Over 400 applications are submitted for this contest annually, from dozens of Russian and foreign cities, both near and far away. In this year, the contest prize fund will be 1.5 m rubles.

- Contests like Web Ready are one of efficient ways to search for projects for their further development in a business incubator, - says General Director of the Ingria Technopark Anton Potapov. – For projects, it is like the first step towards investors because they obtain a unique opportunity within the framework of the contest final, to present themselves to the large and respected Russian venture community.

Winners will be decided in two main nominations (“The Best Seed Stage Project” and “The Best Startup”), as well as in a number of special nominations established by award panel members and contest partners (for example, the EMC Ventures and GameReady nominations). Besides that, WebReady holds regional contest stages in Siberia and the Urals this year.

Applications for the contest are accepted until October 18, then the semi-final will be held in November, and the final on December 2. The format of the final provides maximum opportunities for communication between investors and projects. During the final, an exhibition of the final participants will be held, and a special investment site VC Corner will be working. A “star speaker” – Yandex co-founder Ilya Segalovich will also deliver a speech.

Projects related to such areas as social media, SaaS and Cloud Computing, Virtualization Solution, mobile technologies, Internet game development, eCommerce, and other Web developments take part in the WebReady contest.

Official contest partners are Microsoft and OAO RVC, the communication partner is Megafon, also among the partners are EMC, 1C, Alawar, and the Blesk project (Cursor OY). The contest is held with the support of the Government of St. Petersburg.

Additional information

The Business Incubator Ingria (www.ingria-startup.ru) is a component of the innovation infrastructure of St. Petersburg, a platform for supporting beginning entrepreneurs, with a goal of creating environment for fast development of innovative business. The business incubator was launched in December 2008 as a structural department of St. Petersburg Technopark. The incubator renders a broad range of services for attracting experts and mentors, providing access to information bases required for demonstrating that a project is successful, forming a team, and presenting projects to investors and companies – potential customers.