Acceptance of applications for the GenerationS-2016 is about to start
RVC has announced the start of accepting applications for the federal accelerator GenerationS-2016. Applications to participate in the largest startup accelerator in Russia and Eastern Europe can be sent up to October 15. The official launch of the GenerationS-2016 will be held on July 7 in Moscow.
GenerationS is the largest accelerator of technology projects in Russia and Eastern Europe and the first federal platform for the creation and development of the corporate acceleration tools; it has been carried out by RVC since 2013. In 2015, the customers and industrial partners of GenerationS became more than 20 Russian companies, in whose interests the selection and acceleration of projects in 7 areas were carried out. To participate in the GenerationS, 2,566 applications were filed from technology entrepreneurs from 14 countries; 141 projects were selected by industrial partners for acceleration program, on the basis of which, about 60 joint projects are currently being worked out. The amount of prizes from the GenerationS-2015 partners reached unprecedented 160 million rubles. The GenerationS-2016 will retain the format of corporate acceleration programs. It is expected that some areas of acceleration will maintain continuity, while their total number will grow – in accordance with the needs of industrial partners.
Gulnara Bikkulova, Deputy General Director, Member of the Board of RVC:
"Since last year, we have noticing a high interest of Russian corporations to GenerationS, therefore, currently, we set a goal of selecting the most active companies interested in the development of the "open innovations" tools and finding projects on the open market. We offered to our potential partners to participate in the search for interesting projects, to formulate criteria for their selection, to allocate their staff for the examination and to form the accelerator program with us."
In 2015, among the corporate partners of GenerationS were: RusHydro Group, MOESK, T Plus Group, MTS, Sberbank-Technologies, R&D Saturn, Energy without frontiers Fund, Energia, RSC named after S.P. Korolev, GC Morton, Russian Technical Company, LLC, Tatneftekhiminvest Holding, OJSC, Johnson & Johnson, GC Farmkontrakt, PA Sibbiofarm and others. More than 150 government organizations and commercial companies have become the members of the affiliate network accelerator. In 2016, GenerationS will be held in the form of two parallel streams: the first one - for mature projects and the second one - for early stage projects. The projects at later stages will be able to apply for participation in one of the areas of corporate GenerationS acceleration; meanwhile, for "beginners", Preaccelerator will be held - a training program aimed at improving the quality of projects and bringing them to the next stage of development.
Main stages of the GenerationS-2016:
From June 7 to October 15, technology related projects will be accepted for participation in GenerationS at www.generation-startup.ru, having previously selected the stage of development of the project and one of the industry's directions. From November 2016 to July 2017, for early stage projects Preaccelerator will be held, which will include two stages: online and offline. As part of the online program, participants will be watching a series of video tutorials, lectures, finalize their projects in accordance with the acquired knowledge, and will receive recommendations on the formation of the business model of their projects. The full-time program for the top 100 projects will make it possible to undergo an intensive course of a series of workshops, consultations, and meetings with successful entrepreneurs. It is expected that the full-time program will also help to find mentors in cooperation with whom the participants will carry out the detailed study of the business part of their projects, and to develop prototypes of products on technologically advanced infrastructure platforms such as FabLabs, Center for Youth Innovation Creativity (CYIC) and others.
From November 2016 to February 2017, for projects of later stages the GenerationS corporate acceleration programs will take place, containing: a series of workshops and master classes carried out by industry experts, visits to the production facilities of the partner corporations, meetings with successful industry entrepreneurs and investors, work with mentors, individual consultations and practical exercises. The purpose of this step is to help the teams to modify their product in constant interaction with a potential customer and to test the business model and prepare the project for its successful entering the market. At the end of each accelerator, a Demo Day will be held, on which the projects will be presented to the investment committee and the scientific and technical council of the partner corporations, where a decision on further work with each particular project-graduate of the accelerator will be made.
In March 2017, the GenerationS Super Final will be held, where a jury of representatives from the partner corporations, investors, entrepreneurs and industry experts will select the winners. They will receive prizes and the opportunity to continue working with corporate partners on the introduction of their developments in the production processes, to represent a project at the scientific and technical councils of corporations, to get a contract for the purchase or investment for the development and refinement of the product.
