Archipelago 2035. How to launch hundreds of AI-projects within 2 weeks
With Artificial Intelligence long on the agenda, we have seen a strengthening competitive advantage for the countries which establish National programs and strategies on AI, support AI-startups, and encourage businesses to adopt AI-based solutions. There are hundreds of startups in Russia that use elements of artificial intelligence, but far more are required within the country’s sustainable development. Russia’s first acceleration program of this scale is Archipelago 20.35 aimed to provide an online crash course and support for AI-developers.
How to launch and grow your startup
Archipelago has become the world’s first AI intensive training for 797 technology teams and startups. In a two-week workshop this November over 3,700 people were asked to develop and refine AI-based projects for various industries: the oil and gas, games, biomedicine, fintech, education, robotics, agriculture, medicine, art, information security, energy, social and humanitarian technologies, e-sports, geographic information systems, logistics of people and of things. AI for industrial tasks, quantum technologies and 5G networks is also a target for the teams of Archipelago 20.35.
Archipelago embraces projects of different maturity levels. The list of participants includes:
- teams and organizations that want to launch their AI startup;
- teams that are already developing or just planning projects in the field of AI;
- individual participants: IT specialists, students and schoolchildren;
- non-commercial projects in the field of AI;
- research and educational projects in the field of AI.
The participants have access to an accelerator, workshops and consultations with experts. The Archipelago 20.35 program offers four main formats of events: acceleration program, laboratory, workshop, meeting with an expert. Both teams’ and participants’ progress is tracked and analysed on the University 2035 Platform. Each team has its digital profile where experts can check tasks completion, see which skills and roles are missing, etc. These data add up to individual learning curves for every participant and every team.
In December Top-10 startups have pitched their projects to major Russian companies that have a vital interest in them. “Archipelago seems to be the biggest marketplace of AI-solutions” — claims Nina Yanukina, the rector of University 2035.
AI, Russia’s secret weapon
“We do not have as much money as the USA does. We do not have as many people as China does. That’s why Russia has to invent its own way of developing technological business”, — says Dmitry Peskov, the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation on Digital and Technological Development.
Archipelago 20.35 is the unique event guided by experts in the field of Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, online education and digital transformation. It features leading accelerators, universities and businesses on one platform which presents a special ecosystem and fosters professional development by creating individual educational trajectories and tracking digital skill profiles. It is expected to become a sort of production line, a system for launching and developing AI-startups — up to 1000 projects per month.
Archipelago Technologies
It would be strange if the digital platform supporting an Artificial Intelligence workshop were not AI-based. Archipelago 2035 brings together over a dozen of different digital footprints of participants and experts. This data is analyzed to provide an individual educational trajectory for each participant, while an AI-based recommender system offers relevant educational content and steps for further development.
Participants set goals for Archipelago and assess their progress every day, attend events and evaluate them, create projects, build teams, accomplish the tasks suggested at the acceleration program and set their own tasks. All these results are carefully analyzed and published on special dashboards.
Due to such an approach it took far less time to train the technological teams. Archipelago gathered very different groups of people, some of them having nothing but an idea, others bringing an end product supported by a strong sales experience. The purpose and strategy of each project differed at the intensive training course. But the key thing is that in 2 weeks each team was able to boost its project by getting expert support, finding partners and investors, launching sales, reaching the MVP stage.
What kind of projects does Archipelago feature?
Interestingly enough, Archipelago hosts mixed-age teams. Over 50 projects out of 797 have members who are less than 20 years old.
These are just a few projects to highlight:
- Scanderm — COVID-19 symptom check
Online testing for COVID-19 symptoms using computer vision models. The team is creating a tool for guiding users, helping to distinguish the symptoms of COVID-19 from those of a flu or allergies, to identify complications of an infection, to refer to a free remote medical consultation, to check for cutaneous manifestations of coronavirus using AI and to interpret the results.
2. Decision support system in the field of psychiatry
The Medical Decision Support System (MDSS) compares data from medical history with current scientific knowledge. It results in a treatment and diagnostic instruction on doctor’s request.
The MDSS will also be able to recommend additional examinations and a sound medical treatment as well as assess risks, drug interactions and medical forecasts. To process anonymized clinical data of patients, the MDSS connects to the clinic’s medical database. The analysis and medical conclusions follow transparent logic developed by experts. The algorithm is based on decision trees.
3. One of the youngest teams at Archipelago 20.35 is developing a project that helps to save time in the era of information overload — Your personal assistant. The service helps to manage the data load and save time on perception of information by automating routine processes using AI. In just one week the team advanced from an idea to a working prototype: it cuts both Forbes articles and video interviews from 3 hours to 10 minutes.
4. Plannerix is a robotized interior designer. It analyzes the client’s needs and generates non-standard planning solutions. The service recognizes floor plans and layout images, as well as sketches and drawings of architects. The software develops a profile of the new residents and generates a floor plan of the house and apartment design. The team is writing algorithms and training neural network to select finishing materials, to arrange furniture and equipment, to decorate walls and surfaces, to set the lead generation for potential suppliers of goods and services.
5. Aquamatica is a robotized water farm. The project envisages a hardware and software complex with artificial intelligence for automation of valuable fishes cultivation in closed water circulation systems. AI-based software supports optimal conditions for the growth of hydrobionts, up to tracking the physical condition of fish and their dietary needs.
New forms of support
Archipelago 20.35 also facilitates a series of strategic initiatives — The National Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence until 2030, the national project “Digital Economy”, the federal project “Artificial Intelligence.”
Another outcome of Archipelago 20.35 is a model of “seamless” support provided to the teams by the key players in the innovation ecosystem. The teams have signed AI cooperation agreements.
According to Pavel Gudkov, the Deputy General Director of FASIE, the top-80 AI-startups will receive grants. 3 million rubles will be allocated for the first year and the financial support will continue if the teams find investors.
The full list of support measures includes:
• Financial support of the Fund for the Promotion of Innovations under the Start-DH program.
• Simplified registration of the Skolkovo residency application.
• Pilot orders from intensive partners — more than 30 companies, corporations, development institutions, and relevant ministries.
• Help in the selection of the team.
• Pre-acceleration training program.
Ultimately, top-teams receive not only financial support from the Fund for the Promotion of Innovations under the Start-DH program, but also support from development institutions, corporations, private foundations, accelerators and ministries.
