UpGrowth x Skolkovo: the only African partner of one of the world's largest innovation ecosystems

UpGrowth x Skolkovo: the only African partner of one of the world's largest innovation ecosystems

In May 2026, in Moscow, UpGrowth signed a memorandum of understanding with the Skolkovo Foundation. UpGrowth is its only African partner. This is not an honorary title. It is concrete access, for Algerian companies, to thousands of already proven technologies.

Who Skolkovo is

The Skolkovo Foundation is one of the largest innovation ecosystems in the world. It brings together thousands of resident technology companies across finance, energy, industry, agriculture, water, logistics, telecommunications and smart cities. Technologies that already work, deployed at scale, and that until now almost never reached the Algerian market.

The memorandum was signed at Startup Village in Moscow, the largest innovation gathering in Russia. We tell the story of that day in our article on Startup Village 2026 and the signing.

What the partnership opens for Algeria

For years, access to serious technology was told as a one-way street: look elsewhere, wait, ask. This partnership opens a door in the other direction.

An Algerian company can now search, inside an ecosystem of thousands of proven solutions, for the answer to a concrete problem it could not solve on its own. National-scale fraud detection, smart irrigation in harsh climates, banking automation, industrial efficiency, water management. These solutions exist. The partnership makes them reachable.

The first concrete step: the corporate challenge

The first operational step of this partnership is the UpGrowth x Skolkovo corporate challenge.

The idea is simple. A challenge is a concrete problem that costs your company time or money. You describe it in plain words, no technical specification. UpGrowth and Skolkovo screen the ecosystem and bring you the technologies that already solve that type of problem. You then decide whether a meeting is worth your time. No commitment.

The eight priority sectors

The program covers the eight priority sectors defined with Skolkovo:

• FinTech and digital services (first wave)
• AgriTech and food security (first wave)
• Energy, oil and gas
• Industrial technologies
• Logistics and smart ports
• Water management
• Telecommunications
• Smart cities and infrastructure

FinTech and AgriTech are the first wave, but all eight sectors are open. A bank, an insurer, an agro-industrial group, an energy operator or a logistics company can submit a challenge today.

How it works

1. You describe your challenge in about ten minutes, in the dedicated form.
2. We screen the ecosystem. UpGrowth and the Skolkovo team shortlist the technologies that already answer your class of problem.
3. You meet the matches. Intro calls, online pitch sessions, or an in-person visit, in the format you choose.

No commitment is required. You keep control at every step.

Going further

Are you a foreign company or investor looking to enter the Algerian market? See our soft landing support. Want to create your company in Algeria? UpGrowth Connect handles everything: domiciliation, tax IDs, commercial registry, bank accounts.

Have a challenge worth solving? Describe it at upgrowth.dz/corporate-challenge. Ten minutes, no commitment, and you receive the technologies that already solve it.