The next stop on our technological journey to China is to explore the country’s innovation ecosystem. Here we will not touch on the topic of venture capital investments, as we discussed it in the previous article. However, we will find out the exact number of unicorns in China, their main habitats and study the activities of the Chinese government in the development of innovations.
MoreRITA includes X5 Group, M.Video-Eldorado, beeline, Hoff and Magnum, the leading retail chain of Kazakhstan.
The selection will last until October 31. Russian technology companies that have a finished product or an MVP aimed at improving the processes associated with offline and online retail are invited to participate.
The 15 best startups based on the selection results will take part in the pitch session scheduled online for December 2. During the session, each finalist will be able to present their solutions to representatives of specialized areas in the corporations that are part of RITA. The winners will apply for pilot projects with the Alliance members.
In the current selection, the corporations that make up RITA want to focus on finding solutions aimed at improving customer experience, developing new sales and advertising channels, online commerce and tools for delivering goods, creating tools for personalization, tracking customer behavior, optimizing processes in offline in stores, dark stores and distribution centers, COVID-19 security, waste management. A complete list of search directions can be found on the RITA website.
During the first year of RITA’s work, 5 selections were carried out in Russia, Europe and Israel, as a result of which a funnel of more than 1000 projects representing 35 countries was formed. This volume allowed the Alliance members to formulate requests for future selections more precisely. In addition, more than 30 startups have been sponsored by corporations for detailed scrutiny and evaluation for further pilot projects.
RITA plans to hold four more qualifying sessions in China, Europe, Russia and Israel over the next 10 months. In particular, it is planned to select startups in China by the end of this year.
Applications for participation in the selection are accepted on the RITA website.