Pavlodar students and a student undergoing an internship at the Pavlodar Hub will represent Kazakhstan at the world stage of the NASA SPACE APPS CHALLENGE 2024. Schoolboy Igor Martynyuk and students Roman Ustimenko and Jean Beisekeyev have successfully passed the selection and will now join 940 teams from all over the world, of which only two represent Kazakhstan. For these young innovators from Pavlodar, participation in the competition is an opportunity to assert themselves on the prestigious international stage, and not just a pursuit of victory.

Igor Martynyuk, a 15-year-old 10th grade student at the Akhmet Baitursynov School, became interested in IT two years ago. After overcoming the initial difficulties, he learned how to create websites and has already started making money from it. Now he is working with his friend Jean Beisekeyev on a project of NFC business cards that will replace paper counterparts and allow updating information using a phone.

Their team's project is a website Blinkdevs.co with a 3D model of the Solar System, he was selected to participate in the world stage. The site offers interactive information about the planets and is intended for use in physics lessons for schoolchildren. Igor believes that such developments demonstrate how IT can bring real benefits and simplify life.

— Participation in the hackathon is a unique experience of working on real tasks and a great opportunity for networking. It was such events that helped us assemble our team," Igor notes.

The NASA Hackathon is held annually and includes 16 different nominations. Kazakhstan will be represented at the international stage by two teams: one from Pavlodar and the other from Nazarbayev University.

Igor's team also includes 18-year-old Roman Ustimenko, a student at the Pavlodar College of Information Technology. Roman started studying IT at the age of 14, developing chatbots. He admits that his hobby not only brings pleasure, but has also become a stable source of income — one site can bring up to $ 150 depending on the complexity.

— The most important thing is experience, and winning is not so important. We have already made a huge step, having reached the world stage, and put a lot of effort into the project Blinkdevs.co — Roman shares.

The world stage of the NASA SPACE APPS CHALLENGE 2024 will take place on November 19. Out of 8,715 teams from 152 countries, only two teams from Kazakhstan were selected — from Pavlodar and Astana. The projects will be evaluated by experts from NASA and partner space agencies, who will determine the global finalists.