The Digital Petersburg Marathon took place in St. Petersburg

From April 12 to 21, 2024, the “Digital Petersburg” Marathon was held, organized by the St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University “LETI” together with the University’s Digital Department, as well as the St. Petersburg Information and Analytical Center (SPb IAC), SIGMA LLC and the youth space “SIMPLE”. The technology partner of the competition was Yandex Cloud.

Over 100 students from St. Petersburg universities, as well as students from schools and secondary specialized educational institutions, took part in the event. The partners of the event spoke at the opening ceremony, in particular the Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Informatization of Communications of St. Petersburg Dmitry Vasilievich Kuzminrepresentative of the Committee on Science and Higher School of St. Petersburg, director of the St. Petersburg Science Foundation Yuri Alekseevich SnisarenkoDeputy Director of the Billing Solutions Department at SIGMA LLC Dmitry Vladimirovich BandurinHead of the Department for the Development of Prospective Projects of St. Petersburg IAC Mikhail Anatolyevich Korablevsenior event manager of the youth space “PROSTO” Anna Dmitrievna Kobyakovaas well as the chairman of the organizing committee of the Digital Petersburg Marathon, head of digital transformation of St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University “LETI” Ivan Ivanovich Kholod.

“I am pleased to be at this marathon, because 22 years ago I became a graduate of LETI, and now I see that Digital Petersburg is helping to develop the tasks that were laid down back then. St. Petersburg is one of the leaders in digital solutions; we have a large, good team developing services for citizens, and at the moment this is bearing fruit. I hope that this week will help you develop your skills, acquire new knowledge, meet colleagues, and make a contribution to the future that will allow us to further create new services and develop our city to the level that we ourselves strive for.”

The first stage of the Marathon took place in a remote format. Participants had to develop an idea for a digital service based on open data sources proposed by the organizers. During the development process, teams could receive advice and recommendations from Marathon experts as part of pitch sessions.

Based on the results of the final defense of project ideas for digital services in the interests of various target groups among residents of St. Petersburg, 3 teams took prizes: the winner in the nomination “Best idea for a digital service in St. Petersburg” was the team “Dune” with the project “I want to live here”; The silver medalist was the “Dora’s Chairs” team, which presented the “DViG” project – an application for searching and creating interest groups. Third place was taken by the “Void avoid” team with the “Sharing of Sports Equipment” project, designed to ensure the availability of sports for a wide range of the city’s population.

“This is my first hackathon, and so far it’s very interesting; a large number of partner companies are represented in the marathon. For me, the motivation for participation was the desire to improve my skills in development, as well as the search for new acquaintances: for example, I knew the members of my team only in absentia, we have guys from different faculties, and within the framework of the hackathon we were able to get to know each other better and work together in a face-to-face format. I hope that we will win, but in any case, “hardening happens in battle”, in difficult situations you remember everything better, so participation in the hackathon itself is an excellent opportunity to gain experience, useful connections and find a potential employer to implement your idea.” .

On April 20, the second stage of the Marathon started – a hackathon, during which about 60 participating teams in the category “Best Digital Service in St. Petersburg” had to solve cases from partner companies. Throughout the day, participants actively discussed ideas, consulted with partners on development issues, and created prototypes of applications and programs, which they presented at the final defense the very next day.

On April 21, at the closing ceremony, the head of digital transformation of St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University “LETI” spoke to the participants Ivan Ivanovich Kholod. The Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Digital Petersburg Marathon thanked all participants, noting that, despite the different levels of training and experience, all teams showed themselves with dignity. In addition, the organizers emphasized the importance of the participation in the Marathon of those children who were immersed in the hackathon atmosphere for the first time.

“I am sure that no matter who became the winner, you felt the atmosphere, and most importantly, you were able to try your hand at such an intense format. I participated in the jury here, observed the teams, talked with the guys, and I would like to note that many approached the development professionally, competently distributing all the tasks among themselves. I hope that each of you gained experience as a result of the hackathon – especially those who stayed until the very end. And I want to believe that you will not stop there, continuing to participate in similar events in the future. Within IT-directions you will have more than one sleepless night, so you will definitely need experience in participating in hackathons.”