A CASE-IN participant from Kuzbass won a grant of one million rubles.

Student of Kuzbass Polytechnic University, participant of the joint project of the Kemerovo Talent Center and Kuzbassenergo JSC "SGK Target Energy Flow" Maxim Pazderin became the winner of the "Student Startup" and the winner of a grant of one million rubles.

Maxim is a 4th-year student at KuzSTU named after T.F. Gorbachev in the field of Thermal Power Engineering and Heat Engineering. He was interested in science from the first year, confidently upgraded his skills, and during his studies he became a finalist in large-scale federal competitions, including the International Engineering CASE-IN Championship.

"After completing industrial training as part of the training of a working profession at Kemerovo GRES, I became a student of the SCG task force," says Maxim. – Without stopping at what I had achieved, I continued to do research and, in combination with my studies, took up the position of a technician in a scientific laboratory at the Department of Thermal Power Engineering. It was during this period that the Melnichenko Foundation's Future Makers: Junior Cup competition was announced.  Together with the team, we tackled one of the production tasks presented in the competition and formed a theme that later became the basis for a startup and my thesis. Today I am a scholarship holder of the Melnichenko Foundation, a prize-winner of the Main Season of the International Engineering Championship CASE-IN 2025 and the winner of the Student Startup competition. There is still a lot of work to be done, because the path to becoming a first-class specialist is a lifetime long."

Maxim has developed a strategy for introducing the thermosiphon into production, which will significantly reduce heat losses in the energy industry: sealed metal tubes filled with a working fluid are integrated into the heat flow. The technology allows efficient utilization of residual heat, redistributing energy so that more useful energy is obtained from the same amount of fuel. This reduces heat loss, saves resources, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

Of course, he did not achieve his success alone. His supervisor is a talented teacher-mentor. Konstantin Ushakov, Associate Professor of the Department of Thermal Power Engineering at KuzSTU named after T.F. Gorbachev, Deputy Head of the Kemerovo Talent Center.

"Maxim is one of those students who understands that college years are a time of opportunities and successfully uses them. Maxim's ability to work in a project team and the experience gained as part of his research at the department undoubtedly contributed to receiving the grant. The production unit for testing and testing was not chosen by chance. I am confident that our comprehensive cooperation with the Siberian Generating Company and the Melnichenko Foundation will lead to the successful implementation of the grant and the project will be interesting from a practical point of view for implementation at the plant," said Konstantin Ushakov.

The co-author of the project, and now the co-executor, is a graduate of the Kemerovo Talent Center Mikhail Luzin. Previously, he was also the winner of a Student startup with another project, which he began to develop during his studies at the Kemerovo Shopping Center.

Mikhail is the winner of the CASE-IN championship, the Children's and Russian scientific competitions of the Melnichenko Foundation, the winner of the 14th International Competition of School Children's Research Projects Future Engineer Project (China, Beijing, as well as the holder of patents for utility models and inventions. Now the student of the Institute of Energy actively participates in scientific competitions, writes articles and helps students and schoolchildren with the implementation of their projects.

During the year, Maxim will have to develop a financial model, legally formalize the business and, together with his friend, boldly begin to translate their wonderful idea into real production.  

A source: KuzGTU