Sergei Sobyanin: 21 Moscow projects are the best in industrial design
The capital wrapped up the national Best Industrial Design of Russia award. Sergei Sobyanin wrote about the competition, its winners and their projects on his blog.
“The latest industrial products should not only be functional and ergonomic, but also aesthetically attractive. This is the only way they can compete in the domestic and international markets. To boost domestic industrial design, last year we, together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Culture of Russia, established the Best Industrial Design of Russia award. It was successful, indeed. This year, it has got the national status, and the number of participants has doubled; the organizers received over one thousand applications from almost 50 Russian regions,” the Moscow Mayor shares.
It is for the first time that the competition has brought together companies from Vladivostok, Murmansk, Pskov, Sevastopol, the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, the Altai Territory, the Astrakhan Region, the Komi Republic, the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), etc.
It also includes more categories (13 instead of 8), such as Vehicle Design, Design of Industrial Equipment, Design of Medical Equipment, Design of Household Items, Urban Design, Design of Industrial Spaces, Design of Food Packaging, Design of Pharmaceutical Packaging, Design of Consumer Goods, Clothing Design, Footwear Design, Design of Accessories, and Jewelry Design. Almost 200 projects made it to the finals, 21 out of 30 winners coming from Moscow.
On top of that, upon public vote that involved more than 500,000 people, the People’s Choice award was awarded to 13 projects; 10 of them were Moscow-born, too. The winners are now allowed to place a special quality mark on their products.
From healthy desserts to laser machines
In the Urban Design category, the first place winner is Parus Electro, a developer and manufacturer of electrical conversion equipment, whose team presented a project of a fast 2 Guns DC EV Charging Station with the average charging time of approximately 30–40 minutes. It also has a built-in display that clearly shows battery charge levels and available power modes. The company’s products are used in the capital and in lots of other regions throughout the country.
The first place in the Design Industrial Equipment was won for the second consecutive year by Lassard with the Smart XL laser cutting machine, capable of chopping metal, hard alloys, copper, ceramics, rubber, and graphite. In 2023, it boosted outputs of laser equipment by 200 per cent, whereas in 1Q 2024, they grew by 66 per cent with sales having increased by RUB 250 million. Today they produce about 100 machines per year, including for aircraft and shipbuilding companies.
The Design of Food Packaging was won by healthy dessert manufacturer Nattys that designed packaging for its sugar-free Nattys&Go chocolate nut paste bars.
The brand’s range includes nut and protein bars, snacks, in addition to peanut, almond, coconut, chocolate and cashew butter. Last year alone, the company produced over 4.5 million bars and more than 340 tons of nut butters; the products can be found both in large federal retail chains and on marketplaces.
In the Jewelry Design category, the winner, Aliot, was chosen both by experts and by the public. The favorite is its Evolucering, a payment ring, which can replace a bank card, travel card, bonus card, or access card. The ring can be made of silver or other metals; it does not require recharging, is highly durable and waterproof, compatible with various payment systems and safe for use. In the future, such rings will be available at a number of major banks.
Another popular vote winner in the Design of Industrial Equipment is a manufacturer of industrial robotic systems, TechnoRed, with its Redcargo cobot robotic system intended for convenient placement of finished products on a pallet for further processing, transportation or packaging. It is highly user-friendly, indeed, just set two points — for origin and destination, its path being calculated and rebuilt automatically, all items handled in the most efficient way.
Today, such systems are employed at more than 30 enterprises in Moscow and the Moscow Region, Novosibirsk, Cheboksary, Stavropol Krai, and Vladimir Region. The machines have already proven their effectiveness at food, chemical, construction and many other production sites.
The first-place winner selected by the public vote in the Design of Medical Equipment is Motorica that presented a new multifunctional forearm prosthesis with microprocessor Manifesto Hand control.
The user can switch between 14 quick grips for different tasks, for example, grab small or large things, control electronic devices with touch screens, hold a glass, or open a door. This was achieved thanks to sensors built into the prosthesis to read muscle movements.
The company was announced a winner for the second year in a row, as in 2023 it won the top award with its Manifesto Fingers bionic multi-grip prosthetic finger and hand.
Founded in 2016, it has produced more than 8,000 traction and bionic prostheses for users from 18 countries around the globe.
