Scientists and entrepreneurship: science as the engine of the future economy

On November 28, within the framework of the IV Congress of Young Scientists, the discussion ‘Smart Capital: Scientists Who Turned Ideas into Business’, organized with the support of the Moscow Innovation Cluster Foundation, was held at the Sirius University of Science and Technology. The participants discussed the mechanisms of turning scientific developments into successful startups, ways to overcome barriers on this path, as well as the role of government, science and business in the development of knowledge-based economy.

The session was moderated by Kristina Kostroma, Head of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development of Moscow.

The discussion was attended by Associate Researcher of the L.L. Kuznetsov Institute of Cluster Oncology. L.L. Levshin Institute of Cluster Oncology (Sechenov University) and founder of the Neurograph project Mark Gabrianchik, co-founder and general designer of Karfidov Lab Alexei Karfidov, CEO and scientific director of MFA Tech LLC Alexandra Sertsova, Oleg Zhuravlevlev, CEO of Vormhols Implementation LLC, Yusef Hesuani, co-founder and managing partner of 3D Bioprinting Solutions, Sergey Nikolaev, CEO of CyberPhysics, Sergey Dolgushin, director of Aivok, and Artyom Sedov, CEO of Big Three LLC.

Among the key issues discussed were the willingness of scientists to engage in entrepreneurship, mechanisms to support knowledge-intensive startups and ways to overcome internal and external barriers to their creation.

Artyom Sedov, CEO of Big Three LLC, emphasized the importance of courage and ambition for scientist-entrepreneurs:

‘A business that has no added value has no future. Nowadays, light business is disappearing altogether. We need to create something that will be difficult to replicate - either it has to be costly or time-consuming.’

The discussion resulted in proposals to create educational programs for scientists in the field of entrepreneurship, expand government support measures and develop infrastructure for startups based on scientific developments.

The IV Congress of Young Scientists, organized with the support of leading innovation and scientific foundations, remains a key platform for exchanging ideas and building a dialogue between representatives of science, business and government.