These days, Kazan is hosting the XX Venture Forum 2026 – the largest event of the venture investment industry, where ideas, capital and people meet – technology companies, investors, enterprises and representatives of government bodies.

At the Forum’s exposition, more than 180 startups from all over Russia are presented, however, a special place among them is occupied by the vast area of the University Technology Entrepreneurship Platform – the partner of the current Forum. It is no coincidence that Valery Falkov, the Minister of Science and Higher Education of Russia, was one of the main speakers at the event. As a reminder, the platform was created in 2022 with the aim of supporting and developing student technological entrepreneurship.

Among the top Russian university startups, there are two projects from KNRTU that were included in the TOP 10 in 2025. These are Andrey Goryachev's startups "Emultechnologies" and BiSurf ("Likhimtech"), a graduate student of the Department of HTPNG Regina Gaffanova.

– We were invited to the forum as a bright startup, an example of how you can step into business from student entrepreneurship, – said Andrey Goryachev. – We were given the opportunity to tell about our developments – and today their line has expanded significantly, now it is not only road construction chemistry (bitumen emulsifiers), but also industrial, household chemistry – various conditioners, rinse aids, fabric softeners, there are also cosmetic products, new biocidal surfactants. In fact, we have started to occupy the empty niches a little, which suffer from import dependence on foreign suppliers. The products of the startup are based on their own synthesis technology:

– We are considering and analyzing all kinds of domestic components, selecting the optimal compositions, and creating our own product line.

In addition to its leader, Andrey Goryachev, the project team consists of five people: students from KNRTU and a scientist-technologist. The startup is growing rapidly: currently, there are 11 products on the forum, but there are more than 13 in the line (according to Andrey, two of them were not packaged in time). However, in December, there were only five products.

"This year, my startup, BiSurf, which creates a dual-action surfactant-based reagent for increasing oil recovery, not only made it to the top 10 of university startups, but also made it to the top 10 of the Tatarstan Investment and Venture Forum," said Regina. "We participated in the finals of several major events, including the Moscow Startup Forum, the Russian Young Scientists Congress, and the Tatarstan Student of the Year, and we are currently conducting pre-pilot tests with our partner, Gazprom Neft."

Why is the startup called BiSurf? As Regina explained, our agents combine the properties of two main types of chemicals used in oil production, these are surfactants and polymers. The maximum effect is achieved when using both types. However, in the current conditions, the implementation of chemical flooding is unprofitable, so we have developed a reagent that combines the properties of these two types of chemistry – the reagent works both as a surfactant, washing oil from the surface of rocks, and as polymers, displacing oil, thickening water.

In addition, the forum featured a project in the field of creative industries by Elena Shcherbakova, a postgraduate student at the Department of Logistics at the Institute of Innovation Management, called "Imajaker GreenGo" – an AI image service with robotic production under its own brand. The startup was selected as one of the 150 Russian startups by the Russian Venture Forum, included in the forum's catalog, and received a booth and the opportunity to participate in pitch sessions in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Software.

“Under the guidance of Professor Alexey Shinkevich, we created a virtual image maker and developed the GrigSo mobile app with a virtual image maker based on an AI agent with a “cultural” code,” said Elena. “In this app, users can not only create a personalized fashion look, but also receive recommendations that include national traditions and etiquette rules, as well as links to online marketplaces and resources for purchasing necessary goods and services within a specified budget.

By the way, the app is already available for download on RuStore . There is also a landing page .

The forum also includes a business program on the country's investment market trends. At one of these events, a panel discussion on the development of Russia's creative economy and the cases of the Republic of Tatarstan, Natalia Tikhonova, Director of the Institute of Light Industry Technologies, Fashion, and Design at KNRTU, presented a report. She discussed the university's innovative projects and the training of personnel for the creative industry, demonstrating that the university not only prepares specialists for the industry but also serves as a generator of ideas, a platform for startups, and a link between science, creativity, and business. It is no coincidence that over the past three years, students have created 33 small enterprises as part of the Student Startup competition in the Creative Industries category. "KNRTU conducts training sessions on youth entrepreneurship and provides support to graduates in creating their own startups," emphasized Natalia.