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DemoDay of BioTechMed biomedical track of the GenerationS competition took place in the Tomsk State University
The Innovative September 2014 in Tomsk happened to be "hot" and generous with events - besides the developers and authors of 40 projects from different cities of Russia (St. Petersburg, Perm, Kemerovo, Astrakhan, Biysk, Arkhangelsk, Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnoyarsk, Cheboksary, Vladivostok, Volgograd, Ulan-Ude) the representatives of expert and investment communities - the RVC Seed Fund, Skolkovo Foundation, R&D Capital, Starta Capital, i-Accelerator, "Kama Investment Management" and "Bioprocess Capital Partners", etc., arrived to the city.
The first who arrived to study – the Acceleration BioTechMed program, the task of which is to teach the start-upers to understand interests of investors and to talk one language with them, lasted 17 days during which meetings and teleconferences with Russian and international investors were organized for the participants. It is known that the main problem of the Russia’s venture capital market (which was steadily growing in the recent years) is the deficiency of projects interesting for investors; and overcoming some kind of "a language barrier" will allow to eliminate obstacles in establishing effective start-up and investor networking.
The second who arrived as experts and mentors to AcceleRide'2014 and DemoDay track were co-organized by the JSC "Center of Innovation Management" in close collaboration with RVCA and RVC. Two-day business program was as follows: panel discussion "Life after accelerator", Mentorship Session and speech-sessions of the track participants' projects, as well as public lectures and master classes on structuring of investment transactions given by the investors.
The program of the day was filled with the events different by format and topics. While, in the framework of the panel discussion, the participants had an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the leading Russian accelerators and specialized venture capital funds, the MENTORSHIP SESSION was the first serious test for the number of the companies participating in the program, which had to pass through public analysis of the presentations of their start-up projects prepared for the DemoDay.
The developer's and investor's teamwork within Acceleride is extremely important for a start-up, and when you consider the intensity of the competition, the value of such work is difficult to overestimate. According to Oleg Lozovoy, manager of the «SMPL» syndicated investment platform: «Synergy of work and education, in the partnership-competitive environment at that, is one of the major factors of rapid acceleration of any project."
DemoDay was entirely devoted to the presentations of the accelerator program's participants and became the final point of the program, which was realized on the base of the Tomsk State University. Applicants submitted prepared public presentations of their projects to the Expert jury, consisted of representatives of Russian accelerators and top venture capital funds. The experts and judges of DemoDay faced a very difficult task: they had to choose the top 10 projects from the 40 presented ones.
Experts highly appreciated the presented biomedical track projects. Head of the "medical device" branch of the "Skolkovo" Foundation Cluster of Biomedical Technologies Ruslan Altayev noted that "the level of teams and projects, in general, was higher than at the other similar events", and Oleg Lozovoy, the manager of «SMPL» syndicated investment platform said that "for myself, I focused on about 15 projects, 5 of which I consider to be of 100% priority".
According to the DemoDay results, in the top 10 the following projects were included: "Eye medicinal ion exchange lens for treatment of injuries, burns, eye injuries and infectious" (Kemerovo), «HepyScreen - Screener of Helicobacteriosis" (St. Petersburg), «Quantum Cure» (Moscow), "Biodegradable polymers and copolymers of glycolic acid" (Tomsk),"Trachea-bronchial nebulizer with snorkeling tube and child mask" (Moscow), «Gene toolbox - new generation genetic tools for biotech and medical applications» (Moscow), "The technology of producing high-protein feed additives from the poultry industry wastes" (Moscow), «Tectum - styptic matter" (Nizhny Novgorod), "Express-prosthetics" (Moscow), "Development of software and hardware system to facilitate the evaluation of the results of neurosurgical treatment" (Novosibirsk).
In his address to the accelerator participants, the Head of the regional department for science and innovation policy Andrei Makaseev said: "We have accumulated in our region a tremendous experience of working with start-ups; I think that interregional contacts will just strengthen the vector of biomedical areas development in Russia. I hope to see the products and technologies of your companies that enter in the market due to investment and knowledge gained on this ground".
These projects will continue to participate in the GenerationS competition, and having passed prelaunch training through a coaching session, will present their start-ups to Russian and foreign investors in the final of GenerationS (http://www.forinnovations.ru/forum/program/154/) at the "Open Innovation" forum in Moscow.