On 12 February, the Acting Governor of the Voronezh Region, Alexander Gusev, handed the prizes to the winners of the annual innovation projects competition Innovation Cup. The award ceremony coincided with the Day of Russian Science. The ceremony was attended by members of the Government of the Voronezh Region, representatives of leading universities, and members of the jury.
VSU’s performance was assessed as being the best, and it was announced to be the leading innovative university of the Voronezh Region in 2017. It is the third time our university has won the award.
There were also personal prizes for VSU’s researchers. Igor Koltakov, Associate professor at the Department of Biophysics and Biotechnology of the the Faculty of Biology and Soil Sciences, took second place and received a 400,000-rouble grant for the MRI contrast agent Lipocsan. German Komarov, master’s degree student of the Department of General Geology and Geodynamics of the Faculty of Geology, took third place for his fuel processing device Knyaz-1. He received a 250,000-rouble grant.
This year the jury had to assess 37 projects submitted by researchers from eight universities. When choosing the best projects, the jury took into account the following parameters: the importance of the project and the demand for the results, its commercialisation, the stage of scientific and technological development, the probability of patent acquisition, and the general significance of the project.
