The Future of Technology: HSE GSB students took part in the largest startup award — StarTech.Awards 2025
StarTech.Awards is an award created for entrepreneurs, bringing together thousands of startups in the technology sphere and offering unique opportunities to promote their projects, attract the attention of investors, specialized funds, and large corporations. This year, over 1,500 teams applied, and after a multi-stage selection process, 60 startups made it to the finals. These were recognized as the most promising in their industries, including e-commerce, cybersecurity, marketing and advertising, agriculture, education, and sports. Projects were evaluated by representatives of partner corporations, venture funds, and industry experts from Gazprombank, EFKO, Selectel, Rostelecom, and other major companies.
During the award ceremony, leading tech entrepreneurs of the country spoke to the audience, and special stands showcased the projects of finalists as well as flagship Russian companies such as VK, Yandex, and others. A special guest of StarTech.Awards 2025 was Maksut Shadaev, Minister of Digital Development, Communications, and Mass Media of the Russian Federation.
Mikhail Komarov
Academic Supervisor of the Master’s programs "Product Management in IT Business" and "Electronic Business and Digital Innovations"
"I am grateful to the organizers for the opportunity for our students to participate in such an important professional event. Such occasions help students broaden their business outlook, strengthen their leadership potential, and gain inspiration for developing new IT products."
Anastasia Travushkina, 2nd-year Master’s student, "Electronic Business and Digital Innovations":
"The StarTech Award is truly the ‘Oscar’ in the world of technology and innovation. But here, the winners are not actors — they are startup founders who create innovative solutions for our future. Participating in the event provided a unique opportunity to interact not only with the finalists but also with the competent jury. The organizers allowed guests to literally ‘touch’ the startups’ products. The exhibition was also a chance to get acquainted with innovative developments from Russian companies."
Mikhail Dmitrenko, 1st-year Master’s student, "Product Management in IT Business":
"The conference presented the best practices and insights from the startup environment, which is very useful for developing business thinking and professional product management skills. At the beginning, I listened to an interview with Alexandra Gerasimova, who has been running her startup Fitmost for over 10 years and faced many challenges along the way. Learning how she dealt with cash gaps, lack of focus, and team incompetence was invaluable. Alexandra also shared life hacks that helped her avoid burnout on such a long and difficult path.
What I especially liked was the networking: I met very interesting and versatile people — for example, an entrepreneur from Dubai who is building an international HRTech startup currently valued at $1 million. By the end of the event, I even had the chance to meet and take a photo with Russia’s Minister of Digital Development. It was a very productive day — many thanks to the organizers and the HSE Graduate School of Business for the opportunity!"
Anton Chukseev and Dzerassa Katsanova, 2nd-year Master’s students, "Electronic Business and Digital Innovations":
"We are developing our fashiontech startup Mode Morph and are grateful for such an exceptionally meaningful event. Particularly valuable for us was the emphasis on deep business transformation. We were impressed by the presentation of Andrey Makeev from FlowWow, who shared in detail the company’s journey since 2014 — from creating digital services to a strategic pivot and a new focus on high-tech solutions for agriculture. This case is a brilliant example of how to reinvent a business model and master complex yet promising markets through innovation.
Another fascinating example was the Xenia AI startup in the recruitment sector. Their approach to using artificial intelligence to analyze candidates’ ‘digital footprints’ and automate recruitment clearly shows how technology is transforming even the most conservative industries, such as HR.
For our team, which is developing a project on outfit selection and wardrobe digitization using AI, these presentations became a powerful stimulus to think bigger and bolder. StarTech.Awards once again proved that the future belongs to interdisciplinary projects, where technology drives radical change across diverse areas of life. We thank the speakers, finalists, and organizers for the inspiration and practical insights!"
