On 1 of November 2013 at the Exhibition «Open Innovations» the ceremony of the Challenge Cup-2013 awarding was held in Moscow. The nominations were: «The Best Innovative Region of Russia» and the special category «The Best Innovation in the social sphere».

St. Petersburg was recognized as the best innovative region in Russia in 2013!  The victory was brought by the project of University ITMO «Easy Genomics», under the leadership of Fedor Tsarev. The the essence of the project is the development of a cloud platform for the analysis of the relationship between genomic and geographical data.

«St. Petersburg rightly deserved this title. In 2013, in our city, in addition to the traditional St. Petersburg International Innovation Forum, such great events as the world finals of the international competition of technology projects Microsoft Imagine Cup and the finals of the World Cup of team student programming were held,» — says Inna Shalyto, the deputy chairman of the Committee on Industrial Policy and Innovation in St. Petersburg.

The Challenge Cup was organized by the Agency of Innovation Development of the Regions, the Economic Development Ministry, the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, the Fund of Kudrin for support of civic initiatives and the Agency of Social Information.