Dmitry Grigorenko opens international IT Olympiad for school students
Dmitry Grigorenko opens international IT Olympiad for school students
Dmitry Grigorenko opens international IT Olympiad for school students. With Nizhny Novgorod Region Governor Gleb Nikitin and Sberbank Management Board Chairman German Gref
Dmitry Grigorenko opens international IT Olympiad for school students. With Nizhny Novgorod Region Governor Gleb Nikitin and Sberbank Management Board Chairman German Gref
Dmitry Grigorenko opens international IT Olympiad for school students
An international IT Olympiad for school students has commenced in Russia. High school seniors from Russia and other states, including Armenia, Belarus, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Cuba, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and South Africa, will participate.
Deputy Prime Minister – Chief of the Government Staff Dmitry Grigorenko attended the opening ceremony at the Government Coordination Centre. He underscored that nurturing future skilled IT professionals remains a key priority for the Government.
Significant attention has been devoted to IT workforce development under the Digital Economy national project. Since its launch, state-funded university placements in IT specialties have increased 2.5-fold, with over 230,000 students qualifying in IT disciplines. From 2019 to 2024, 78,000 IT specialists essential to the industry were trained.
IT education is also a cornerstone of the new Data Economy and Digital Transformation of the State national project. The initiative targets expanding the IT workforce to at least 1.4 million professionals by 2030. The state also fosters close cooperation with leading companies to develop training programmes in microelectronics, robotics, artificial intelligence, and unmanned systems, prioritising practical skills. By 2030, over 250,000 students will undergo training with top IT firms.
Specialised initiatives like the international IT Olympiad contribute to talent development, identifying school students passionate about IT technologies and supporting their professional advancement.
“IT technologies are a digitalisation tool that makes our lives easier and increases economic efficiency. However, it will not work without specialists who know how to use it properly. Artificial intelligence is already being actively introduced in Russia today, domestic IT solutions and digital services for citizens are being developed. There is always a living person behind this digital transformation process. Strong IT personnel are in demand not only for Russia, but all over the world. When we look at the Olympiad participants, who are already demonstrating such interest in IT in their young age, we understand that the development of the industry is in good hands,” Dmitry Grigorenko stressed.
The international IT Olympiad is aimed at practical matters. The tasks and training materials are designed with the latest cybertechnology trends in mind, and are also focused on solving practical problems. The focus is on such IT areas as cybersecurity, mathematical logic, basic algorithms and programming, data analysis, text processing and building simple models based on artificial intelligence.
The IT Olympiad was organised by the Nizhny Novgorod Region Government in partnership with Sberbank. The opening ceremony was attended by Sberbank Chairman German Gref.
“Information technologies make it possible to look at the world at a completely different angle, connecting complicated processes that do not have anything to do with each other at first glance. However, this can only be done by managing the entire technology stack. Humanity is on the verge of huge discoveries. You live in the most interesting time in the most interesting world, because you had the chance to look beyond the horizon of knowledge that humanity could not even formulate as the end point of this journey. You will be able to fulfill this dream. I wish you success on this most interesting journey. I believe that you will succeed, because only confident people can participate in our international Olympiad, and I congratulate you on this,” German Gref said.
The one hundred participants who complete the tasks best and score the most points will take part in the in-person final, which will be held at the campus of Sber’s School 21 digital technology school in Nizhny Novgorod. As Nizhny Novgorod Region Governor Gleb Nikitin said during the opening of the Olympiad, the award ceremony for the winners will take place at the CIPR anniversary international conference in June.
