Smartphone quest platform Questli wins Suvorov Prize
Danil Kozyatnikov gets Swiss-Russian Award for Innovation to Market
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Ramil Kashapov gets cash prize from Danil Kozyatnikov (free to use) |
Zurich/Moscow (pts001/07.12.2011/03:45) Questli, a smartphone quest platform based in Novosibirsk and Zurich, has won the "Swiss-Russian Suvorov Prize for Innovation to Market" in Moscow. Swiss Ambassador Pierre Helg and Yury S. Pilipenko, President Swiss Russian Forum, were opening the Innovation Night.
Danil Kozyatnikov (24), founder and CEO of Questli http://quest.li - a platform for crowd-sourced smartphone quests - has won the Suvorov Prize, a new award for Innovation to Market organized by the Swiss Russian Forum (SRF) http://swissrussianforum.org/ . The award was created for outstandingly innovative projects from the sectors of science & technology, jurisprudence & finance and health. Entrepreneurship plays a decisive role in the selection of the prize winners since the marketability of the innovative projects is essential.
Questli was selected as winner of the Suvorov Prize fort showing the rare combination of the following three attributes:
1. Outstanding innovation that is relevant for society
2. An innovation that addresses an attractive market
3. An entrepreneur that shows the potential to think bigger than within the borders of Russia and aim for the international markets
The second finalist of Swiss Russian Innovation Night on stage of the Hyatt hotel in Moscow was Ramil Kashapov (23) from the institute of physics of the University of Kazan with the project Microplasma treated medical needles to reduce risk for patients. On stage Suvorov Prize winner Danil Kozyatnikov spontaneously handed over his USD 10,000 cash prize to the second winner from Kazan because Questli recently was funded by a Swiss venture capital fund Redalpine.
The investor detected Danil Kozyatnikov and his team at the LeWeb conference in Paris a year ago. In April Redalpine co-founded Questli as a company that combines the advantages of three counries. The smartphone quest platform is being developed in Novosibirsk, headquartered in Zurich and brought to market by a team in San Francisco. In September Questli won TechCrunch Audience Choice 2011 in San Francisco, today the Suvorov Prize in Moscow. Tomorrow the circle closes: Questli will launch its App on three platforms at LeWeb in Paris.
The Suvorov Prize is bestowed upon Swiss and Russian citizens whose projects have a cross-national or an international impact or aspect according to the statutory aims of the Swiss Russian Forum (SRF).
The award's name honors the Russian General Alexander V. Suvorov who in 1799 fought against Napoleon's army in the Gotthard area of central Switzerland where a Suvorov monument was erected in memory of the General's and his Russian soldiers' brave campaign. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Suvorov
Organization by Swiss Russian Forum (SRF)
The SRF takes on the organization of the Suvorov Award on an annual basis. The prize-winning ceremony alternates between the Russian Federation and Switzerland.
The criteria for the selection of prize-winning projects are: high degree of innovation value, creativity, social relevance and marketability.
Eligible for the SRF Suvorov Award are students, graduates, post-graduates, scientific staff and doctoral candidates at all universities as well as entrepreneurs.
Nominated entrepreneurs
Winner:
Danil Kozytnikov (24), engineer, founder Questli AG, Zurich & Novosibirsk
Project: Crowd-sourced smartphone quests - life is your playground
Second finalist:
Ramil Kashapov (23), engineer, institute of physics, University of Kazan
Project: Microplasma treated medical needles - reduces risk for patients
Vladimir Chekalov, candidate of science, CEO, Desa Ltd, Pereslavl-Zalessky
Project: 3-dimension textiles - dust filtration, geo-textiles & special clothes
Artem Ryzhenkov, head of research, Moscow Power Engineering Institute
Project: Decreasing pipeline hydraulic resistance for fluid transportation
Maxim Sheptunov, PhD, All-Russian State tax academy, Ministry of finance, Moscow
Project: Evolutionary algorithms for rational reinsurance of serious risk
Maxim Triumphgorodskih, project leader, Russian Scientific Society of Risk Analysis
Project: Optimization of routes of collection and cargoes by risk estimation
Sergej Smirnov, project leader, PhD, Moscow Power Engineering Institute
Project: The new generation of lithium electric current sources
Oleg Lopatin, professor, department of mineralogy, University of Kazan
Project: Ion implantation in change of colorimetric properties of diamonds
Conditions for Participating Companies
The company has not been working on the project for more than two years prior to submitting the project to the Jury. The same time frame applies for projects evolved within a company having filed a patent application. Exceptions are possible in specific sectors, such as Medical Technology, Bio Technology, Information and Communication Technology and Clean Technology Projects: here the time limit is 5 years.
Jury
* Dr. iur. Thomas Frick, Partner Niederer, Kraft & Frey, Zurich
* Henning Grossmann, CEO Technopark Zurich
* Michail Lifshitz, Renova Group, Moscow
* Béatrice G. Lombard-Martin, Executive President SRF, Zurich/Moscow
* Andri Manatschal, Partner pwc PricewaterhouseCoopers, Zurich
* Nicolas Berg, Partner Redalpine Venture Partners AG, Zurich (non voting)
* Galina Sato, President, granite group, Zurich
Program: Swiss Russian Innovation Night
Hotel Hyatt, Moscow
December 6th, 2011
19.00 Apéro
19.30 Welcome by Yury S. Pilipenko, President Swiss Russian Forum
19.45 Keynote by Pierre Helg, Swiss Ambassador to the Russian Federation
20.00 The Swiss Russian Innovation Award, Béatrice G. Lombard-Martin,
Executive President Swiss Russian Forum
20.10 Presentation of the nominees by jury-member Henning Grossmann, CEO Technopark Zurich
20.20 Laudatio to the winner by Nicolas Berg
20.30 Musical Intermezzo
Program followed by audience based improvisations by concert pianist Galina Vracheva and Dinner buffet
(end)| Aussender: | Swiss Russian Forum Foundation |
| Ansprechpartner: | Béatrice G. Lombard-Martin |
| Tel.: | +41 44 261 19 71 |
| E-Mail: | info@swissrussianforum.org |
| Website: | swissrussianforum.org |
