Nominees of GoTech contest will receive grants from Skolkovo Foundation

Skolkovo Foundation announced the nomination for the best innovative IT project, the winners in which will be determined by experts of the Foundation from among the participants of GoTech contest. Three nominees will receive monetary grants from 3 to 5 million rubes, access to the Skolkovo mentoring program and expert support from managers of the IT cluster.

The nomination is designated for IT companies that have a product or a service possessing a significant technological advantage against the analogues and a commercialization n potential. Furthermore, the project team and company’s prospects at the international market will be also evaluated.

Igor Bogachev, Vice President, Executive President, Skolkovo IT cluster, who joined the supervisory board of GoTech contest since this year, tells about the purpose of the nomination: “Skolkovo Foundation is aimed at supporting the best Russian teams that create new information technologies. More than 300 residents of the IT cluster that came to us 3–4 years ago have already entered the market and successfully promote their products, and 90 of them also succeed at the international market. We believe that at GoTech we will manage to find new national champions that will further develop into global champions”.

Skolkovo has been a GoTech (before 2016 – Web Ready) partner for several years already and awards monetary grants to winning projects after they obtain the resident status at Skolkovo Foundation.

Vasiliy Ryzhonkov, Director, Skolkovo Mobile Technology Center, tells about the outcome of cooperation: “We are happy that, throughout 5 years, we have been contributing to the development of one of the best contest for startups, which has transformed this year from Web Ready into GoTech.  Within the period of our cooperation, 15 nominee companies became residents of Skolkovo Foundations, and 8 companies received monetary grants. This year, we establish the nomination for the Best Innovation IT Project and will be happy to help all nominees receive the prize and the resident status. We look for prospective technological projects, while developing more new support tools, such as entry to the international market and acceleration programs”.

Applications for participation in the contest will be accepted until 11 September at website gotech.vc. Winners will be determined and awarded according to the results of the pitch session at GoToMarket Forum on 6 October.

Skolkovo Foundation nomination became the 10^th one in the contest this year. Besides the general nomination of GoTech, the prizes and selection programs were also established by Intel, Google, ЕМС, Kaspersky Laboratory, MORTON Group, the Untitled retail lab, IIDF and iDealMachine funds. Contest partners also include ITMO University, Russian Technical Society, and Moscow Exchange.

Contact information:

• Pavel Belov, GoTech team, +79213344510 | belov@gotech.vc | www.gotech.vc
• Vasiliy Ryzhonkov, Director, Skolkovo Mobile Technology Center, +79160040315 | vryzhonkov@sk.ru