On April 21, the final round of the annual applied research competition for school and university students, Real Project School, took place in Moscow. Hosted by the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE), the event marked the thirteenth iteration of the contest.
During the 2024/2025 academic year, 3,000 participants from grades 7–11, colleges, and universities across 21 Russian regions, as well as Belarus, France, India, Nigeria, Abkhazia, Transnistria, Kazakhstan, Armenia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kyrgyzstan, competed.
The competition serves as a traditional platform for developing and solving engineering and technical projects proposed by employers. Students select cases of interest during a case fair and spend four months implementing their solutions. This season, thirty-two RPS partner companies contributed 70 cases, with 238 teams advancing to the final round.
The Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ again participated as an employer, challenging teams to create a comic based on theoretical materials and practical assignments from the Knowledge online simulator of its Explore the Internet & Govern It educational initiative. Seven teams from schools and colleges of various levels from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Syktyvkar, and Magnitogorsk accepted the task. Six reached the final and presented their projects during an in-person defense. The results are as follows:
1st Place: Moscow Transport College team for the teen-focused comic Shadows of Code: Battle Against Malware, featuring a script and storyboard.
2nd Place: Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University team (Chelyabinsk Region) for How Computers Understand Each Other, a comic for grades 5–9.
3rd Place: St. Petersburg Technical College of Management and Commerce team for the horror comic Cursed Bugs, addressing gamedev challenges for grades 7–11.
Winners and finalists were awarded prizes, useful merchandise from Explore the Internet & Govern It, and diplomas during a ceremony at HSE’s Cultural Center. Viktoria Bunchuk, Head of Social Projects at the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, addressed the teams:
“Today’s World Creativity and Innovation Day perfectly aligns with your work. That was precisely you were engaged with: through our case – and most cases of the Real Project School partners – you leveraged cutting-edge technologies and IT tools to create innovative educational products. This is your celebration! Congratulations to all winners and finalists. Your work will be published on the Explore the Internet & Govern It website and recommended as supplementary educational materials for schools and educational institutions.”
The Real Project School competition is traditionally co-organized by School No. 2086, a state budgetary educational institution, the Department of Education and Science of Moscow, the Department of Information Technologies of Moscow, the Faculty of Economics of Lomonosov Moscow State University, and the National Research University Higher School of Economics. General partners include the Academician Andrey Bochvar Advanced Research Institute of Inorganic Materials, and Volnoye Delo, a foundation supporting social innovation.
