Hackathon of the whole country: about how IT specialists to arrange Digital Breakthrough in Kazan
The finals of the all-Russian IT contest is taking place in the capital of Tatarstan
Kazan is hosting the finals of the all-Russian IT competition Digital Breakthrough from 27 to 29 September. Its main goal is to find new personnel for the digital economy and improve the lives of citizens through the introduction of IT. About how experts are going to look for the “gems” among the strongest teams and projects, as well as about the opportunities that the competition opens for the winners — read in the material of Realnoe Vremya.
“Hackathon of the whole country”
Digital Breakthrough competition, organized by the presidential platform ‘Russia — The Country of Opportunities’, has started this spring. As Deputy Prime Minister of Tatarstan for Digital Economy Roman Shaykhutdinov told at the briefing on 24 September, about 66,000 applications for participation from all regions of the country have been submitted within the framework of this event.
“The stage of online testing was completed on May 20, to which more than 37,000 people were admitted, who took part in the development of various IT solutions. 19,200 participants confirmed their competences by passing the appropriate tests. Face-to-face events, including in Tatarstan, were held in June-July in 40 cities of Russia. In fact, it is a hackathon of the whole country, the final of which is held in Tatarstan,” said the speaker.
Let us remind that in Tatarstan the regional stage was held at the site of IT-Park, and following its results, 15 teams passed to the final. In particular, one of the winners was the team of students of Innopolis University ‘One Step from the Deadline’, as well as the participants of the track ‘Education and Science’.
“The main task is to identify creative people”
About 600 teams from 77 regions of the country are taking part in the final of the competition, which is held from 27 to 29 September at Kazan Expo international exhibition centre. The teams consist of specialists in the field of programming, design and management, who have successfully passed the regional selection. According to the results of the control activities, 200 teams will be admitted to the final defence before the expert commission.
The participants will be offered tasks in five main tracks: Education and Science, Healthcare, Public Administration, Housing and Urban Environment, Transport and Logistics. In addition, school and student hackathons are to be held within the finals.
It should be noted that the finals of the competition, as well as the regional stage, are to be held in the hackathon format. According to Roman Shaykhutdinov, this is continuous, several days long, development of projects, as a rule, with the demonstration of prototypes that can be used in the real sector of the economy in the future.
“If to simplify a little, the main idea of the competition, first of all, is to reveal and give the chance to citizens of Russia of the most economically active age to try the forces in business and innovations so that people weren't afraid to start with their projects,” the vice-prime minister said. “Such competitions are extremely important for the country, where there is such a huge intellectual potential. In our country, people are very smart and creative. The main task is to identify these people, support them, give them the opportunity to start, and show that there are no insurmountable barriers.”
Not only prizes
As Vladislav Davankov, the deputy director general of ‘Russia — The Country of Opportunities’ ANO, said that the best teams not only have the opportunity to receive the support of their projects but also job offers. As a confirmation of his words, he cited the example of Kirov Oblast, where a participant of Digital Breakthrough got a job and the opportunity to implement his project within the government.
“This event is aimed at ensuring that people have new projects, initiatives and they have reached the prototype stage. But the prototype is not a finished product, it needs to be brought to the implementation stage, so we have planned a two-month pre-acceleration programme, it is going to be presented in more detail at the event,” added the head of the competition Digital Breakthrough, Oleg Mansurov.
According to the results of the competition, the participants will have the opportunity to start a business, get a job in the leading companies of the country, win a cash prize for the team in the amount of 500,000 rubles, as well as to receive a grant from the Innovation Assistance Fund for the development of their project. In addition, the contestants will have the opportunity to be trained in special educational programmes in the Management Workshop Senezh — the educational centre of ‘Russia — The Country of Opportunities’ ANO.