Uralchem aims to implement new breakthrough technologies already in 2021

Uralchem Innovation (part of Uralchem), together with the Skolkovo Foundation, has completed the Digital Challenge competition for innovative ideas. As a result of the event, all five applications, which were in the finals, will be financed. The prize fund to implement pilot versions of the best innovative solutions in industry 4.0 was increased to 10 million rubles (approximately $124.3 thousand).

Digital Challenge is a competition of innovative ideas aimed to find solutions to the problems put by Uralchem and Uralkali in the following areas: digital modeling, video analytics, industrial safety, and labor protection.

The competition was held in several stages. After the selection of ideas, the next stage was to find external teams that can implement them. In total, 157 applications were accepted in absentia, while 20 of them reached the final. A week before the final stage, participants began active work on projects to prepare prototypes of their solutions.

The jury, which included the leaders of Uralchem, Uralkali, and Uralchem Innovation, estimated the prepared solutions. The initiators of applications also took part in the discussion. All the projects were evaluated by several indicators. Only during the final event, it was decided to increase the prize fund and expand the list of ideas that will be implemented.

“The main task of this competition is to find innovative ideas for the digitalization of production sites of Uralchem. We are interested to sooner introduce them to the plants as these ideas are aimed to increase the efficiency of the production process. It will have a positive impact on financial performance. In 2020, we will try to provide the winners with access to our equipment, machines, and the needed information,” noted Sergey Momtsemlidze General Director of Uralchem.