Key vectors of the XI season development and new directions of the "CASE-IN" championship

On November 20, 2023, a press conference was held dedicated to the International Engineering Championship "CASE-IN", which is held with the support of the presidential platform. "Russia is a land of opportunity." The participants of the event – heads of relevant ministries and organizations, industrial companies, as well as winners and prize–winners of the competition - summed up the interim results of the XI season and outlined the key development vectors for the coming year. Special attention was paid to new areas of the championship, including the League of Young Specialists of the CIS.

The CASE-IN Championship is traditionally divided into the main season, which runs from February to May, and the Autumn Cup, which starts in September and sums up the year.

In the first part of the XI season, 8,207 young people competed within the framework of the School and Student Leagues, the League of Young Professionals, the Special League "Architecture, Design and Construction" and the Special League of PJSC "T Plus". The participants developed case solutions on the main topic of "CASE-IN" related to artificial intelligence, computing and data transmission, robotics, and industrial technologies.

The CASE-IN championship has been held for the fifth year with the support of the Russia – Land of Opportunities platform and has been developing for 11 years as a social elevator that helps schoolchildren, students and young professionals decide on their future profession, develop their professional skills, find a job and take an important step up the career ladder, said the First Deputy Director General of ANO "Russia is a land of opportunity" Alexey Agafonov.

"The most popular league traditionally remains the Student League, which brought together 5859 participants from Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, but the first Special League, Architecture, Design and Construction, attracted a lot of attention in 2023, - underlined Alexey Agafonov. – The league's partner is the Metropolis company, the leader in architectural and construction design in Russia. At the competition, 412 future architects, designers, designers and engineers developed a project for a four-star hotel in Kaliningrad. 10 student teams from St. Petersburg, Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod qualified for the finals.  This is not the first time that the champions, the BROIZ team from Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, have participated in the CASE–IN championship and even won silver medals at the Autumn Cup in 2022. The guys were immediately invited to practice at the Metropolis company with the possibility of further employment."

The winners and prize-winners of the championship receive opportunities for admission to universities and employment in the company, as well as professional and career development, he added Alexey Agafonov: "The strongest participants of the Student League can enroll in master's and postgraduate studies at 30 universities on preferential terms, complete internships and internships in partner companies with the possibility of further employment. The winning students will receive additional USE points upon admission to bachelor's degree programs at one of the 109 partner universities of the championship in 53 regions of Russia. The winners of the League of Young Professionals and the Special League of PJSC T Plus were rewarded with new opportunities for career and professional growth, as well as inclusion in the managerial personnel reserve of the companies."

Alexey Agafonov invited young people to join the engineering community created by the CASE-IN championship, as well as to participate in the projects of the Russia – Land of Opportunities platform: the student Olympiad "I am a professional", the All–Russian student competition "Your Move", "Another Matter", etc.

State Secretary – Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation Anastasia Bondarenko She told about the records of the League of Young Professionals "CASE-IN". 610 young power engineers took part in the main season, 134 teams representing 93 energy companies presented their projects. The Autumn Cup has become no less ambitious: more than 200 employees of 31 industrial companies are developing case solutions aimed at improving production efficiency.

The championship develops the competencies of young professionals and becomes an impulse to move up the career ladder. According to a study by the CASE-IN organizing committee, every third League case solution is implemented in companies, and 47% of participants receive a promotion in the first year after participating in the competition.

According to the State Secretary, Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation, competitions for young specialists are traditionally held at key industry youth forums.

In 2023, the REN Cup was held at the Youth Day of the Russian Energy Week International Forum, she recalled. Anastasia Bondarenko: "17 participating teams presented the solution to the case "Energy Strategy 2035: New Horizons". The guys analyzed the barriers to implementing Russia's Energy Strategy, taking into account the current sanctions restrictions and the high level of uncertainty in global energy markets. I had the opportunity to meet with these participants at the REN Youth Day, where they presented their proposals for updating the strategy based on end-to-end technologies that ensure the technological leadership of the fuel and energy complex, MSC and related industries."

The first International League of Young Specialists became a platform for the development of energy strategies in 8 CIS member countries, the final of which was also held at the REN Youth Day.

Anastasia Bondarenko noted that the youth of the industry, including the participants of the CASE-IN, have set goals for achieving technological sovereignty, energy security and energy independence of the country.: "The fuel and energy complex needs workers. According to Rosstat, the number of young workers has dropped to a historic low. Today, compared with 2021, there are 1.3 million fewer working youth aged 20 to 35, and the negative trend will continue at least until 2030. In these circumstances, companies compete for talent and manpower. And we want young professionals to join our efforts to attract children and youth to the fuel and energy sector, promote their professions and companies among young people, and explore the needs and expectations of schoolchildren and students from future employers. Talented young people, as well as the continuity of professional knowledge and experience, are the key resource that will contribute to the achievement of these goals."

Founder and Co-chairman of the Organizing Committee of the International Engineering Championship "CASE-IN" Artem Korolev He told how the autumn wave of the championship is going: 5,200 schoolchildren, students and young professionals will present solutions to experts on the theme of the season "Technological Leadership". "The CASE-IN Autumn Cup is open to students of various specialties and universities from all over the country. It helps schoolchildren, students and young professionals understand what they have succeeded in this year and identify key development vectors for the future.", - counts Artem Korolev.

Under the auspices of "CASE-IN" and with the support of the All-Russian competition of youth projects for educational institutions of higher education Rosmolodezh.Grants For several years now, there has been an All-Russian competition among schoolchildren for solving engineering cases, which is distinguished by its competitive part. In the fall, about 1,100 high school students from 50 regions of the country make a rating of technologies that have the greatest impact on achieving Russia's technological leadership and develop measures to develop these technologies.

"The finalists are already known: These are 12 school teams from 11 regions that have proposed interesting solutions., - He told me Artem Korolev. – For example, the winners of the qualifying stage from Nizhnevartovsk proposed to develop hydrogen energy using hydrogen as an environmentally friendly fuel and promote the Russian Federation to a leading position in the global hydrogen market. I would like to note that the guys from the Yaroslavl region have reached the finals again, who have repeatedly become champions and prize-winners of the championship over the past few years. The Umnitsa team won the bronze medal in the Main Season only this summer, and in December they will come to the finals in Moscow again."

This year, at the initiative of the Federal State Budgetary Institution ROSSTROYCONTROL, subordinate to the Ministry of Construction of Russia, a new direction "Construction" was opened in the Autumn Cup. 132 student teams from more than 30 universities are developing a plan for the implementation of an investment and construction project in the field of tourism with the possibility of using government support measures.

General Director of the Federal State Budgetary Institution ROSSTROYCONTROL Vladimir Shcherbinin He believes that the Construction direction will allow discovering new talents among active students, attract young and promising specialists to the construction sector, and also contribute to the development of the industry's human resources potential and popularization of engineering and technical professions.

 "The ideas received within the framework of the championship are planned to be scaled to the regions of the Russian Federation in the forecast scenario until 2030. In addition, the winners will not only have the opportunity to complete an internship and find a job in an institution subordinate to the Ministry of Construction of Russia, but also to take advantage of the preferential right to enroll in master's and postgraduate programs at leading universities in the country.", - noted Vladimir Shcherbinin.

The addition of the CASE-IN championship in 2023 with a new direction is due to the need to train the personnel reserve of the industry to solve urgent problems, according to the head of the Personnel Center of the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Communal Services of the Russian Federation. Elena Senkevich: "Today, the construction industry is a driver of the economy and a backbone industry. The rapid development of the industry requires professional and often non-standard solutions for the implementation of all stages of the project lifecycle. Undoubtedly, this direction will make the industry even more attractive to young people. We believe that in the future, more construction companies will join it with interesting tasks for schoolchildren and students."

Another innovation of the year was the first League of Young CIS Specialists. At the national selection stages, employees of leading companies from 8 CIS member states discussed possible strategies for low-carbon development of the CIS electric power industry. 15 youth teams took part in the final of the championship, which was held in Moscow as part of the Russian Energy Week Youth Day.

Deputy Chairman of the Executive Committee of the CIS Electric Power Council Vasily Bormatin He thanked the Ministry of Energy and the backbone companies of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan for their support, as well as Anastasia Borisovna Bondarenko and PJSC RusHydro for supporting the idea of holding National Qualifying Stages and sending a total of 156 specialists to It consists of 37 teams.

"The strongest teams came to Moscow for the final, it was a real Champions League. The electric power industry is the circulatory system of any country's economy, and our countries are historically and infrastructurally connected. That is why it is so important that young professionals can communicate more, share bold ideas and experiences in order to jointly solve the ambitious tasks that we face. We also support the development of the project towards working professions and student interaction.", - underlined Vasily Bormatin.

Representatives of JSC "System Operator of the Unified Energy System" Anastasia Chegodaeva and Vladimir Kuznetsov The winners of the first League of Young Specialists of the CIS admitted that representing their country at the international championship is not only a status, but also a huge responsibility.

"At the national qualifying stage, we needed to propose a strategy for low-carbon development of the Russian Federation on the 2030 horizon- said the captain of the "SO" team Anastasia Chegodaeva. – But by the standards of long—term planning tasks, 2030 is literally tomorrow. We decided not to stop there and look a little further - until 2050. The key technologies in our solution are carbon dioxide capture and burial, modular low-power nuclear reactors, hydro- and pumped storage power plants."

In the final stage, the champions focused on the scale of the solution and took into account the specifics of the resource base and the current development of the energy systems of the CIS countries.

The 2nd place was taken by representatives of Belarus - employees of RUE Gomelenergo Vladislav Klyuchinsky, Anton Vashchilov, Alexander Kovalenko and Dmitry Pavlyuk, united in the Gomelenergo team.

"The championship has become a milestone in my life, which has allowed me to record the level of both professional training and public speaking skills. In the competition, we represented the energy system of the Republic of Belarus. The attitude of each member of our team and the support of the management of Gomelenergo allowed us to perform at a decent level., - said the team member, the head of the Northern district of heat networks of RUE Gomelenergo Alexander Kovalenko, "The host country showed how such competitions should be held at a high level, starting from the organization and ending with the atmosphere that provided an opportunity for the exchange of experience, acquaintance and networking among young CIS power engineers." 

The participants of the press conference also paid great attention to the plans of the "CASE-IN" championship for next year. In particular, it was noted that the development of the construction sector will continue in 2024. The school and Student leagues of the CASE-IN Championship are included in the Action Plan (Roadmap) to increase the prestige and demand for professions related to architecture and construction, as well as accelerated involvement of students in production processes. In accordance with the Plan signed by Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Marat Khusnullin, competitions in the field of Architecture, construction and housing and communal services will be held for schoolchildren and students.

As Artem Korolev noted, participants and experts are currently discussing the topic of the new season, and after consultations with partners, a range of the most pressing issues has been identified: integrated security, data economics, end-to-end technologies, lean manufacturing

Anyone can take part in choosing the future theme of the season. To do this, you need to leave your vote in the survey, which is posted on the Telegram channel "CASE-IN".

"The current season is not over yet, but we have already begun active preparations for the next one. Today we are generating ideas and creating an activity-packed program, to which we will try to attract as many interested young people as possible. I am sure that season XII will shine with new colors and introduce us to talented young people and their unique solutions.", - summarized Artem Korolev.