Entrepreneurship in Siberia: bridging the gap between ideas and projects
Lyudmila Pavlova, deputy director, HSE Business Incubator (www.hse-inc.ru)
As part of the ATR youth business forum in the Altay region (http://www.atrsib.ru/) an Entrepreneurial Expert Panel had its session on June 24-25. Participants represented a dozen regions of Siberia and beyond.
A pretty ambitious goal had been set: to work out a strategy to develop youth entrepreneurship in Siberia.
On the opening day, the participants shared their regional experiences and best practices in entrepreneurial support.
Lyudmila Pavlova of the Higher School of Economics’ Business Incubator talked about Moscow-based programs and operating principles. Vitaly Anikeyev from Novosibirsk presented the SIFE international program (http://sife.org/) he had initiated in his city. Svetlana Lokteva of the Omsk business incubator (http://rbi-omsk.ru/) shared her coaching experience and spoke at length about the incubator’s services.
Session organizers from Novosibirsk presented numerous programs and initiatives of their own. In that city, entrepreneurs are as active as those in Moscow or St. Pete; Novosibirsk welcomes national programs and eagerly launches its own ones. The two most interesting are the School of Social Entrepreneurship and the Interra international forum.
The School of Social Entrepreneurship (http://edu.novoterra.ru/) is a local entrepreneurship coaching and project support program.
It begins with a field session that selects ideas, builds teams and provides basic training. Then several months of routine work follow, during which the tutor-led teams develop their projects. At a close, participants are offered an opportunity to make a final presentation in front of sector experts and solicit their comments and support.
According to program hosts, this is a quarterly process, each bringing together about 150 people. As much as 50% survive through two or even three such cycles. Each new cycle reportedly generates a dozen doable projects.
The Interra international innovative youth forum (http://interra-forum.ru/) brings together in Novosibirsk several thousand participants from diverse walks of life. What drives them is willingness to fulfill their potential and create something new.
Interra provides a sizable platform across the Urals for young innovators to interact with government decision-makers, business leaders, and scientific/expert society. This year’s second forum is scheduled for September 22-25; this time the focus is the prerequisites for regions’ innovation breakthrough.
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