Three CASE-IN participants won million-dollar grants for the development of startup projects

Three participants of the International Engineering Championship "CASE-IN", which is part of the presidential platform "Russia – the land of opportunities", won 1 million rubles each in the grant competition of the Foundation for the Promotion of Innovation for the development of startup projects.

Applications for the third stage of the Student Startup competition of the federal University Technology Entrepreneurship Platform project of the Innovation Promotion Foundation were accepted in seven thematic areas: digital technologies, medicine and health-saving technologies, chemical technologies and new materials, new devices and intelligent manufacturing technologies, biotechnologies, resource-saving energy and creative industries.

1.2 thousand students will receive a grant of 1 million rubles for the development of their business ideas. The winners represent 68 regions and 236 universities. Moscow, the Republic of Tatarstan, and St. Petersburg are the leaders in terms of the number of best projects. The top ten regions also included the Republic of Bashkortostan, Rostov, Tomsk, Novosibirsk and Penza regions, Stavropol and Krasnodar Territories.

Mikhail Lobanov, Alexander Ovcharenko, Dmitry Turchenko and Beslan Shidov, students of the North Caucasus Federal University, represent the System Emperor team, which has already become a recognizable brand at the CASE-IN championship. Young people in this group have been participating in the engineering competition for 2 years, developing interesting solutions and demonstrating them to the industry community. In the XI season of the championship, representatives of the Stavropol Territory mastered valuable professional competencies, which then allowed them to succeed in the competition of the Innovation Promotion Foundation.

Team Captain Mikhail Lobanov He has been participating in the championship for 4 years. Mikhail is sure that it was the experience gained at the "CASE-IN" that helped him to substantiate the problems of his decision and successfully defend it in the final of the competition.

"CASE-IN" helps to develop a variety of skills: teamwork, leadership, public speaking, creating presentations, etc. Here I learned how to analyze industry problems, propose solutions, and present my project. I am sincerely convinced that this victory came to me thanks to the challenges that I was able to overcome with my team at the championship.", - admits Mikhail Lobanov.

For the Student Startup competition, a young man has developed an online graphic design service Rungo, which will help users create presentations, flashcards for marketplaces, advertising banners, and covers for social networks without making much effort.

"This web application's own database of unique templates will enable everyone to create a personal design that stands out from the rest., - Mikhail told me. – I I understand that this is a time-consuming task, which will require the coordinated work of developers, designers and SMM specialists. It is for the creation and functioning of the team that I plan to spend the grant I have won."

Participant of the "CASE-IN" Dmitry Turchenko distinguished himself by the development of electro-optical voltage measuring transformers for digital substations

"The introduction of digital technologies into the electric power industry has become one of the global trends. The application of innovative solutions in the electric grid complex requires the use of modern equipment at substations. That is why the essence of my startup is to develop measuring electro-optical voltage transformers for digital substations.", " He told me Dmitry Turchenko.

In his opinion, the use of electro-optical voltage transformers will solve a number of problems related to improving the quality of electricity transmission and the observability of the electrical network.

"The number of voltage transformers in the 6-35 kV substation is estimated at 3 million units. Due to the high degree of equipment wear, more than half of them will need to be replaced in the next 10-15 years. It would be more appropriate to install electro-optical voltage transformers, which have a number of advantages, namely: high accuracy, extended bandwidth, digital signal processing, ease of installation, high security.", - said a student from Stavropol. 

The young man plans to use the won grant to rent a place in a laboratory at the NCFU, where the installation will be assembled and tested, as well as to purchase fiber-optic cable, Pockels cells with various operating ranges, light sources, analyzers and other components necessary to create a prototype of an electro-optical voltage transformer.

Alexander Ovcharenko submitted to the competition the development of an optoelectronic device for corona discharge registration on elements of power lines and open switchgear.

"The project is aimed at identifying defects in power lines and OPCs related to the destructive effect of corona discharge in the air., - underlined Alexander Ovcharenko. – The product will consist of an optical part with a photoelectron multiplier (PV) and an electronic part. This is an affordable domestic device, which is not inferior in its characteristics to existing foreign analogues. Its main task is to detect localization sites and find ways to eliminate corona discharge at any time of the day."  

The grant of 1 million rubles, among other things, will be spent on conducting a patent search and developing the components of the product, Alexander explained.

The winners of the competition believe that practice has helped them to succeed in a large-scale federal competition: thanks to the cooperation agreement between JSC "System Operator of the Unified Energy System" and NCFU, students have twice completed internships at the Branch of JSC "System Operator of the Unified Energy System" - ODU of the South.

"This year we have been assigned to the services of electrical modes and relay protection. Calculating the maximum and emergency allowable overflows of active power, as well as relay protection installations, is the practical knowledge that we managed to gain during our internship. This is an invaluable experience for future young professionals.", – counts Mikhail Lobanov.

In the future, the grant holders intend to link their careers with JSC System Operator of the Unified Energy System. In their opinion, it is a reliable and promising company with highly qualified staff.  Since the first year, Stavropol students have been familiar with the activities of the System Operator, its goals, as well as the requirements for young professionals, which can be an undeniable advantage in finding employment.

The talented students plan to continue participating in the CASE–IN International Engineering Championship, which has become an integral part of their student life. Today they are actively preparing for the Autumn Cup in order to finally win the coveted championship cup.

"We are well aware that any victory means overcoming ourselves, so now our goal is to improve ourselves and move forward to become the best engineers in our country.", - say the students.