The 18th Russian Venture Forum concluded at the Kazan Expo International Exhibition Center. Over two days, startups, investors, students, government officials, and innovation infrastructure representatives discussed the main trends in the venture industry, plans for market development, and key tasks for the development of technological entrepreneurship in Russia.

More than 4 thousand participants took part in the event. Over 200 speakers, about 100 representatives of investment funds, and more than 50 startup projects were involved in the business program. 15 cooperation agreements were signed, including agreements between the Investment and Venture Fund of Tatarstan and the Kazan IT Park.

The main theme of the forum this year was: "Technological Entrepreneurship: A Space of Higher Competencies." For the first time, the forum reached a federal and international level. The organizing committee was chaired by Valery Falkov, Minister of Science and Higher Education of Russia.

A briefing, "Results of the 18th Russian Venture Forum," was held on the second day of the Russian Venture Forum.

Oleg Churilov noted that the federal program "University Technological Entrepreneurship Platform" is designed to make universities a place where startups are born: "The federal project is at the intersection of economics and education, although Valery Nikolayevich Falkov always emphasizes that this is a long-term project aimed at nurturing new tech entrepreneurs who, at an early student age, will try to make all those mistakes that need to be made and become companies that will lead our country to prosperity."

Rifkat Minnikhanov, President of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, noted the active participation of Tatarstan students in federal support programs: 442 startups received a grant of 1 million rubles following three rounds of the "Student Startup" program.

Damir Galiev, Director of IVF RT, shared the results of the Russian Venture Forum 2024 and noted that next year it is planned to increase the number of exhibition participants.

In addition, within the framework of the forum, the project of Innopolis University students, "NeuroArtist," attracted 10 million rubles in investments. Investments for the startup's development were allocated by the Daily Challenge fund. A total of 6 startups from Sechenov University, Innopolis University, MGIMO, HSE, Moscow State University, and ITMO competed in the games. They were evaluated by 6 jury members from the Skolkovo Foundation, RusKhimBio, Daily Challenge, Sechenov University, and IZBA.

Alexey Pesoshin, Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan, took part in the closing ceremony of the Russian Venture Forum. "In recent years, Tatarstan has built an extensive infrastructure to support technological entrepreneurship. The potential and achievements of the republic and its leading positions in the Scientific and Technological Development Ranking are well known. Our common goal is to create an innovative economy based on the concentration of all available resources, the commercialization of scientific developments, technology transfer, and attracting investments. The Russian Venture Forum is one of the channels for building communications between representatives of the venture industry and technology companies, including foreign partners," Pesoshin noted.