After receiving his bachelor’s degree from MSU’s Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics, Alexei decided to pursue a master’s degree at another university. Skoltech, with its extensive networking opportunities, state-of-the-art facilities and focus on entrepreneurship, seemed like the perfect choice.

“At first, I didn’t believe that Skoltech had such a strong commitment to entrepreneurship, and I was delighted to discover that it really does support entrepreneurs,” Alexei admitted.

Alexei and his team’s startup — RCP Meetings — has developed an AI-powered software system that automatically generates minutes of meetings, appointments and calls, as well as identifies and summarizes key points. A Skolkovo resident and winner of a grant from the Innovation Promotion Fund (IPF), RCP Meetings has signed a pilot testing agreement with a Russian bank.

“During my undergraduate studies, I worked for one of Sber’s subsidiaries. It was a colleague of mine who came up with an idea for a startup. Our project manager spent two-thirds of his working day taking minutes of meetings. One day, he said that it would be cool if an app could do that for him. At the Innovation Workshop, I remembered what he said and proposed the idea, which turned out to be feasible. As time went on, the idea evolved: now we are moving towards a kind of general solution that can monitor calls and  other communications in the company, and even answer questions about them,” says Alexei.

At Skoltech, all first-year master’s students attend the Innovation Workshop during their first month of study. This crash course aims to foster innovation culture and skills — from modern innovation theory to self-confidence and positive thinking. Students work in interdisciplinary teams to match the spirit and nature of today’s complex innovation projects.   

Eager to develop his idea, which required effort and resources, Alexei decided to enroll in the Startup as Thesis track at the suggestion of his research co-supervisor, Skoltech professor of the practice Alexey Nikolaev.

“At first, combining my studies with a startup project seemed like a dilemma, but thanks to the new track, I was able to do it. In fact, my thesis work consisted of putting together what I had already done. In June, I presented my startup to a jury of academic and business experts,” Alexei continues.

He thanked Skoltech for supporting his idea and entrepreneurship in general and offered advice to those who consider choosing this track: “From the courses held by Skoltech professors and industry experts you learn a lot of things that you can implement in your startup. One of the practical courses was particularly useful for those who wanted to become Skolkovo residents. As you prepare your residency application, you realize that you learn a lot about your startup and its strengths and weaknesses. Building a startup is a daunting task, so you need all the guidance and mentorship you can get. The Startup as Thesis track puts strong emphasis on research – an essential part of any startup. We plan to apply for another IPF grant, build on our pilot project with the bank to expand the collaboration, and also look for new customers”.

The Startup as Thesis track developed with the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, aims to involve talented students in the development of the technological entrepreneurship ecosystem, and to support early-stage companies.

“This track is unique in that it emphasizes prototyping and research experiments to validate the prototype. A presentation and a report are not enough to defend a thesis. The defense is mostly a scientific experiment that demonstrates the research result, which becomes the competitive advantage of the startup,” says professor Dmitry Kulish, the director of Skoltech’s Entrepreneurship Center. “At the Innovation Workshop, we help students formulate their dreams and business ideas for technological entrepreneurship, while our supplementary courses help them to develop these ideas. We invite the most proactive students to enroll in the Startup as Thesis track!”

 Check out the video from Skoltech’s Open Doors for more information about the Startup as Thesis track.