On November 24th, a press conference was held at the "Nash etazh" ("Our Floor") space of South Ural State University with the participation of expert, Director of the Institute of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and Head of the educational programme at the "VirtUm" Centre for Top-level Academic Programmes in the Field of Artificial Intelligence Alena Zamyshlyaeva, as part of the first stage of the "Step into the Future" grant program tournament by Viktor Khristenko.
This year's program covers two main areas: "Artificial Intelligence in Industry and Ecology" and "Industrial Robotics". It is structured as three sequential rounds:
- Projects presentation and defence. Participants present their ideas to a panel of experts.
- Project funding. Winning projects receive grant funding for their practical implementation.
- Research laboratory establishment. Participants are provided with support in establishing research laboratories, where further development of their chosen research area is funded.
"Such events are an opportunity to demonstrate your potential through project work and teamwork, as well as to create a product that will be useful to our university," emphasized Alena Zamyshlyaeva.
The tournament consists of two rounds: in the first round, participants present solutions to a case study on creating an assistant to support students' individual educational trajectories at the university. The second round involves developing the program over six months.
The winners of the first round (the top three teams) will receive scholarships of 15,000 roubles each for six months. The results of the second round will be announced as follows: the first place winner will receive 300,000 roubles, second place winner – 250,000 roubles, and third place winner – 200,000 roubles for further project implementation.
"First and foremost, participating in these events allows students to form teams, learn about role assignment, and solve real-world practical problems. They become familiar with the opportunities available on campus, including modern laboratories and research facilities. This helps young people identify their preferred research area within our institution, where they can continue their professional development," added Ivan Ilyin, organizer of the project competition and Deputy Director of the SUSU Institute of Engineering and Technology.
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During the meeting, participants had the opportunity to ask the expert any questions they might have.
"Our goal is to develop a real-world project that could later become part of our university's educational process and, quite possibly, be used at other educational institutions," said program participant and SUSU student Ekaterina Grevtsova.
Defence of the participants' solutions in the "Artificial Intelligence in Industry and Ecology" section will be held at Sigma academic building on November 26th, and presentation of project works in the "Industrial Robotics" section will also be held at Sigma academic building on November 29th.