111 KFU students among winners of the fifth season of Student Startup
Each of the 2,000 winners from Russian universities are set to receive 1 million rubles each for their startups.
The students’ applications were selected in several stages, including an online presentation. The expert jury included representatives of the business community, universities and scientific organizations, business accelerators, and other operators of the federal project. They evaluated the technology, market prospects, competitiveness, and qualification of the projects.
The competition included 7 thematic areas: digital technologies, medicine and health-saving technologies, chemical technologies and new materials, new devices and intelligent production technologies, biotechnology, resource-saving energy, and creative industries.
In 2024, over 500 applications for participation were submitted by students of Kazan Federal University, and 111 business initiatives were recognized as winners following a competitive selection process.
“The results show that KFU systematically builds project work with students, both directly in the institutes of the university and as part of the activities of the federal University Technological Entrepreneurship Platform. Kazan University creates conditions for students, faculty and staff to work on quality projects, which increases the chances of winning,” says Anton Dyganov, Head of KFU’s Department of Innovation.
In the previous four seasons, 114 KFU students became winners.
“Students develop project-entrepreneurial thinking, confidence that their ideas have support – this means a lot,” Dyganov believes. “Among the winners there are not only technological and IT projects, but also, for example, an animation studio and a clothing brand. These are well-packaged ideas, but the main thing is how the students were able to present them to the experts. They convinced the experts that their project is really worthy of support.”
The projects of the Institute of Information Technology and Intelligent Systems (19 winners), the Institute of Management, Economics and Finance (14), the Institute of Physics (10), and the Institute of Psychology and Education (10) were the most successful. The largest number of applications – 74 – was submitted by the Institute of IT and Intelligent Systems.
“We motivate students by personal example because the institute actively works with the industry. Young people see that they go to work in a company, it somehow pays salaries, and someone brings this money to the company itself, that is, there are projects that need to be realized. In general, the startup movement is adjacent to the IT sphere. If a junior student thinks that they will be an employee of a company, then gradually they grow to believe that they can become the author of some unique product for which they will be able to earn money, if it is, of course, an original idea. First of all, we actively try to stimulate and support our creative environment. Secondly, it is our educational program. From the first year students are engaged in project work, where they are already creating their own solutions, not just something that works, but something that can be compared, shown to others, hear criticism, think about who might be interested in it, how it could be monetized,” commented Director of ITIS Mikhail Abramskii. “I am proud of all the winning applications – they correlate with all areas of the Institute’s research. These are projects related to virtual reality and game development, projects for the development of digital platforms and services, and projects aimed at creating tools for developers and IT specialists.”
The University Technological Entrepreneurship Platform has been implemented by the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education since 2022 and is aimed at unlocking the entrepreneurial potential of young people, creating conditions for supporting talents and developing competencies, professional growth of entrepreneurs in high-tech business, as well as creating a comprehensive ecosystem of technological entrepreneurship at Russian universities.
As part of the federal project, KFU holds annual trainings to develop entrepreneurial competencies, implements the Accelerator Program, and opened the University Startup Studio.