The main prize winners of the republican championship Almaty Tech Cup were students from the regions

On December 11–12, the Center for Distance and Innovative Education «Atakent» hosted robotics and drone championships, as well as an exhibition of innovative school projects. Participants included young inventors from across Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The event brought together more than 3,000 participants and guests.

In the robotics championships, schoolchildren competed in three age categories of the global educational program:

— FIRST LEGO LEAGUE EXPLORE: ages 6–10

— FIRST LEGO LEAGUE CHALLENGE: ages 10–16

— FIRST TECH CHALLENGE: ages 12–18.

At the championship, young inventors competed in robot games and presented their projects on the theme «Scientific Innovations in Art».

In the drone championship, which included basketball, soccer, and drone racing categories, young pilots aged 7 to 22 participated. Competitions of this scale are being held in Kazakhstan for the first time and are based on the domestic Smart Sarbaz program, aimed at strengthening the country’s defense potential. Tasks involved piloting aircraft at high speed using VR goggles. During breaks between games, guests and event participants also had the opportunity to take control of the drones.

On the grounds of the exhibition pavilion where the Tech Cup Almaty took place, the global «Hour of Code» campaign was held, allowing everyone, regardless of age or technical knowledge, to learn the basics of programming through gamification.

There was also a master-class zone divided into two areas: workshops and lecture halls. In the lecture halls, leading Microsoft specialists conducted lessons on artificial intelligence, mentors from educational institutions organized seminars on career guidance and tips for securing grants to top global universities, and winners of international olympiads and competitions held introductory sessions on topics such as «Not Useless Physics and Its Applications in Robotics» and «The Experience of Being a Girl in IT.» In the workshops, practical lessons on robotics, rocketry, and bioengineering were conducted, where both adults and children built smart traffic lights, assembled and launched their own rockets into the air, created dry ice, and studied its medical applications.