Innovative Minds: Youth Creativity at Science Skills Booster 2025

To celebrate World Science Day, the State University of Intelligent Technologies and Communications (SUITT) hosted the second competition-exhibition of youth scientific and technical creativity named Science Skills Booster 2025.

The competition featured both individual participants and teams, conducted in a hybrid format — both in-person and online. The preliminary round took place throughout May, with the final on May 17.

Students from Odesa Lyceums No. 49, 62, 72, 121, 122, the 'Maryinsky' Lyceum, and the Economic Lyceum, as well as students from the SUITT College of Communications and Informatics, showcased their projects.

Participants presented a variety of projects ranging from computer games to alternative messengers and innovative devices. Notably, the projects included a 'Safe Home' system, a smart solar panel with automatic orientation, and a power supply made from household items that works during blackouts.

The winners of the Science Skills Booster 2025 competition were:

Grand Prix (a cash prize of 8,000 UAH from the Ukrainian ISOC branch) was awarded to the ‘LUX’ team from Odesa Lyceum No. 62 for their innovative smart solar panel with automatic orientation.

First Place went to the project ‘ProtoFlex – a utility for assigning individual VPN connections to specific applications’ (author: Anatoliy Lakaro, 11th grader from Maryinsky Lyceum, scientific supervisors: IT teachers Iryna Buz and Olena Lohina).

Second Place was shared between the project ‘Pinger – a messenger for secure communication’ (author: Mykhailo Fasyola, 8th grader from Maryinsky Lyceum, scientific supervisors: IT teachers Iryna Buz and Olena Lohina) and the development of an ‘Interactive Learning Platform for Programming Using Docker Containerization’ (author: Bohdan Popravka, 9th grader from Odesa Lyceum No. 72, scientific supervisor: IT teacher Olena Kravchuk). The winners received cash prizes from SUITT.

“Today we have once again witnessed that our youth have a clear vision for the future, are ready to work for the prosperity of the country, and impress with innovative ideas,” concluded Yuriy Kargapolov, chair of the board of the Ukrainian ISOC branch.