The demo day of the creative business accelerator was held on 30 November at the Vintage Hall at the Winzavod Centre for Contemporary Arts in Moscow. The 11 best projects from participants were presented to potential partners and investors. The creative business accelerator is supported by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) and the Roscongress Foundation and was organized by the Social Projects Support Fund and the Innosocium Foundation, the social platform of the Roscongress Foundation.
The demo day was attended by Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Olga Lyubimova, Roscongress Foundation Deputy CEO and Innosocium Foundation Director Elena Marinina, and ASI Social Projects Deputy Director Natalya Kremneva.
The teams presented sociocultural and educational projects related to folk arts and crafts as well as the development of innovative technologies and digital infrastructure in creative industries.
The accelerator programme enabled the teams to gain new knowledge about creative business management, get acquainted with leading Russian and foreign experts, and find growth points in their projects and the necessary resources to implement them. The experts noted a significant increase in sales and the start of cooperation with new partners.
“Thanks to the accelerator, new successful creative projects have emerged in seven regions of Russia. They aim to achieve socioeconomic transformations and improve the wellbeing and quality of human life. The Roscongress Foundation believes it’s important to support these startups in order to create a competitive environment and promote initiatives across the creative sector. I am certain that their participation in the accelerator will lead to positive growth dynamics in all projects,” Marinina said.
The projects with the best dynamics will receive further support from the ASI, including in terms of overcoming administrative barriers, scaling, distribution as well as promotion on the Russian and foreign markets.