International Teams to Compete at HSE SPb Startup Festival
On June 24-28, HSE University – St Petersburg will be hosting HSE Fest, an international festival featuring university startups. 22 teams from 10 countries, including the HSE SPb team, ‘Sphere’, will be competing for grants in support of tech startups.
HSE Fest — an international festival hosted by HSE for university tech startups — is part of one of HSE's key projects, designed to support aspiring entrepreneurs in obtaining new competencies, getting experience in presenting their projects, and attracting potential investors.
Teams from leading universities of the US, Israel, UK, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Turkey, Estonia and Russia will compete for the main prizes of the festival—three grants of up to $10,000.
On June 28, at the final pitch session, young entrepreneurs will present innovative startups in three technological areas: Digital Medicine, EdTech, and Neurotechnology. The projects will be evaluated by an expert jury headed by Mikhail Oseevsky, President of Rostelecom.
More than 150 startups from 15 countries took part in the first round of HSE Fest. From this initial pool, experts from Rostelecom, VimpelCom, Kaspersky Lab and Commercialization Reactor selected 22 promising projects that provide a wide range of functions. One of them uses machine learning and artificial intelligence technology to analyse advertising traffic, another is a platform for group training through the use of interactive video content, a third is an innovative solution for implementing augmented reality in health care, and so on.
'Sphere', the project of The HSE SPb students, estimates the probability of a car accident based on driving behaviour data. 'Sphere' members Anna Gomarteli, Anastasia Telichko, Denis Kartashov and Artem Myasnikov explained that the system consists of an electronic device that collects data on the parameters of the vehicle and the cloud server, which processes data from the electronic device. This makes it possible for the insurance company to differentiate the rates of comprehensive coverage.
All participants and guests will have a chance to meet with global leaders of the startup development industry. Special guests of the festival include Robert Neivert, partner of one of the world's most famous accelerators ‘500 Startups’, San Francisco, USA; Karina Sotnik, Director for Business Incubation and Accelerator Programmes, University City Science Center, Philadelphia, USA; and Oleg Amurjuev, Programme Director at York Entrepreneurship Development Institute, Toronto, Canada.
Apart from the three grants, an Xbox One gaming console will be awarded as the audience сhoice prize for the most promising and impressive project. You can vote for your favourite startup on the festival website and support it at the final pitch session on June 28.
In anticipation of the HSE Fest finals, a short acceleration programme will be held on June 24-27. Leading Russian and foreign experts will deliver cutting-edge lectures, master classes and sessions in the field of marketing, sales and fundraising. The events are open but registration is required. The registration form and a detailed HSE Fest programme are available on the festival website.