The 14th edition of the applied research competition for schoolchildren and students, School of Real Projects, opened on October 10. The new season traditionally began with a Case Fair, held this year at the Faculty of Economics of Lomonosov Moscow State University.
The annual event brought together around 1,300 schoolchildren and college students from Moscow and Moscow Region, as well as regional teams that joined the meeting remotely. Representatives of 46 major companies and institutions welcomed the participants.
The contest is organized by School No. 2086, Moscow Department of Information Technology, Moscow Department of Education and Science, and Higher School of Economics, with the participation of Bochvar Research Institute of Inorganic Materials and Volnoye Delo Foundation for the Support of Social Innovation.
At the Case Fair, teams explored a wide range of engineering and technical challenges proposed by employers. A total of 74 business cases were submitted. By the end of October, participants will select the most interesting projects and begin implementing them, with at least four months allocated for project development.
The Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ has joined the competition as an employer for the 10th time. The Center’s team offered three creative challenges aimed at developing the Explore the Internet & Govern It project. These include: creating a script for educational games to help users better understand modern digital technologies; developing a storyline and sketches for a comic based on Explore the Internet materials; and designing a line of souvenirs to attract more attention to the project.
Viktoria Bunchuk, Head of Social Projects at the Coordination Center, highlighted the professional growth of the participants: \
“We are delighted to join the School of Real Projects every year. Ten years of collaboration have allowed us to witness the steady improvement in the quality of students’ work. Participating in the competition provides students with unique experience in teamwork, task delegation, creative problem-solving, and effective presentation of projects to the jury and potential employers. We are confident that this season will bring fresh ideas for developing and scaling the Explore the Internet project.”
The competition will conclude with a final reporting conference scheduled for April 2026, with the best participants to be recognized and awarded for their completed projects.
Over its history, around 30,000 schoolchildren and students have taken part in the School of Real Projects, while the number of partner companies has exceeded 150. Each year, the geography of participants expands: this season, teams from 22 regions of Russia and several neighboring countries will begin implementing their projects.
A photo report from the Case Fair is available here. For questions regarding participation in the School of Real Projects, please contact the organizers directly: +7 968 683 5829, srd.orgkomitet@gmail.com (Natalya Taranenko). For more information about the Coordination Center's cases, please send your request to info@igrainternet.ru.
