The PROD International Olympiad brought together 12,000 schoolchildren from 64 countries

About 12,000 schoolchildren from 64 countries have applied for the International Industrial Development Olympiad PROD this year. This year, the competition officially received world status and was held in Russian and English.

At the Olympiad, the participants tried themselves as industrial developers in the field of IT. The main areas included frontend, backend, and mobile development. The students presented projects such as an AI assistant, a cashback banking service, and a social network as results.

According to one of the participants, Maxim Vodopyanov, the teams had to write projects "completely from scratch," and the tasks involved a creative approach. He noted that, in fact, they created ready-made products, ready for use and ready for market launch.

In total, more than 300 schoolchildren from 49 regions of Russia, as well as Belarus, India, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and the USA participated in the Olympiad. A participant from the USA, 14-year-old Rafael Church, said that he had never seen such a competition on such a scale.

"I really enjoyed the Olympics. It's just a great place to showcase your skills and meet a lot of new people," he said.

According to the results of the competition, 22 schoolchildren from 12 cities of Russia became winners. At the same time, the winners and prize-winners also received grants to study at the Central University and the Higher School of Economics, as well as the opportunity to complete an internship at T-Bank.

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Ilya Gurov, First Deputy Executive Director of the Russian Geographical Society, announced on January 18 that the society would hold the International Geography Olympiad for BRICS Schoolchildren in Russia for the first time in the summer of 2026. The Olympiad will be held in two stages — field and desk, where participants will solve problems in the forestry industry, mining of rare metals, and study the development of cities and transport routes.

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