us, since we strive to nurture a new generation of tech entrepreneurs in Russia and to emphasize the competitiveness of Russian companies”, noted Alexander Stuglev, CEO and Chairman of the Roscongress Foundation. 

Innovation Space aims to facilitate the dialogue between the experts in innovative projects, AI and digital economy. Participants list includes Oleg Teplov, CEO, VEB Innovation, Arkady Dvorkovich, Chairman, Skolkovo Foundation, Dmitry Peskov, Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on Digital and Technological Development, Andrei Kuzyaev, President, ER-Telecom, Vitalik Buterin, founder of Etherium, Elena Ivashentseva, Senior Partner, Baring Vostok Capital Partners, Tina Kandelaki, Executive Producer, Match TV, Elizaveta Osetinskaya, Founder, The Bell and ‘Russkie Norm!’ project, and others. 

Visitors will hear firsthand what’s in store for cryptocurrencies, how does one pick a startup to invest in, and will marketplaces give an additional push to small and medium-sized enterprises. 

Additionally, this year the Innovation Space will host two major competitions: East Bound, an open international contest for developments in the field of Artificial Intelligence, and ‘Pitch Session for a Billion’ from Business Priority, a national innovative startup competition. 

East Bound competition is co-organized by the Roscongress Foundation, VEB Innovation, and Skolkovo Foundation. At least five investors from the Asia-Pacific region with capital from USD 100 million to 1 billion are expected to sit on the jury. Pitch sessions will be organized on a geographical basis: major investors and businessmen from China will take part on the first day with other Asia-Pacific countries presenting on the second. Representatives from the likes of Huawei, Tencent, Alibaba are expected to attend. 

Business Priority competition organized by the Roscongress Foundation, the RС Investment Fund, the International Foundation of Technology and Investment and the Digital Economy Development Fund, isn’t limited to a single technology topic. Selected projects will receive up to RUB 50 million in financial assistance for business development, while the session will provide total investment of RUB 1 billion. 

More details available at SPIEF 2019 website: https://www.forumspb.com/en/programme/building-trust/.

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