The innovative business accelerator of the city ​​of Rostov-on-Don  is a project initiated by the Department of City Economics in order to support innovative projects from concept to implementation.

The innovative accelerator has been successfully implemented since 2019, 60 Don innovators have become its participants.
One of the examples of the successful implementation of scientific and technological development was the project of the participant Solop Konstantin with the HappyDay startup.

HappyDay is the largest wedding marketplace where you can find performers to organize your celebration.

The project began in 2012, when, having gained experience in the field of selling goods for the holidays, Konstantin had the idea of ​​creating an advanced IT platform with goods and services for organizing celebrations. To work out the idea, it was necessary to analyze 30 competitors in Russia, the USA, and Europe, organize 1200 problematic interviews, and take part in the “Startup Tour” program from Skolkovo.

In 2016, a marketplace layout was created and a project team was formed. Soon "Happy Day" will receive an award from the Governor of the Rostov Region V. Yu. Golubev  for "The best web portal or website with Internet services."

In 2019, having completed training in an innovative business accelerator, the project "Happy Day" received a new impetus for development. In the accelerator, a professional tracker is attached to each project, which helps with all issues, using its expert knowledge and infrastructure to support innovation.

The knowledge gained in the accelerator helped Konstantin enter the MIPT master's program at the Department of Technological Entrepreneurship to work out new ideas for the development of the platform.

The pandemic has created difficulties in attracting investments for the development of the marketplace. However, the team learned to work remotely, optimizing all processes. The project won the UMNIK competitions from the Innovation Promotion Foundation, and the Best Business Story from the dollar billionaire Igor Rybakov.

Today the Happy Day marketplace is successfully developing and popular in Russian cities. For the current year, the project team plans to achieve better results and attract more investments.

“Surround yourself with people smarter than yourself, and you will definitely find them in an innovative business accelerator ,” - K. Solop

The website of the company happyday.ru.