The Sikorsky Challenge Festival is one of the most important annual events in the field of innovation in Ukraine. This is the ninth time it has been held at Kyiv Polytechnic this year. 56 unique projects from all over the country reached the finals.
Among the inventions that will fight for victory and multimillion-dollar investments is the COVIDKILLER respirator mask, which is able to protect against COVID-19. The inventors have designed a new multilevel abiotic method of protection. Passing through the COVIDKILLER filter, viruses die or lose their ability to reproduce and cannot affect the human body.
One of the finalists of the Sikorsky challenge is a project of dispose of sewage sludge with the production of heat and electricity. The developers have introduced a patented technology for the disposal of plastic waste, sludge from wastewater, used rubber tires and other carbon-containing waste by continuous high-temperature pyrolysis, with the ability to generate heat and electricity. There is already a prototype on an industrial scale.
Investors also deserve the development of a new deformed TiS composite - carbide steel.
Carbide is a wear-resistant material for cutting, stamping, deforming tools and friction units. It consists of 30% of a hard alloy - titanium carbide - and 70% of tool steel. Allows you to create a new class of tool and durable materials. Combines the properties of steel and hard alloys. Unique structure and tribotechnical qualities. Resilience has increased tenfold.
Potential investors and members of the jury will get acquainted with these and dozens of other developments online on the contest website. Many projects have already interested the Chinese company Golden Egg Technology, which is the main partner and sponsor of the festival.
Chang Shi Chao - Representative of the General Sponsor of Golden Egg Technology:
“We have been participating in the Sikorsky Challenge since 2016. Thus, the development of the festival, its scale, organization took place before our eyes. We have already gained access to all the final projects, so it is very interesting for us to get acquainted with them, and I am sure that we will be able to select the most interesting projects and support the development of Ukraine's youth. "
The International Economic Forum took place on the first day of the festival-competition. Representatives of government, business, international partners and university management discussed the development of innovative economy in regional, national and international aspects and the role of the state in this process. The keynote speakers were members of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development and the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy. And also representatives of business and medicine.
Chairman of the Subcommittee of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy Andriy Nikolayenko stressed that innovation is the main engine of world economic development:
"The world is changing very fast, and I really believe in the Ukrainian engineering school, the innovative school. Today it was important for us to hear the position of all participants, and my main interest is that the university challenge has become an international event. We are watched in many countries, watched not only by scientists, but also by applied business, which wants to implement these start-ups. Every year the number of concluded agreements grows, more and more real start-ups participate and win. This shows that the competition is effective, it needs to be supported, disseminated, and that the network in Ukraine is growing - it's great. Together with Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute management we have registered an important document that will encourage young people to become engineers. This bill will allow engineering companies to pay less taxes."
Dmytro Natalukha, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development, assured that legislative changes favourable for the development of innovations in Ukraine are an absolutely necessary step:
"We are currently working on important legislative changes. These are the basic bills of industrial parks. The first bill concerns changes to the tax code, the other - to the customs code. We provide preferences to companies engaged in high-tech exports Today, there are 82 industrial parks in Ukraine, but none of them actually work, because formally they exist, and the legislation does not provide for preferences. We want to fill this gap. We are also developing the concept of innovation parks, which will allow companies that spend a lot of money on new scientific and technological breakthroughs, technologies and approaches, to do it more efficiently in terms of finances.
Medicine also needs innovation. That is why representatives of this industry take part in the festival. Director of the Heart Institute of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine Borys Todurov is convinced that the effectiveness of treatment will depend on the use of the latest technologies:
"Modern medicine cannot exist without modern technologies, it concerns diagnostics and methods of treatment. Without computer graphics, without radioisotopes, without digital technologies, no branch of medicine can develop today. We try to implement all the new ideas that appear in engineers, technologists, IT specialists in medicine and achieve the best results in our industry thanks to innovative technologies.”
Despite the fact that this year the festival had to be held in rather difficult conditions, all participants are positive. After all, the Sikorsky Challenge phenomenon inspires people to work on new interesting projects.
This was repeatedly emphasized at the meeting by Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development Serhii Taruta:
“The example of Kyiv Polytechnic, which created this network, this innovative cluster Sikorsky Challenge is an example where education, science and practical implementation have combined and have a great effect, which has already been noted not only inside the country but also abroad. Therefore, today the festival is attended by international investors, international venture capitalists and hedge funds. We see how every year more and more successful projects are implemented within the festival, and this gives young people today the opportunity not only to dream, not only to do science, but also to succeed in implementing these projects.“
Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute Rector Michael Zgurovsky told about the numerous partners of the festival of innovations and expressed hope that due to fruitful cooperation the innovative economy of Ukraine will begin to develop rapidly:
"There is already a large network of partners in many developed countries: The United States, Australia, Israel, Azerbaijan, European countries and among the representatives of large multinational companies - already our network, which can be used by the state and politicians to further reorient the development of Ukraine from raw materials, low-tech to high-tech. And we would like to be a laboratory in this task. "
So the decisive competition days of the IX Sikorsky Challenge Festival of Innovative Projects have begun. Investors, authors of start-ups, representatives of foundations and big business gathered on the virtual platform. An international jury of experts will evaluate the works - and on November 13 we will see the names of the winners, whose projects will be able to be implemented on an industrial scale.
Michael Zgurovcky, Rector of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute:
"We hope that the best projects will be selected. On November 13, contracts will be signed between investors and project authors and our Sikorsky Challenge environment, which will determine the conditions for developing and bringing to market the best start-ups."