Washington, D.C. October 08, 2013
A total of 87 applicants from more than 30 cities across Russia sought to land one of just three residency openings in the U.S.-Russia Innovation Corridor (USRIC), a collaborative innovation initiative led by American Councils for International Education. Of the 12 finalists selected for interviews, two startups and one university technology transfer office will take on a renewable three-month residency in USRIC. Through USRIC, the residents will collaborate with U.S. partners and develop new markets, using the resources of the Maryland International Incubator (MI2) housed at the University of Maryland at College Park (UMD).
The three residents were selected based on their innovative footprints in their respective industries and university entrepreneurial ecosystems:
- Enzymer is a hardware and software system that monitors the enzymatic activity of microorganisms; a project born at the Northern Arctic Federal University in Arkhangelsk. Led by graduate student Elena Khalina, the project aims to increase the cleansing and processing efficiency of wastewater treatment.
- National Mineral Resources University in St. Petersburg will deepen U.S. contacts and cooperate with partners in the mining and energy sectors. To date, the university has established several startups in Russia in the area of mining technology.
- Magru is a Moscow-based e-publishing service that puts authors in control of copyright with direct sales to readers. Founded by entrepreneurs Stanislav Lagun and Dmitry Rudchenko, the startup was a 2012 finalist at MassChallenge—the world’s largest accelerator program and startup competition.