Special offer
Abroad, people are usually interested in Russian developments that have no analogues on the market.
A market participant "Technet", the company "S-Innovations"was the first in the world to digitize the creation of high-temperature superconductors (HTSC). Thanks to digital solutions, it tripled sales by the end of 2020, including export revenue. HTSC wires are already being supplied to customers from South Korea, India, Japan, New Zealand.
Domestic smart bracelet "Hillby" tracksabout 30 parameters of the body (including automatically calculating calories), it has no foreign analogues. Therefore, in the American market and in Japan, the device is sold even better than in Russia. At the end of 2020, 12.3 thousand devices were sold in our country and abroad for $ 1.5 million, which is twice as much as in 2019. The developers associate the popularity of the product abroad and less interest within the country with the high price.
Newly to the National Technology Initiativeentered the Russian-Singaporean startup Gero, which is creating an AI-based platform to slow down aging. The company is conducting research in collaboration with the European Batten Disease Consortium (BATCure), New York University, the world's largest food companies interested in the development of dietetic food.
“The global goal of the platform is ambitious - to fightwith aging, - explained the founder of Gero Petr Fedichev. “We are working with outstanding researchers in this field and have already achieved results that have appeared in the world's leading scientific journals, including Science and Nature. We are sure that this is only the beginning, and the time is not far away when aging will not only be slowed down, but also completely stopped. "
Chicken or egg
“Creating and selling the future is importantcompetence. Therefore, for example, at the very beginning, super-professionals not only from the scientific, but also from the financial and management spheres worked in the Moderna startup, which is rare in our country, - says Andrey Lomonosov, deputy head of the NTI Helsnet working group on legislation. - Now Moderna is a revolutionary in the field of RNA vaccines for COVID-19. But back in 2017-2019, this company was burning $ 300 million a year. To attract such investments, our startups simply have nowhere to develop competencies. Therefore, an example of other successful projects is indicative - confirmation of the hypothesis and creation of a prototype in Russia, then entering foreign accelerators. And already there - raising money and finalizing the product for the developed markets of the USA and Europe. "
According to Natalia Ismagilova, a representativeInfrastructure Center "Energinet" on issues of international activities, export is hindered by difficulties in finding industrial partners or potential buyers in export markets. Companies face risks due to the lack of consulting support in registration, licensing, tax and other issues, they find it difficult to obtain investment or credit financing abroad.
“For startups to export, you need a reliable andAn industrial partner that has proven itself in the export market, explains Natalia Ismagilova. - These are international accelerators, venture capital funds for pre-seed and seed investments, venture divisions of large international companies. But the percentage of “cold” selection in such institutions is extremely low due to the great competition. The vast majority of international acceleration programs require localization of the project in the export market, which is impossible for some startups. "
Often, our startups are faced with the classicthe problem of "chicken or egg": investors or industrial partners are asked to show confirmed export deliveries, and potential buyers are asked to show local investors, industrial partners who reduce risks.
According to Natalia Ismagilova, technologicalstartups that want to export must move simultaneously in two directions - find industrial partners and local investors in export markets. At the same time, to promote the first export deliveries of products and technologies in order to verify the product market fit hypothesis.
Completed the quest
Despite all this, NTI companies manage to go this way.In August 2021, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a marketing authorization for Russian medical exoskeletons ExoAtlet II in the United States.
This is the development of the Russian project "ExoAtlet" -device for medical and social rehabilitation of patients with the consequences of spinal cord injury, stroke, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and other diseases. The permission was obtained from the American office of the company.
For clinical trials "ExoAtlet"passed an ethics committee for compliance with Good Clinical Practice. Previously, the ExoAtlet II model has passed medical certification in Europe (CE Mark), South Korea (KFDA) and Russia (RU). The company's portfolio includes medical exoskeletons for adults (ExoAtlet I, II) and for children (ExoAtlet Bambini).
“Our dream is to give people all over the world the opportunity torecover. To do this, we create new methods of exo-rehabilitation, new versions of exoskeletons, with which we enter new markets. And every time we have to re-confirm the effectiveness and safety. These are always different quests that require separate resources and not always predicted time in advance. The FDA is our next giant victory, "said Ekaterina Bereziy, co-founder of ExoAtlet.
European quality certificate CE Mark in thisyear received the Russian company "Intellodzhik" (also the market "Helsnet"). Now they can sell the Botkin.AI system abroad, it is designed to analyze and identify pathologies in medical research. The first contracts will be signed this year. Perm-based INSYTE Electronics, which develops a platform solution for smart homes and energy efficiency management, also received a registration certificate in the United States.
Even interested in Russian developmentsUN. At the beginning of 2021, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU - the UN subdivision that coordinates the interaction of participants in the global communications market) announced the purchase of a scanner for detecting solid and liquid explosives from the Russian company STC "Ratek". The device will check correspondence from the Geneva office and personal belongings of visitors. If the implementation is successful, then the developers hope to get contracts from ITU and the UN around the world.
Co-production with Japan this yearis launched by the Argus-Spectr company, which implements wireless fire-fighting technologies all over the world. Together with Japan's Hochiki, in June it announced the launch of the Ekho wireless fire system in Australia. On the Russian market and in the CIS countries, the product is known under the brand name "Strelets-PRO".
Ekho passed certification in 2020radio channel devices for compliance with European EN54 standards in the UK. It is used in 150 thousand objects all over the world, including the Queen's castle in Scotland, the universities of Cambridge and Eton, the State Hermitage Museum, and the Tretyakov Gallery. In 2020, 30 new medical centers were equipped with the Strelets-PRO radio system, which were built specifically to combat COVID-19.
To undervalued markets
“I often hear“ we want to go to Europe, the USA ”- yes, onthese markets have multiples more money, but entry, especially compliance with regulatory requirements, is multiples more expensive, - notes Andrey Lomonosov. - Many of our startups with a finished product underestimate the markets of developing countries that are close to us: Latin America, Asia. From the few examples of independent export of small companies in these regions, we can say that it is easier to achieve success there. "
But there is also progress in this area.For example, domestic drone manufacturers have begun cooperating with Brazil. In July 2021, State Transport Leasing Company JSC (STLC), Industrial Drony LLC (Aeronet NTI) and the Brazilian company BirdView Drone BioControl entered into a trilateral agreement on the export of Russian-made drones. The drones will be used for agricultural work in Brazil. This is the first project in the field of unmanned vehicles, a landmark for all manufacturers of innovative technology in Russia.
STC "Meditex" in consortium with "Cardiomarker"(NTI market "Helsnet"), which developed the Acoustery service, which allows you to "hear" the signs of COVID-19 infection in a person's cough, this year launched sales in Uzbekistan, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Singapore.
Negotiate with the locals
On the Energinet market, as well as on many others,export access is also hampered by sectoral barriers. According to Natalia Ismagilova, the reasons are that there is no universal standard of processes and technologies between countries, as well as licensing or certification of activities related to any infrastructure work. In addition, the export market is monopolized in the energy sector.
In these conditions, piloting projects, productsand technologies in foreign markets is possible only in conjunction with regional energy companies or research centers. This is the path that most successful startups follow.
Conquer consumer in India and Saudi Arabiathe Novosibirsk company Energozapas is preparing - the only Russian project for the development of a new generation gravitational industrial energy storage, the finalist of the competition of the French nuclear company Orano (Sturtup call - 2019). Supply negotiations are under way with Indian energy sector companies SECI and Adani, as well as Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners.
Another one enters the Saudi Arabian marketthe project "Energinet" - "Rope Walker", developed by the "Laboratory of the Future" company. It is the world's first robotic tool for monitoring and maintaining live power lines in real time. A contract has already been signed with a local partner for a pilot project in Saudi Arabia. Pilot projects will also take place in Turkey and Greece.
In early July, VOLTS, a supplier of energy storage systems and modern solutions for household energy supply, signed a memorandum of cooperation with ITRAMAS, a large Malaysian company.
To the markets of China, Singapore, India and Japan in thisNeyri LLC (NTI Neuronet) is also released, which creates an infrastructure for automated collection, analysis and storage of large neurodata through human-machine interaction based on gaming attractions and new generation computer games controlled by signals from the user's brain.
Help from within
In Russia, companies with promising developments receive support within the framework of the roadmaps of the National Technology Initiative, RVC, and the Skolkovo Foundation.
In the summer of 2020, the government approved the rulesproviding budget subsidies to exporters of high-tech products. Companies will be able to offset most of their R&D costs when creating new industrial products for foreign markets or bringing them to the level of foreign standards. The money will be allocated on a competitive basis - there are 11.9 billion rubles in the budget for the next three years.
Other support mechanisms includecorporate competitiveness programs, where exporters can get concessional loans and support for transportation and certification. There are separate programs to subsidize transportation costs, registration of intellectual property, and concessional financing.
“It should be borne in mind that within each ofthe above support mechanisms have limitations in terms of selection criteria. The corporate program to improve competitiveness does not cover the energy sector, subsidizing transportation involves competitive selection, which often does not allow startups to get it for the logistics of pilot supplies, concessional financing applies only to technologies included in the list of high-tech products, ”says Natalia Ismagilova.
Ismagilova believes that other measures are needed,which will help reach more promising startups, including participants in the National Technology Initiative. This requires concessional lending for export projects (supplies of products and technologies, project piloting), concessional lending for soft landing programs to create representative offices in foreign markets, tax incentives for companies implementing piloting of products or technologies in foreign markets.
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