St. Petersburg International Innovation Forum traditionally presents curring-edge products and prototypes at stands of city business incubators, including Ingria, Technopark of St. Petersburg, First Business Incubator, and St. Petersburg Polytechnic University.

The innovations were presented and demonstrated in operation at the joint stand of St. Petersburg City Committee for Science and Higher Education by leading universities and research centers, including St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical Institute, Bonch-Bruevich St. Petersburg State University of Telecommunications, St. Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation, St. Petersburg State Chemistry and Pharmacy Academy, St. Petersburg State Transport University and others.

The centerpiece of the exhibition was a joint stand of Ingria, the largest business incubator of St. Petersburg, which currently has 83 residents. 15 of them presented their projects at the Saint Petersburg International Innovation Forum 2016, including Kiki, a full-height robot, industrial drones, several virtual reality projects, etc. Separate stands are allocated for the model of GyroLidar, the giroplane of Auto G with a solution of the ground remote sensing using an infrared camera, a multi-camera and other devices and for portable battery chargers for electric vehicles which, according to developers, have already become an object of interest in a few large manufacturing companies.

The second largest participant of PIIF — Polytech — has brought an extended exposure.
“Our high school is participating in the national technological initiative. The Polytech has many solutions for different areas of the economy: for example, there are prototypes of an energy absorbing container for transportation of valuable goods, an auto mirror prototype which is made in the reverse engineering centre of the Institute of advanced production technologies of Polytech, and many more.

The Fablab stand showed the most interesting students’ works”, says Dmitry Karpov, the Head of the Directorate of congress exhibitions. Another long-time member of the Forum, REO Service (“The First City Business Incubator”) having obtained 36 new residents over the past year, provided a platform for the presentation of projects to 26 small business enterprises: from teas and superfoods (“Starorussky Tea”, New Nutrion) to complex developments in the field of mechanical engineering (“Meteospetspribor”).

A distinctive feature of the stand was the own extensive business program that included performances and workshops on marketing, promotion, business audit, a mini-conference by the community of experts of “Delovaya Afisha”, the final of the Business Case Competition for students, as well as the expert investment session which will bring together developers and owners of small business projects.

Anyone could get advice on the development of own business and learn about the possibilities of financial support both at stands of incubators (such as the Development Fund of Small Enterprises in Science and Technology) and at the ones of non-commercial organisations: the Industrial Development Fund showed its own stand with the presentation of opportunities and advice of experts too. Also, PIIF had several areas for business communication and a subcontracting area, where small and medium business enterprises can dialogue with major industrial enterprises. And for the development of the international and foreign economic cooperation with partner cities and regions of St. Petersburg, there was a joint stand of “Global Partners of St. Petersburg”, which housed 20 exhibitors: various infrastructures for supporting the international business, chambers of commerce, representatives of CBC programs, representatives of partner regions implementing projects together with our city.
This year, the Innovation Forum brought its program together with the one of the “Russian Industrialist”, which expanded the theme of discussions allowed a discussion of the practical application of all developments at real-life examples, that will lead to work contracts in the future.
The business program includes round tables and workshops for six thematic areas: growth technology, industry solutions for different clusters, solutions to increase the competitiveness of Russian products and developments, solutions for the implementation of ideas and improving the society life level.

PIIF also hosted the final of the business ideas, scientific and technical developments and research projects  competition under the motto “Young, impudent, perspective”, the semi-final of the 5th All-Russian Cup of “Best Innovative Region of Russia 2016” and the semi-final selection of the program “Know-it-all” of the Innovation Assistance Fund.