SKOLKOVO graduated MBA

The original text in Russian is available on Finparty.ru

Last Friday the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO second intake celebrated its graduation party. Andrei Rappoport, President of the School, and Gor Nakhapetyan, managing director of Troika Dialog, saw the graduates off to their freewheeling.

The graduation party started almost half an hour later – unprecedented Friday traffic jams kept several parents back, so they didn’t manage it to the diploma presentation, and some prominent guests arrived later than it was planned as well.

Elegant graduates who had just passed their final examinations were seated in the familiar Singapore auditorium where they were presented with their student IDs by Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of that country. On the other hand the diplomas were presented in a working atmosphere; the School Founding partners were represented by Gor Nakhapetyan only. The graduates await a more festive ceremony in summer.

The opening speech was delivered by Andrei Rappoport, newly appointed President of the School. “SKOLKOVO as a school can only realize itself when you become successful. So, bring all you opportunities to life, be an example for the future students, and we are going to promote ourselves with your help”, declared Rappoport. Lots of shots flashed on a big screen: school weekdays, trips to China, India and the USA and, surely, parties. Frames with Ruben Vardanyan, Ex-President of the School, and Wilfried Vanhonacker, who recently left SKOLKOVO, beloved by everybody, were perceived especially warm.

Investors Day at SKOLKOVO

The final and the most serious module of the SKOLKOVO MBA programme is the drafting of individual start-up projects by students. The theoretical basis given during the first four months as well as projects in the corporate, state and social spheres were only a kind of preparation and training for the major individual work – creation of their own business.

Within two autumn months the students had to mobilize all their crafts, skills and knowledge and to present a made-up project by December. Entrepreneurial grasp, sconce, new bonds and experience – all these are brought in action with full force in order to present an actual, competitive, demanded and important for the society project.

Lawrence Wright, SKOLKOVO Start-up Project Director, manages this complicated stage of the studying and helps the students. Understanding the significance of creation of an entrepreneurial ecosystem, where new ideas and projects would be born, brought up and formed, this year Lawrence Wright has established the SKOLKOVO Entrepreneurs’ Club, an open community that now spreads beyond the School as well. Perhaps you’ve already attended one of the Club’s meetings, haven’t you? In November the final event of this year took place, but starting from the next year the Club will go on with its meetings on the hospitable SKOLKOVO Campus. Follow up the news and join us!

The key event of the start-up module is the Investor Day when teams present their projects directly in front of those who may be interested. On December, 2, representatives of large investment funds and private investors gathered n the Campus in order to express their expert opinion concerning each of them and to name the winners. Among investors were Gor Nakhapetyan and Andrei Vakulenko (Troika Dialog), Phillipe Delpal (Orient Express Bank), Alexey Belyakov (i2BF), Denis Alexandrov (SKOLKOVO Executive MBA graduate, Investment company A1), etc.

11/11/11 at SKOLKOVO: secrets of getting to know people

On 11.11.11 an event in an unusual form took place at SKOLKOVO. Our guests has a chance to meet 11 SKOLKOVO MBA representatives “face-to-face” sticking to the speed dating rules. Each had just 11 minutes to tell about himself, to win the companion’s favour, to ask for advice or to get answers to his questions.

At 11.11 AM sharply the event started, and for more than two hours our guests were wandering between the tables to meet the SKOLKOVO experts. The event ran extremely actively; there were even cases of competition for a place at this or that business-school representative’s table. As a result everybody was delighted and after the end of the official part had an opportunity to continue discussion with the most interesting companion over a coffee. And our 11th guest received a souvenir – a book from the SKOLKOVO series.

We also engaged ourselves in the form of brief meetings and held a rapid quiz of the SKOLKOVO representatives. Find out opinions of our experts on how it’s better to proceed during the first meeting and what should be avoided, and discover the secrets of entering the SKOLKOVO MBA programme.

1. How should one introduce himself, proceed and what should he talk about you in order to impress you?

Lawrence Wright, SKOLKOVO start-up projects director, he also leads SKOLKOVO entrepreneurial eco-system:
«I suppose the key secret is to inspire the companion. One should focus on his own vision. People just can’t remember much information, that is why one should speak clearly about the project concept, explain why it’s important and offer a couple of others short points that are easy to keep in mind».


Tatiana Scherban, SKOLKOVO Director of Career Development and Admission department:
«People are my key occupation; I work with people, that is why each person is interesting for me».

Nadezhda Kuznetsova, in charge of Students’ Individual and Career development:

«Presence of personality makes the strongest impression. If a person is vivid, interested, if he has his own opinion, it will be always fascinating to talk to him. If a person speaks so or has such questions that show that he has an outlook, has dreams, that he differs from others, he will be always welcomed at SKOLKOVO».


Stepan Kolesnechenko, SKOLKOVO MBA student of the third intake:
«People who have already achieved something, who clearly understand what they need, make the strongest impression on me. The point is that many don’t have a strong opinion why they are here, what they want and what the result is going to be. No dream, no dear purpose. For sure, in the process new ideas come, some drive appears. However if a person enters a business-school and invests a significant sum of money, he should understand why he does it, why it is interesting for him. He should have the entrepreneurial spirit inside, his eyes should glow. And I suppose that the future of SKOLKOVO is based on people who have this drive, who understand that they invest money on this stage, but they are already living another life, in some other condition where this money doesn’t play any role».

Irina Linnik, SKOLKOVO MBA Alumni, graduated 2010, co-founder of "Knopka Zhizni":
«People buy you as a personality but not the words you speak out. That is why it is the worst variant when people try to adjust to the companion. Be yourself, be self-confident, don’t spell out everything that crosses your mind but try to deliver the information that could be interesting for the companion. If you came to find something out, you should listen more than talk».

Anna Puzey, SKOLKOVO: “Studying turned out to be harder than work”

Former marketing director for Arbat Capital, and now a student of the third intake of SKOLKOVO MBA programme, is sharing her impressions after two months of studies.

8 weeks have passed since I started my SKOLKOVO studies. Since then I have heard 6 courses, solved around 60 cases and passed 10 exams; two times a week we have met businessmen of Dmitry Grishin’s level (Mail.ru Group); I had a picture with Medvedev (my mom is pleased now); and I learned some basics of Chinese (the Russian part of our group is studying Chinese).

The only thing is that it all turned out a bit different than I expected. That’s why I will try to dispel some myths here again, this time about MBAs, basing on my SKOLKOVO experience, and also to give some advice to those who are choosing a programme for themselves now.

Studying turned out to be harder than work


When I was preparing to my GMAT exam, I thought that scoring 710 at it is the hardest thing about the whole MBA idea. As one of my classmates at pre-MBA courses told, “The thing is to get yourself into it, and then we’ll see”. Well, I’m afraid to disappoint some of you who are not really ready to stick to some intellectual labor – but here is the picture of my study materials for two weeks. Actually, all the first months at SKOLKOVO are pretty intense; this is done to prepare the students for corporate projects (all in all we are to pass through 6 projects).

SKOLKOVO students at the MIT start-up lab

Alexey Kushner, current SKOLKOVO MBA student, is sharing his impressions about an unusual weekend of September 16-18, which he spent at the MIT start-up laboratory.

In the end of their corporate module in the United States, SKOLKOVO students had a chance to take part in an unusual event named “MIT t=0” where participants are supposed to develop a business idea during a weekend. This event is held mostly for the new students of MIT in order to show them some success start-ups created by the graduates of various programmes (Master’s, PhD, MBA, Executive MBA). Everyone has an opportunity to work at the start-up laboratory for two intense days, supported by experts from various industries.

So here are Alexey’s impressions:

“On Friday night we started with 22 ideas presented by their holders in speeches of 30 seconds each. There were ideas for various spheres, but half of them were devoted to IT. One of IT projects was called “Stop developing web sites abroad!” and proposed creating a web-developing company where local computer students could work. Every idea-holder has a opportunity to communicate with people presented and create a team of different specialists, supporters, friends and those who want to have an extreme weekend.

Only 11 teams could make it till Saturday’s morning, most of them being IT projects. In the beginning of the day the teams presented three questions to audience, each. It is surprising but almost every question had someone to answer it with ready decisions and suggestions. While the teams were presenting, there were personal connections born and interesting networks organized. That was a terrific creative process!
In the evening we heard some expert speeches which gave us some good thoughts and useful information. It turned out that during the last month in Boston’s ecosystem there were very 20 companies which successfully raised funds, 19 were bought, two applied for IPO and one was listed.

Later this night there were several 5-minute presentations of successful start-ups by MIT graduates. And that was impressive! For instance, the OnChip Power company is working at commercialization of mini voltage transformer and has already attracted some venture funding. Another company, Ubiquitous Energy, which is working on sun batteries which can be printed on paper with a special printer, is developing on its own funds in order to increase its capitalization before attracting external investors.

Anna Puzey, SKOLKOVO: “If the school believes in you, you want to believe in the school”

A former Marketing Director for “Arbat Capital” and now a student of the third intake of SKOLKOVO MBA programme, Anna Puzey, dispels the myths surrounding the business school.

My life has slightly changed a month ago. I put my work on hold and moved from my appartment in the city centre to the suburbs. But no, that is not because of financial crisis hit; I just entered the SKOLKOVO business school.

And there it came from everybody around:
- Where have you been enrolled? Is that the “nano-banano” thing?
- How much is the tuition fee? Are you crazy?
- Give me that money now! You’re never going to work them back. I would understand if it was Harvard or Stanford, but this…

Well, in this column (which is going to be a regular one) I am trying to figure out what is true and what is false about SKOLKOVO.

So here are the five myths about SKOLKOVO:

Myth №1. Everybody can get in; you just need to have enough money. (You don’t need to pass the GMAT.)

Here are the facts only: in order to be admitted you need to pass 5 steps. I don’t know haw many people were in my round on the first stage, but only six of them got to the fourth one. There were five of us from Russia: an employee of a large bank, an entrepreneur, a venture investor, a graduate from one of the European schools and myself, plus a Peru citizen (an engineer, start-upper and business owner of 30 or so). As a result only I and this Peru guy were accepted (though I really don’t look like a millioner’s daughter).

The truth about SKOLKOVO MBA corporate module

Maria Fomina, SKOLKOVO MBA student, goes on with her impressions of working on corporate projects during the programme. Today she tells about her project within the Russian corporate module.

Anti-myth of the “corporative”: the truth about SKOLKOVO MBA corporate module

Author: Maria Fomina


The Project is done
One more landmark is achieved. The third practical MBA module has reached its completion with the reserve copies of our project papers and feedback forms sent to the MBA office. It seems that this post-equatorial stage of navigating in the corporate ocean and its Russian coasts turned out to be one of the most important for an MBA candidate.

Really, what can be more relevant for our career record than real experience of consulting the top-list Russian corporations and personal communication with their key stakeholders together with the project results’ presentation in front of their Boards? Indeed, that is an extremely valuable reputational asset both for future entrepreneurs and corporate managers. And my team was lucky twice! We were to work for one of the largest European banks, and this meant at least two things: 1) we had to master the “Banky” business (it sounds like the title of the famous book “Funky Business” – I hope you can forgive me for such a quibble); 2) we had a real-life business task, though a hard one to approach, – to manage changes in key principles of banking business model in Russia.

Petr Aven presentation at SKOLKOVO

On July 26 Petr Olegovich Aven, President of Alfa-Bank – one of the largest Russian banks – was a guest speaker at SKOLKOVO MBA programme.

Mr. Aven told about corporate management style in Alfa-Bank Group, and the students had an opportunity to ask all their questions.

The short video from the meeting is in Russian and doesn't have subtitles, but you may find the most interesting statements below.

“We initially had very formal relationships at "Alfa". All partners’ relations were written by the British lawyers… We have a very strict rule: no agreement can be violated. If having any disagreements we are trying to solve them between ourselves, involving no lawyers. Written agreements make us be honest.”

“It is impossible to get a job in "Alfa" through connections. If I take anyone through connections – I will violate my liabilities.”

“Business has nothing to do with humanism. Business can be compared to a cruel war operation…. If someone doesn’t want to give back his loan – we will get our money back anyway... Business for us is about abidance by rules. We are a very aggressive structure. We are using any legal opportunity to defend our interests and make money. Our legal service is the best one in Russia. We have never forgiven anyone for anything.”

Forest Lab - SKOLKOVO MBA graduates' project in the field of woodworking.

It seems that a great many students of the first SKOLKOVO MBA class have firmly decided to establish their own businesses.We have already told you about the "Knopka Zhizni" project ("Life Button") by Irina Linnik and Dmitry Yurchenko; about Marina Parfeonova's geolocation service; and recently - about Artemy Subbotin and the quality control technology for metal industry. Today we are presenting another technology project - Forest Lab.

Tigran Chibukhchyan and Murat Halishov, the founders of the Forest Lab project, became friends in SKOLKOVO while working on a project to develop an investment programme for the town of Svetly in Kaliningrad Region. The backgrounds of the young men are very different: Murat worked for five years in financial advisory services (Unicon, Delimiter) and Tigran was a medical school drop-out who helped to develop Apaga, a family business specialising in eco-tourism in Armenia. He also had his own business, a flooring company. During trips to Svetly, the young men came to understand that their views on the project are the same and they are comfortable working with each other. Why not come up with a joint business?

“I wanted to make use of the resources that the business school gave us,” said Murat.

SKOLKOVO MBA Corporate Module: Mysterious India

We’ll speak of India today. Dmitry Yusov, SKOLKOVO MBA student, is speaking about his experience from a corporate module in that distinctive country. You may also learn about students’ corporate projects in China in the article by Maria Fomina and in the interview with Igor Korotkiy.

- 2/3 of the students have chosen China to go for a corporate project. Why did you decide to go to India?

- Actually that was my fifth visit to India, that’s why I understood quite well what I was going to face there in terms of local culture and way of life. And I’d like to note that in spite of China’s intensive growth India keeps up – and soon may draw ahead of China in terms of economic development rates.

- Tell us something about the project, please.

- We worked for a large Charity Foundation that asked us to make a business model for a rural hospital so that it can become self sufficient. Our client – and the head of the Foundation – turned out to be a really unique person, and we were very happy to get to know him. Being a philosopher, a philanthrope, and a fashion designer, he is Gandhi’s follower and a very influential person in India. In France he was awarded a Blue Cross for his active support of Indian poor people. We were really happy to communicate with him, talk on various subjects, and he also seems pleased with the results of our work. What is of extra pleasure for us is the fact that our project will be brought to life, one way or another.

Last year the first class of SKOLKOVO MBA students already prepared a project for him, and they gave a very good account for their work. So we had to justify very high expectations for SKOLKOVO he had, and I think we managed to do so.

Interpreter for scientists: How to persuade an oligarch to believe in an innovative technology

Here is the translation of the article about our graduate Artemy Subbotin's project, published in the latest July issue of Forbes Russia. The original PDF-version in Russian is available here.

“It’s too hard for investors and clients to speak to the scientists directly: answering a simple question, scientists give you too much physics. My role is interpreting for them.” Artemiy Subbotin looks more like a doctoral student of an engineering school than a business man. Still the metal quality control machine he is promoting will already be erected at the Severstal plant in Cherepovets this fall.

Artemiy graduated from MATI (Russian State Technological University) and was a typical IT-guy. He got an opportunity to work not only bits and bytes but with people when he was employed by MDM Bank as a manager for internal audit of business processes. In four years Subbotin became Head of IT audit department and understood that he wants to influence business processes himself. Having no experience he went to SKOLKOVO for an MBA programme. From the Boston internship, where they were told a lot about technological start ups, Artemiy returned with a precise goal – to engage in commercialization of scientific inventions. The industry for work wasn’t a question; in a business school every student has a mentor, and Subbotin was lucky to have the Severstal owner, Alexey Mordashev – so he focused his mind on the challenges for metallurgy. Among his acquaintances there were some people already investing in the technology for nondestructive metal quality control.

SKOLKOVO MBA corporate module in China and India: first impressions

In late May SKOLKOVO MBA students returned from their two-month module in India and China where they worked on corporate projects dealing with the local companies’ specific business challenges. Now they are thinking of next projects, this time for Russian corporations, but still eager to share their impressions of this unique experience of practice-based learning.

Today we present the first story – by Maria Fomina, SKOLKOVO MBA student. Acting under the policy of confidentiality we can’t disclose the project’s details, but still the students will share their personal observations and impressions of the BRIC countries and some aspects of local business environment.

So we pass the word to Maria:

Beijing from within: some useful notes, some bookmarks, and some even notches telling about the Skolkovites’ stay in the den of the Asian Tiger.

55 Days of the Economic Miracle

55 – This is the number of days we spent in China, according to the Google Calendar that kept a watching eye on the SKOLKOVO module in Chindia (this is how we blandly named the Eastern BRICs – China and India).

The Beginning: A Ticket to the Silver-Winged Airplane
It is probably the worst bane for a young professional seeking to catch the wind of luck in global economy – to love travelling more than anything else in the world and at the same time to be deathly afraid of flying. Yes, it is only 7 hours of flying to Beijing; yes, together with leadership expert Prof. Pierre Casse and classmates who can sugar the pill; but flying is still scary!

At the registration desk each of us had to leave around 10 kilo of extra luggage. Among non-essentials I left the library’s “Culture Code” and Paul Harrison’s volume on marketing – now feeling myself skinned in the face of project work

I’m panicking; and falling asleep.

Where do the Partners Have a Button?

Here is the translation of Vedomosti article about “Knopka Zhizni” (“Life Button”), a project of SKOLKOVO MBA graduates. The original text in Russian can be found here

This January, Dmitry Yurchenko, the SKOLKOVO graduate, created a company for selling the fall sensors for the elderly people. Will the idea popular in the West work in Russia?

“During the final stage of the MBA programme at the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO we were to present the business projects we would like to implement.” – Yurchenko who precedently was heading the Derivative Operations’ department at Renaissance Capital says. – “I studied the markets of energy efficiency, IT and mobile medicine – estimating them in terms of competitiveness and capital intensity. I decided to focus on the medicine.”

Four months before graduation, when Dmitry was studying Entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he involved Irina Linnik, his classmate, into the project – first as a marketing specialist and then as a partner. This January they have registered “A-clever” LLC. (According to the Register of Legal Entities Dmitry has 57% of charter capital and Irina has 43%.)

No-Doctor Business
The initial plan was to sell devices that would enable people do cardiograms, measure blood pressure and blood sugar level, remotely, without going to the doctor – and then to send the data through internet connection to their therapist or an insurance company. According to Yurchenko, such devices have been quite popular in the Western countries for the past 30 years. “Yet our doctors are too conservative and hard to convince that such things can be practical,” – he says. Consequently there had to be found a business model not involving the doctors. “We decided to focus on the services market for the elderly and disabled persons’ relatives.” Thus the “Knopka Zhizni” (the company’s brand) appeared – the service of calling for help in emergency situations. “We studied statistics and learned that in case of a downfall more than 50% of the elderly and disabled can not get up themselves and more than 80% - can not dial a telephone number”.

“Pressing the SOS-button, that also can be inbuilt into the cell phone, enables voice connectivity with the operator of the company’s call-center, and if the emergency is confirmed we contact relatives, neighbors or an ambulance,” – Irina says. – “According to the contract terms, like a satellite signaling company, we guarantee that we will accept the call and process it. Unfortunately we can not influence the work of ambulances, but we do increase the probability of receiving help.” The company doesn’t have their own ambulance team, now they can only use the municipal services, but they plan to start working with private ambulances in future. “That may become either a joint project with insurance companies that provide an emergency calling service or we will buy that service from them and offer it with the button to our clients.” – Irina explains.

SKOLKOVO MBA: Work on Real Projects Has Started!

While all of us are gradually resuming our work, SKOLKOVO students have already started an active work of putting their knowledge into practice.

A period from January till March is one of the most serious one in the education process for SKOLKOVO MBA students: the first module that includes the preparation of practical business solutions in particular areas is under way. 4 previous months were just a theoretical preparation for them, but true education begins when they work on real projects, when material and lectures given by professors are consolidated through practice and they acquire valuable experience and knowledge.

The module covers projects in public sector and social sphere. You can read about last year's projects here. This year students will prepare 6 projects... Yet let’s ask straight Alexey Germanovich, Public Projects Director, about that.

- Please tell us about projects which students are to work on in this module.
- Just like last year we’ve tried to select as projects the most urgent tasks Russian economy faces and show students by these examples the way public and social sector works from the inside. Since the current intake consists of fewer students, the number of projects is 6 rather than 8. We’ve divided them like last year: one half is preparing in Moscow, mostly with federal authorities, and the other half is developing projects for Russian regions.

In Moscow we continue working on the project dealing with implementation of changes to Federal Law No. 94 on state purchase contracts that SKOLKOVO students developed last year. That project was a success; it was supported by a number of state authorities and industrial organizations. We received an offer to continue work in the same way, and the team started.

The second Moscow project that we are working on is ordered by our last year’s client - Ministry of transport of the Russian Federation. Igor Levitin, Head of the Ministry, suggested that our team should estimate a business model of the Moscow-Kiev highway. Thus, we had a project for airports, Russian sea ports with Ministry of transport and now we have a project for a highway, i.e. we cover all areas of the Russian transport industry.

Another project in Moscow is a non-financial reporting ordered by Russian Ministry of health and social development headed by Mrs. Golikova. By this project the Ministry wants to encourage Russian companies to be more active in reporting their social success and achievements. Social reporting is a very popular in the world now and it seems useful because it clearly shows the interface of business, state and society. If we manage to promote this idea with the help of the project, I think the project will enrich the students and be of much benefit to Russian business and non-commercial community.

As regards regions, we have a project with our old client – the city of Cherepovets. Although the client is not the city administration as before, but the governor of the region, Vyacheslav Pozgalev, we will continue a project on developing a new quarter in the heart of the city around an old city museum - "Galskikh mansion".

A museum subject will also be covered in the project that we make in Volgograd. This is a project called “Victory” around the Mamayev Kurgan memorial, where a unique entertaining centre “Russia” should be created.

Our last regional project is a project in Kazan, where the client is its Mayor. This projects deals with positioning and marketing of the city. It’s interesting to say that we’ve received this project with the help of our alumnus Ivan Kuznetsov who I taught just a month ago. Now he is one of my clients, which is great, I think, because all over the world all business schools exist thanks to their alumni, and alumni help a business schools develop. Although we have only one class of graduates, we have examples of our cooperation with our former students.

First SKOLKOVO MBA Alumni

15 December will go down in history of SKOLKOVO School: it was the day when a long-awaited graduation party of our students of the first SKOLKOVO MBA Programme took place! In September 2009 they received student cards from Dmitry Medvedev, President of Russia. How fast those 16 months of hard studies, work and activities have passed!

During their studies MBA students have visited several continents, acquired new friends and business partners, created their own start-ups and, of course, got a lot of valuable knowledge and advice for the future from prominent businessmen, politicians, culture and sport celebrities and, of course, from their personal mentors.

You could watch the development of events in our social media platforms :)

Wilfried Vanhonacker, School Dean, opened an official ceremony and reminded of all important events of those months. Ruben Vardanian, SKOLKOVO President, emphasized in his ceremonial speech that the graduation was just a beginning. Andrei Volkov, SKOLKOVO Dean, wished the students to follow their own way and move forward in spite of any difficulties.

During an official part special SKOLKOVO Awards were granted. The awards in different nominations were received by
Sultanbek Khunkaev – The Most outstanding work
Gamid Akhmedov – The Most socially aware student
Marina Parfenova – The Most creative student
Alexander Khomenko – The Most entrepreneurial student

It’s difficult to find words to describe emotions that filled the guests at the graduation party – both happiness, and excitement, and pride, and sadness, because the first class of students leaves the walls of the SKOLKOVO Campus to start free floating!

We do not say goodbye to our alumni and will report their activities further.

“Life Alert” - SKOLKOVO students' project

Students from the first SKOLKOVO MBA intake have been busy with their start-up projects: projects of all teams are to be presented before a strict expert jury as early as in December.

Today we will introduce you with one of the projects of our students called “Life Alert”. High techniques help to care about our health and health of our nearest and dearest. We talked with one of the members of team, Dmitry Yurchenko.

- Dima, please give details of what you are working at?
- It concerns a serious, really terrible problem that many of us face. Let’s imagine an elderly person; to make it more illustrative, let it be Santa Claus who is known to everyone from childhood. And now let’s reconstruct a critical situation. An early morning, he isn’t completely awake yet, he goes to the kitchen to make a cup of hot tea. Suddenly he loses balance that actually often happens to elderly people. Falls down. Statistically, when falling, unfortunately, elderly people don’t have time to react and protect vulnerable spots, so falls are very dangerous for them. That is what happened to Santa Claus – he started falling, hit himself hard, lost consciousness, bleeding began…

Some time later he came to consciousness, felt all his body aching and incredibly weak, so that he was incapable to turn on his own. Time went by; he couldn’t find strength to call for help and kept on lying on the cold floor. Two hours later his muscles started to decay (myoglobin decays), another four hours later his kidneys stopped. Santa Claus lay, suffered and knew that it was long till the next New Year, so no one was likely to come to see him…

Some hours later it was impossible to save Santa Claus at all. But to turn him over in order to suspend those terrible processes would be enough.
Just imaging how many elderly people, lonely or living separate from their relatives, face such critical situations…
What do you think could have saved a life of Santa Claus?

- If his grandchildren had learnt somehow what happened…
- Right! If Santa Claus had a chance to call for help, if there were a help call button within his reach – on his neck or wrist, for instance – his life would be saved. It is that we are working over now – we are developing a business plan for the life save button. Our project is called “Life Alert”. It can seem to sound simple that some single button can dramatically change the state of things, save a human life, but that’s what it is.

Let’s examine another scenario: let’s assume that Santa Claus didn’t come to consciousness after his fall and, consequently, was hypothetically unable to press the button. We have a solution for such cases too – a fall sensor. This is a device with a sensor which can distinguish daily actions from falling and send a warning signal of a possible fall to an emergency response console “Life Alert”. More advanced versions of this device can control a location of an elderly person by GPS, read an electrocardiogram, monitor an organism response to medicine taken, detect critical organism indications and inform a patient, a doctor and family members of a possible danger to health and life of the person.

- A story with Santa Claus is very sad. How often does it happen?
- Very often! There are more than 18 million elderly people over 65 years old in Russia. Over 7 million of them will statistically fall this year, with most of them falling again during the year with various severe consequences. About half of those who fall at this age cannot get up unassisted. Over 7% of falls result in fractures for the elderly. About 10% of falls end in severe head and internal injuries. It means that since you and I started talking (and you started reading this interview), several tens of the elderly have fallen, with many of them lying waiting for help.