The final selection and award ceremony for the “Project for My City” competition was held on 16 February in Center-invest Bank’s congress hall. The competition was launched on 4 December 2014 by the Rostov-on-Don City Administration and Center-invest Bank, in partnership with the Rostov Regional Enterprise Agency and local universities.
The “Project for My City” competition is a new initiative to encourage “creative micro clusters” to find and implement solutions to local issues. Dr Vysokov, chairman of the Board of Directors of Center-invest Bank, envisages a “micro cluster” as including an entrepreneur, a representative of the local authorities, a student, and a university lecturer. Entries were invited in six categories: environmental, social, economic, construction, transport, and housing and communal services (utilities).
The competition’s key objectives were: 1) to stimulate and support public initiatives; 2) the development and implementation of new social, environmental and cultural approaches; and 3) to present Rostov-on-Don as a city that has built a multilevel partnership between entrepreneurs, university students and lecturers, non-governmental and non-profit organisations, and local government bodies, on the basis of shared interests and mutual trust.
More than 200 entries were received from Rostov-on-Don residents. Of these, 125 met all of the competition criteria and were accepted. The winners were chosen by an expert panel and the 13,000 local residents who voted online on the competition website (микрокластер.рф).
Winners:
- “Vitamin” Food Outlets (micro cluster leader Inna Borisovna Glagola),
- Separate Waste Collection and Recycling" (micro cluster leader Yury Yurevich Korushev),
- Provision by Disabled People of IT Support (Anna Mikhailovna Prokhorova),
- Residential Parking (micro cluster leader Nikolai Nikolayevich Bondarev),
- Environmental Management Internet Incubator (Roman Sergeyevich Volodin),
- Memory Tree sculpture (Dmitry Vladimirovich Monastyrksy)
“The first micro cluster competition was launched successfully and the results have been impressive,” said Dr Vysokov. “Ultimately, all of the competition organisers were winners: the city administration, the project developers, their friends, and Center-invest Bank. 125 interesting projects were proposed and more than 13,000 Rostov residents voted in the competition. Twenty projects stood out for Center-invest Bank’s Loan Committee and we are willing to finance these projects at a preferential interest rate of 12% per annum.”
Pro-active and positive-minded citizens can visit the “Positive Rostov” group on Vkontakte (Ростов позитивный) to discuss projects and propose solutions for their city. Join us!