“Zero” day of the Russian Venture Forum held in Innopolis

On 24 April Tatarstan Deputy Prime Minister Roman Shaykhutdinov together with speakers and experts, investors, representatives of start-ups and venture funds, large corporations and development institutes took part in events of the “zero” day of the Russian Venture Forum dedicated to the topic of “Technological Entrepreneurship: the space of highest skills.

The panel session of the first day discussed trends of the venture market and technological entrepreneurship, and the Director of the Association of Innovative Regions of Russia Aleksandr Smekalin said that active technological development will make it possible for our country to preserve the state identity and move ahead. Tatarstan is one of the leaders in this sphere and that is why its experience is especially interesting, he added.

In his speech Roman Shaykhutdinov stated that the main task the country is facing is first  related to teaching entrepreneurship to schoolchildren and students, second to development of selective and “smart” entrepreneurs administration tools such as the tax cashback and infrastructure for marrying interests of investors and young entrepreneurs with technological ideas, and third to protection of small companies solutions to the Russian market. Instead of merging startups, which first of all develop on the basis of commercial spirit and interest, large companies should start supporting them, he said.

At a panel discussion “Venture Investments Industry-2024: a glance from inside” the venture market experts and representatives of corporations informed about first deals, trends and prospects for the venture industry development in 2024.

On top of that the first day also saw the session of the Innoplis Special Economic Zone Expert Council chaired by Roman Shaykhutdinov, which considered 11 startup projects in such spheres as AI, financial technologies, business-processes digitalization and others. The jury has chosen those teams which will develop their solutions in Innopolis.