The full-time semi-final of the IEK 2026 Electricians Championship starts in the Tula region

On April 1, the Tula Region will host the first of four semi—finals of the IEK International Electrical Engineering Championship, one of the largest industry professional skills competitions. Since 2025, the championship has reached an international level and collects thousands of applications from participants from Russia and the CIS. This year, for the first time, it includes excursions to the company's production sites, and participants from the Russian Federation will be able to undergo an independent qualification assessment (NOC) with the receipt of a state-issued document. The winners of the semi-finals will be able to compete for the main prize of the competition and for a ticket to the International Championship of High-tech professions "High-tech: skills of the future".

The semi-final was organized by the IEK GROUP and the Agency for the Development of Professional Skills with the support of the Government of the Tula region.

"Over the years, the IEK Electricians' Championship has transformed from an industry competition into a large-scale professional competence development platform that unites business, education and government institutions. The holding of semi-finals in the regions reflects their growing role in training personnel for industry and introducing modern professional standards. This season, for the first time, we organized excursions to our factories so that participants could see from the inside what the production of equipment looks like from the idea to the assembly," said Natalia Belskaya, HR Director of the IEK GROUP.

The business program of the Championship will be held at the Center for Advanced Professional Training of the Tula region (TSOPP). The central topic of the Business Program will be a discussion of the human resources potential of industrial enterprises and tools for its development.

Presentations will be made by the heads of the Agency for the Development of Professional Skills and the IEK GROUP, representatives of the Government of the Tula region, the leadership of the institutes of the National Research University "MEI", representatives of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives are scheduled to participate.

The participants of the business program will be representatives of enterprises of the Tula region, the main employers of the clusters of the Federal project "Professionalism", the leadership of colleges of the Tula region.

The competition will be held at the site of the Yasnogorsk Technological College. 15 semi-finalists in the "Professionals" and "Juniors" leagues will take part in them.

The qualifying stage of the semi-finals covered 42 regions of Russia in eight Federal Districts from Bryansk to Magadan. Electricians from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Belgorod, Vologda, Ivanovo, Leningrad, Lipetsk, and Moscow regions were able to qualify for the semi-finals of the competition.

One of the key events of the semi-final will be an excursion to the IEK GROUP production complex in Yasnogorsk. Here, guests and participants of the championship will be able to get acquainted with the process of equipment production at the IEK GROUP enterprise in the Tula region, and will also take part in the opening of the showroom, which will feature equipment manufactured by the company in Russia.

The stage will end with a solemn ceremony of awarding the winners at the Yasnogorsk Technological College.

All participants of the semi-final will receive an international Skills Passport confirming their qualifications according to the BRICS standard. And the winners will receive a ticket to the Finals of the championship, which will be held in Ulyanovsk in October 2026.