UNN startup studio presents new products
A university startup studio has been successfully operating at Lobachevsky University since the end of 2023. The studio's goal is to turn the university’s scientific achievements into technological products and bring them to the real economy. To achieve this, the studio engages students and researchers in creating technology startups, helping them turn their ideas into commercial products.
The key tasks of the startup studio include:
- Developing and launching startups with the aim of commercialisation
- Stimulating technological entrepreneurship among students and staff
- Establishing a sustainable model for technological entrepreneurship in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
Projects from any field are welcome to participate if they have the potential for commercialisation. Financing of up to 10 million roubles is provided at the prototyping stage. The startup studio actively cooperates with regional businesses and industries, developing solutions for their needs, including new technologies, materials, equipment, and IT products.
As a result of the studio's work, 10 startup companies have been approved and registered. 6 results of intellectual activity have been registered and added to the companies' balance sheets, and 38 university representatives are engaged in the projects.
In 2024-2025, the studio invested more than 15 million roubles and registered 10 legal entities, providing conditions for the sustainable development of innovation teams. The studio's portfolio covers a wide range of technological areas, from medical technology and agricultural technologies to software and unmanned systems.
One of the latest projects of the startup studio isa USB-HID device based on muscle signals. It is an alternative computer control technology for people with disabilities developed by Pekhtra LLC. The project became one of the studio’s key achievements: a serial sample was produced, the first delivery of products to the Nasha Pravda foundation was completed, and investments at an early stage amounted to about 2.9 million roubles.
Some other projects include:
- aeroponic agrocomplexes (Growth Laboratory LLC), which are mobile installations for year-round cultivation of plants with minimal resource consumption,
- an AR module for e-commerce (Vision Project LLC), a software tool that allows customers to view 3D models of goods in a real environment,
- pneumatic construction stilts (Stroylab LLC), a device for safe operation with a dynamic height control system,
- biodynamic lighting systems (Gardenlight LLC), a line of solutions with a controlled range of lighting for the agricultural sector,
- eco-friendly technology for producing alpha cellulose (Innokhim LLC), an eco-friendly method for producing high-quality alpha cellulose from herbaceous plants and agricultural waste based on mild alkaline conditions and chlorine-free bleaching,
- brain-computer interface (Neurostimul LLC), a system that allows patients to control exercise devices with mental effort, increasing the effectiveness of rehabilitation.
In 2026, the studio will concentrate its efforts on creating its own projects and working more closely with promising research laboratories and corporate partners. The focus will be on the areas of personalised medicine, individual medical devices, psychophysiology, software solutions for unmanned aerial systems and small-scale chemistry.
A network of university startup studios is being established within the framework of the University Technology Entrepreneurship Platform of the Federal Technology Project. In 2023, Lobachevsky University, with the support of the Nizhny Novgorod Research and Education Centre, became one of the winners of a grant competition organised by the Foundation for Infrastructure and Educational Programs to create a university startup studio. Currently, there are already 27 such studios operating across Russia.
