With New Years right around the corner and everyone enjoying the holiday spirit, it is a great time to take stock of 2016. What made this year so special to Noosphere? Quite a lot, actually! Let’s take quick look back and remember all the milestones we passed together this year.
AI Rush
Early 2016 marked by the first AI Rush conference organized by Noosphere. The event brought together as many as 150 attendants interested in AI and Big Data Mining. Guided by 9 noted experts in the field from companies like Amazon, Deloitte, Maxymizely etc, the conference dove into the latest advancements in the field and investigated a number of real-life case studies. The “Gold Mining” and “the Wild West” theme only contributed to the overall atmosphere of the event.
The rush for AI and Big Data gold never stops. Which is why the AI Rush conference welcomes all prospectors to join the second wave on the 18th of February 2017. Hurry up to get your Early Bird ticket!
Vernadsky Challenge
The Vernadsky Challenge 2016, held in April, deserves special attention, as it was definitely one of the most remarkable events of the year. Compared to last years event, the 2016 competition received twice as many startup applications (symbolically 216 in total) and, most importantly, twice as much grant funding. In the opening speech to the finals, the competition founder, Max Polyakov, gave an announcement that shocked everyone:
“ … Compared to IT, engineering inventions are a more resource-intensive industry. Therefore, I believe it is fair to double the competition prize fund up to 2 million UAH”.
The doubled prize pool was split between the top-3 winners: Technovator XE, Hideez Band and Bioton, allowing the startups to take considerable steps forward developing their ideas. As a result, Technovator and Hideez are already planning to exhibit their products at CES 2017 in Las Vegas.
Let’s see if Mr. Polyakov has something special up his sleeve for Vernadsky Challenge 2017 and wish Technovator and Hideez a good luck at #CES2017! By the way, registration for Vernadsky Challenge 2017 is already open!
BestRoboFest
The summer season of 2016 kicked off in the perfect way – BestRoboFest. This was the first event of its kind in Ukraine. The 2-day festival was dedicated exclusively to robotics, innovation and new engineering achievements. It brought together fans, engineers and robots from around Europe. Special effort was made to make it a family friendly affair that resulted in a crowd of over 3000 visitors of all ages attending the event and taking an active part in the festivities.
This was the first time a family-oriented robotics festival was held in Dnipro, and Noosphere is eager to do it again. Next year, even more technology enthusiasts with their new designs are expected to satisfy the growing public interest!
The 2016 FAI World Championships for Space Models
The highlight of the summer of 2016 was of course the FAI World Championship for Space Models. It was a great honour to host such a high profile event and Noosphere made every effort to organize every detail of it. As a result, Noosphere raised the bar and established a new standard for future events. FAI President, John Grubbström, also attended the event and commented numerous times about the high level of organization and hospitality displayed.
The 5-day competition welcomed more than 300 competitors from 19 different countries to cross swords on the 100 000 sqm competition field. The crowd of 7000 on-site spectators was dazzled by the launch of more than 500 model rockets each day, while the thousands of fans from all over the globe followed the event live on the daily YouTube live stream. There were even amateur rocketry workshops available right on site that allowed enthusiast to design and build their own rockets to launch right away. All of this, and most importantly an unforgettable atmosphere, were the results of the hard work of the Noosphere team.
The smooth organization and the success of 2016 FAI World Championships, combined with the active role Noosphere has taken to develop IT solutions for aerial sports events, e.g. Cup Navigator, opened new opportunities for a closer cooperation. At this stage, Noosphere is assisting the FAI Commission and Head Office with the development of new IT solutions and tools to support the management of other events in the World Air Games 2017.
Noosphere believes that 2017 will be an even more productive year for the partnership with the FAI and include a multitude of events managed by #CupNavigator.
Copter Race
Autumn 2016 wasn’t lacking for Noosphere events either. The F1 for drones, Copter Race, was held in late September and attracted professional engineers and amateur inventors from all over Ukraine. Over 40 drones took to the skies and competed in speed, maneuverability and the driving skills of the navigators. Copter Race 2016 not only became a prominent festival of technology and science, but also an exciting holiday for the whole family. As audience attention is one of the most crucial drivers to the future of the drone races, Noosphere did its best to make it appeal to the widest range of people possible.
The drone industry is expected to explode in 2017, as is still has plenty of room for growth before it reaches its full potential. So, let’s hope the drones will reach new heights at Copter Race 2017, while the event itself inspires more drone development.
Noosphere Engineering School
2016 was also a productive year for the Noosphere Engineering School. Along with the expansion of the ES partnership network, the school came up with a few startups that have reached the national level of acceptance. The ArtOS project, a software package for artillery fire control, was inspected personally by the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko.
After a successful launch in the city of Dnipro, the My Police app was also approved by the Minister of Interior Affairs of Ukraine, Arsen Avakov. This means the development team is busy working on introducing it to the Ukraine app market.
Noosphere expects the Engineering School to open new laboratories across the country and hopes the #MyPolice will be a welcome addition to the national app market in 2017!
With so much accomplished in 2016, it is hard to imagine what more 2017 will bring. The spirit of the Noosphere knows no bounds and we are confident that next year we will see further, reach higher and dream bigger than we ever have. It is hard not to succeed when we stand on the shoulders of such mighty giants!