Contents
Technological innovations are constantly being developed, but do not always make it to the market. In the new episode of the podcast “What has changed?” we discuss how things are with innovations in our country and what is needed for their development
The guest is Yulia Zarayskaya, co-leader of the GEBCO Nippon Foundation Alumni team, winner of the Shell Ocean Discovery competition of the XPRIZE Foundation. Julia spoke about innovations in ocean research.
Mikhail Antonov, Deputy General Director of the Russian Venture Company, explained what NTI Up Great technology competitions are and why innovations are not always implemented.
The host of the podcast is Max Efimtsev, an adept of modern technologies, an influencer, and an SMM specialist.
Conversation timeline:
01:18 — Who is innovating in our country
03:51 — What difficulties stand in the way of companies creating innovations?
10:00 – developments to be proud of
14:23 — What are NTI Up Great technology competitions and what do they consist of?
20:02 — Can drones violate traffic rules
22:47 — History of technology competitions
25:40 — What developments win competitions?
27:26 — Why do tech contests take so long?
30:06 — Fairy tales and Star Trek: what are the most promising areas in the field of innovation development?
Who is engaged in innovations in our country and what prevents them from developing
Any innovation grows from a combination of scientific and engineering ideas. The largest players in this area are universities and research organizations. As a rule, teams are formed within them that implement the technological idea, Mikhail Antonov explains.
Innovations are financed by the Skolkovo Foundation, RVC venture funds, and the Bortnik Foundation. Some innovations are sponsored by crowdfunding – in this case, it is necessary to declare a prototype of the product so that people can become interested in it, says Yulia Zarayskaya.
There are many challenges in the way of innovation. Specific difficulties are associated with the system of regulation, taxation, certification. But the main problem is to find contact with the target audience. It is not always possible to reach real consumers: for example, large companies tend to have their own departments for the production of innovations, and it is difficult for developers from outside to sell their idea to them.
In our country there is also a psychological nuance – we are all used to being excellent students, says Mikhail. For young people, there is no room for error, although this is essential for development.
However, there are developments by Russian scientists who have managed to enter the international market. Graphene is the thinnest carbon material used in electronics and even clothing.
Antonov also noted that developers are leaders in many areas of IT. They excel at additive manufacturing (3D printing), digital twins, and even hacking.
Technology contests: what is this format and how effective is it?
A technology competition is a competition between teams of engineers and developers that takes place over the course of a year or several years. The goal of the competition is to overcome the technological barrier. The technology competitions themselves are also an innovation, Antonov says.
There is a theory of innovation archetypes, says Mikhail. If you look at the fairy tales that we grew up with, you can understand that they already tell about all the innovations that humanity needs: this is a flying carpet, a magic wand, a self-assembled tablecloth and a time machine. Technological innovation competitions are a time machine. They help today to set the bar, which will definitely be overcome in the next 10-15 years. Competitions allow you to step one foot into the future and imagine what will happen in it. True, experience shows that in reality everything will happen in a completely different way, Yulia added.
Popular among students Hackathons are the prototype of a technological competition. So, now, the technology competition NTI Up Great PRO / / READING is being held, during which participants must create artificial intelligence, a teacher assistant that can recognize errors in texts. Not only large companies came there, but also small startup teams assembled specifically to solve this problem.
Most competitions are held in partnership with large companies. For them, it is often not the results that are important, but the people themselves. Corporations are primarily interested in approaches and technologies – not what is done, but how it is done.
The largest competitions are the international XPRIZE and DARPA Challenge, held in the USA. NTI Up Great technology competitions are already in third place, despite the fact that this industry is only gaining momentum.
Two or three years for a technological competition is a very short time, experts say. Thus, the XPRIZE space competition lasted ten years. It was the first competition for them, then the system was being developed, but now the time frame is getting tougher.
The most promising areas for innovation are the ones we don’t know about yetsum up the guests. If we know something, it means that someone has already thought about such projects.
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