Registration opens for the first International PROD Industrial Development Olympiad for school students

Registration for the PROD Olympiad is open until December 1

Applications have opened for the world's first International Olympiad in Industrial Development, PROD, for school students in grades 8–11 from around the world. Registration will run until December 1, 2026, and the Olympiad will be held in Russian and English. The organizers are T-Bank's educational platform T-Education and Central University in partnership with the Faculty of Computer Science at HSE University, reports Gazeta.Ru.

A new format: from individual tracks to interdisciplinarity

Participants will solve applied problems from leading technology companies, create applications and services, and work on projects in teams. This season, the Olympiad's focus is shifting from individual development tracks to interdisciplinary skills: school students will receive a single assignment covering several IT areas at once and will work with different platforms, technologies, and programming languages.

Why the format changed

The organizers link the format change to changes in the developer profession and IT market requirements: with the spread of artificial intelligence, specialists are increasingly required, in addition to proficiency in programming languages, to have fundamental knowledge, the ability to master new tools, and to work at the intersection of disciplines. 'In a rapidly changing world, the core skills of an in-demand specialist are becoming interdisciplinarity, adaptability, and the ability to quickly acquire new skills. Today, the ability to delve into related fields and understand how a product works as a whole are significant competitive advantages in the IT market,' said Evgeny Ivashkevich, Rector of Central University.

Stages and prizes

The Olympiad will take place in several stages: qualifying rounds from December 4 to 7 and from January 12 to 22, the individual round of the final stage from February 19 to March 1, and the team round from March 11 to 15. The awards ceremony will be held in Moscow on March 16. Winners and runners-up will receive extra points toward the Unified State Exam (EGE) when applying to programs of the HSE Faculty of Computer Science and other leading Russian universities, a tuition discount on the joint bachelor's program of the HSE Faculty of Computer Science and Central University, 'Design and Development of Information Products,' grants of up to 90% for studies at Central University, and a simplified selection process for an internship at T-Bank.