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The regional Demo Day of Sber Youth Accelerators was held in Samara. Six teams presented their projects to investors in the Volga Region, with three of which to become prize-winners.
Samara is a centre for the development of rocket science and cosmonautics, so the entry into the top 3 of Vadim Ignatiev’s project “Phaeton” has become symbolic. His team develops “platforms for the rapid creation of satellites with the desired configuration”.
The company’s final product is a CubeSat format platform to be customized to the desired configuration by the customer user. The person independently decides what is desirable: a camera for photographing the Earth, an antenna for communication or a hyperspectrometer. It is enough to load the payload, and the satellite is ready to be sent into orbit. This is the main difference between “Phaeton” and standard spacecrafts: its platform can have many payloads. Its technical specifications are also new. The devices can use AI and its algorithms to compress data, which is 40–60%, and without losses.
From school to space orbits
Vadim was born and grew in the provincial town of Belebey and always dreamed of stars. After graduating from Grades 9, he moved to Samara, where he studied at Grades 10–11 of Samara National Research University’s International Aerospace Lyceum, and continued his studies there. At present, he is going to enter a postgraduate school. The young entrepreneur does not hide the fact that he has been interested in cosmonautics during all his conscious life, which has motivated him for developing his own project: “At the age of 18, I realized for myself that I have an entrepreneurial streak, and I would like to develop my own business, for learning from my own mistakes and successes”.
Who needs a “pocket” satellite
Vadim’s potential customers are primarily schools, universities, and research centres that can integrate the spacecraft into their research projects. In future, he is also going to work with private companies, including foreign ones, for using satellites for commercial purposes and expanding their usefulness.
But what about space debris?
The student is also aware of the project risks, particularly those related to the environment. To the question of whether “Phaeton” will become future space debris, the entrepreneur answers, “We have observed environmental regulations: satellites will be located at a great distance from each other to avoid collisions, but if the device fails, it will fly to the Earth and burn up in its atmosphere. We will coordinate all the details with the relevant agencies”.
Accelerator: more than a competition
For bringing his ambitious ideas to life and learning entrepreneurial skills, Vadim completed the accelerator program of Sber. Over a number of months, he underwent a heavy program: he upgraded his “soft” skills, studied technology, business development, marketing, team building, worked on creating an MVP (minimally viable product) and tested hypotheses, being supported by mentors from among experienced entrepreneurs. During his training, he and other teams went from an idea to a finished product, and some of them reached the stage of their first customers and sales.
At the regional Demo Day, the participants defended their projects in front of experts from business and universities, as well as investors. Following the meeting, the contestants received special conditions for services from Cloud.ru, a cloud and AI technology provider, as well as certificates from the All-Russian Charity Project “Pokolenie” (“Generation”), which provide students with a fast track to the second stage, for qualifying for free 10-year mentoring from existing entrepreneurs.
“This year, more than 64,000 projects have been submitted to the program! And we all sincerely admire each participant, and the finalists are our special pride. Finding an idea, uniting a supportive team, thinking through the stages of implementation, starting certain research and practical activities, and also presenting all this to the jury so that people want to invest in the project is an example of purposefulness! Even today, the participants implement those developments that shape their future, and our country’s future, as well. To my mind, the ideas and creativity has definitely been celebrated”, said Yulia Buntova, Deputy Chairperson of the Volga Region Bank of Sberbank.
Source: volga.news
