March 22, 2021

 

Umnik Cherkizovo competition for young scientists advances to final stage

 

  

Cherkizovo Group and the Foundation of Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises (FASIE) have announced the winners of their joint UMNIK Cherkizovo competition.

 

The contest crowned young scientists whose food manufacturing projects were deemed the most promising. Some finalists had received job offers from Cherkizovo Group – Russia's largest meat producer – in addition to monetary prizes to help jump-start their projects.

 

UMNIK Cherkizovo started in November 2020 and welcomed students from agricultural universities across Russia. The participants submitted projects related to the food industry, meat and meat products, plant- and animal-based feeds, feed additives, biotechnology and genomic selection.

 

Out of a total of 168 submissions, 22 were shortlisted.

 

The panel for the final round held in Moscow included judges from Cherkizovo Group, FASIE, Gorbatov's All-Russian Meat Research Institute and the Innopraktika foundation.

 

Before deciding on the five winners, the judges inquired each finalist plenty on the intricacies of their projects and how they would go about realising them.

 

Each winner will get a RUB500,000 (US$6,717) grant from FASIE, with Cherkizovo awarding an additional RUB300,000 (US$4,030). To help bring their projects to fruition, the winners will also be able to use Cherkizovo Lab equipment and visit the group's facilities all around Russia.

 

"The UMNIK programme has been around for over a decade and has helped more than 20,000 young scientists. This year's competition was the largest in the programme's history in terms of grant sizes – all thanks to Cherkizovo. With this additional financial support, we will be able to dedicate more care and time to our projects, making sure they definitely find their consumer," said deputy CEO of FASIEm Andrey Mikitas.

 

"We are happy to see how excited students, universities and researchers are about the UMNIK Cherkizovo competition. On the business side of things, we are constantly on the lookout for the most advanced ideas and solutions," said Armen Pogosyan, head of R&D and member of Cherkizovo Group's management board.

 

"This is why we gladly support promising projects that hold practical potential for production and can push the Russian meat industry forward."

 

- Cherkizovo