How can you help them?

—We provide all the necessary information and give a detailed explanation as to why innovations should be implemented. We have a range of educational programs for company employees, both in Russia and abroad. For GenerationS, building a trusting relationship with partners is extremely important, even when the accelerator is completed. Oftentimes, interaction can continue on other issues.

By partners, are you referring to startups?

—GenerationS has two key clients. The first client would be corporations and venture funds. The second clients are startups. One without the other simply cannot exist. It is important for us to clearly understand the needs of corporations and the possibilities of startups to make a perfect match. When a startup is promising, but still quite early-stage, the accelerator helps it grow and gain necessary skills and expertise. This, in turn, helps the startup to develop and become more appealing to corporate partners.

Each accelerator is an individually developed and comprehensive program that works with innovation, which usually goes beyond just scouting projects. Having a portfolio of companies from various industries helps GenerationS become a universal accelerator with high expertise and knowledge in various fields, which plays a very important role in the market.

Which industries did you get to know better this year?

—In the summer of 2019 we launched a joint accelerator with the Enel international energy company, which searched for innovative technologies for both traditional energy generation and renewable energy sources. It helped us to expand our expertise in the energy industry, as well as better understand what kind of technologies are currently in demand in our country.

Could you give an example?

—Currently, there is a global trend towards decarbonization, which means that there’s an increase in the capacities of renewable energy sources and the search for breakthrough solutions in this area. Russia is also not an exception in this regard. The government has set targets for «new renewable energy sources» until 2024.

Digitization is also in focus, and Russia has embarked on a digital transformation of priority sectors of the economy. Last year, as part of our joint accelerators, we searched for solutions for our partners in this area.

What other customers from 2019 would you like to mention?

—In 2019, we launched a joint accelerator with the State Transport Leasing Company (STLC). This has become one of our largest and most comprehensive projects. It includes several elements, the first being working with partner’s employees. In order to launch pilot projects successfully they must have a precise set of tools. By means of an educational program, we developed this toolkit at the very beginning of the project. More than 20 employees became ambassadors for innovation in the company. Secondly, the essence of the accelerator for the company differs from the usual work on the market. Since STLC aims for the transport industry development, the task of the accelerator was to create a comprehensive platform for the transport industry to work with startups and technology commercialization. This would not only occur through a standard contract, but also through investment and joint ventures. Moreover, it became possible to form an ecosystem of industrial partners around the accelerator who carry out technical expertise and show interest in piloting projects. As a result, the accelerator evolved into a platform for the development of the transport industry. We are at the very beginning of its formation, but we are proud that this project is already attracting the interest of large companies around the world.

Do you think corporate accelerators are necessary for business?

—Absolutely. There are corporations that spent several years forming an innovative agenda. There are distinct KPIs and an understanding of what results should be achieved. Our work with such corporations is particularly well-coordinated, because there is a function that helps build the entire process of interaction within the accelerator. The demand for innovation is gradually changing, companies put greater focus on the result the company will get in the end. Today, corporations (especially private ones) define key performance indicators before launching their programs.

Requirements for startups are also becoming more demanding. Now, it is necessary to prove the viability of the product, run a number of successful pilots, and have the ability to quickly scale-up.

But not everyone is like that...

—Yes. There is another category of corporations, which have an understanding of what startups are, but the process of interaction with them has not yet been defined. Such companies require a truly individual approach. But at the same time, they don’t regard the accelerator as a PR tool. On the contrary, more and more companies are becoming aware that this is a significant and necessary element in the world of innovation. We see how many companies allocate separate budgets for working with innovations and form a special team for interacting with startups.

What are the requirements for such a team?

—The team must have extremely in-depth knowledge of the innovation ecosystem and be able to competently build various processes and be focused on the result. Such a request from the market prompted GenerationS to develop a separate HR product for finding employees for corporations that will help shape an innovative vision and various processes within the company. In addition to a good team, you need a leader who will embody the idea and have a clear picture of ​​how it can be implemented. A right leader is half of the journey to success.

What difficulties do you encounter as an accelerator?

—Many corporations, knowledgeable of Russian technologies, turn to us mostly looking for foreign projects. However, it’s not enough just to find international startups— they must be convinced to become a part of the accelerator. Given the fact that some foreign countries are still skeptical of Russia, it is necessary to work out an application with each international startup, highlight all the advantages of participating in the accelerator, give a detailed description of the opportunities available, and frankly talk about the bureaucracy in Russia that is yet to operate on a «comfortable» level. Our task as an accelerator is to change this perception of Russia. We strive to show the potential of the Russian innovation ecosystem as a whole and break down barriers. So, one of the excellent examples of concise and competent interaction with international projects was our joint accelerator with the Ilim Group launched in 2018. The company’s focus was actually on foreign solutions, which prompted the company to select two international projects which are now being prepared for implementation. This positive example shows how to break down barriers of distrust.

Today, GenerationS has over 350 international partners from 60 countries.

How do you scout for international startups?

—Any work with preliminary analysis at the request of a corporate partner to identify the priority geography for technological projects and specialized international partners.

Scouting itself consists of two blocks: increasing the overall outreach and targeted projects.

The overall coverage is increased by newsletters sent out to partners’ startups, posting information on social networks, and informing relevant institutes and research centers. The purpose is to inform as many partners as possible and attract startups that are interested in the program and in the Russian market. One of the GenerationS partners is the F6S platform, which has over 3.5 million startups. However, an increase in overall coverage does not always render good results. Many GenerationS acceleration programs involve working with science-based technologies; for example, in pharmaceuticals and BioTech, non-digital startups, and targeted technological projects for solving specific tasks.

The purpose of the quantitative search is clear. What do you do to improve its quality?

—To improve the quality indicator at the scouting stage, we have developed our own special event called GENSTalks. We carry them out within the framework of each accelerator in Russia and abroad. These are pitch sessions conducted by a group of pre-selected startups that were picked during the scouting process, where experts (company representatives) have the opportunity to listen to the most interesting startup solutions, and foreign startups have a chance to get to know the company and ask questions about the program and the Russian market in general. We see an influx of high-quality foreign startups from those countries where such events were held. 20-30% of the total number of projects come from abroad. Sometimes, the number of foreign projects can reach up to 50-70%— it all depends on the needs of our corporate partners.

In 2019, the number of foreign applications that were selected exceeded 20% of the total. Leading countries include Kazakhstan, Germany, Finland, Israel, Singapore, Armenia, Belarus, as well as Baltic countries.
GenerationS international network of partners covers 60 countries.

—Of course. Finding new customers is quite difficult, because many corporations are more focused on getting into various government programs and looking to land on a list of priority businesses that can solve post-crisis problems. Some are also busy optimizing internal business processes. That is why the main thing that we’re doing right now is drawing up a list of state programs where our startups could receive funding to support and further develop their business.

Which industries feel most confident and secure in current conditions?

—Medicine and pharmaceuticals. Also, quite a lot of requests come from companies in the energy sector. And of course, FinTech is now one of the most popular technologies, which is understandable because the format of working with clients has undergone changes given the current global situation. The chemical industry is trying to remain active in terms of technology search.ying to remain active in terms of technology search.

The situation is more complicated with industrial companies that need to be physically present at production sites. Due to the crisis, large industrial players are forced to cut their expenses and focus on the primary tasks associated with business. Unfortunately, the search for new technologies has faded into the background, and we are seeing a slight decline in activity.

Today there are a lot of accelerators on the Russian and international markets. Back in 2016 the GUST platform said that there were 10,000 of them. How do you compete with them?

—By having a differentiated product portfolio and an individual approach. Currently, we are striving to become a platform that will allow corporations and startups to interact as efficiently as possible and achieve high results in terms of joint projects, financial revenue, etc. We have already created a «quality standard» for acceleration programs that was approved by leading European and American associations. This standard was confirmed by the results of our partners over the past year in various fields, and we plan to further improve it. Now we are placing a large bet on the industry, we are working with innovative development programs of corporations and those that are developing on the basis of industry decrees of the president.

The experience accumulated over the past seven years is certainly useful and valuable in terms of contribution to the development of an innovative ecosystem in our country. We managed to create a commercial product within a public company, which contributes, among other things, to the financial indicators of RVC.