As global digital ecosystems expand at record speed, the demand for specialists capable of working with complex industrial systems grows just as rapidly. Against this backdrop, the International Olympiad on Industrial Development (PROD) has carved out a distinctive niche. Launched in January 2024, the project has quickly become one of the few global platforms where students from different countries tackle real business challenges, explore the architecture of large-scale software systems, and learn to think the way major IT teams do. The new PROD season kicked off this December, opening another chapter in a program that introduces teenagers to the full horizon of technological development.
A Brief History of PROD
The International Olympiad on Industrial Development PROD is one of the fastest-growing educational initiatives of recent years, bringing together high-school students from across the world around real-world engineering and digital transformation tasks. It began with a simple idea: to give teenagers a clear professional pathway and early access to a field that increasingly defines the technological agenda of the future. Notably, participants do not need prior coding experience—basic mathematics and computer science knowledge is enough to start.
PROD provides a hands-on entry point into industrial software development, one of the most demanding sectors of the IT industry. The inaugural season in early 2024 was historic: PROD became the first international school-level olympiad dedicated to this field. More than 6,000 applications were submitted. The second season, launched in December 2024, saw over 10,000 applications and attracted 4,000 Russian-speaking students from more than 20 countries, including the UK, Germany, France, Canada, China, Peru and others. Over just two seasons, the olympiad evolved from a competitive event into a full-scale international educational ecosystem.
The first English-language season will begin in December 2025, with results announced in March 2026 — significantly expanding the project’s global reach.
Stages of PROD and Opportunities for Participants
PROD is structured so that students from any country can complete a full development cycle — from initial screening tasks to a final project defense. Most stages are held online, lowering barriers to participation and enabling PROD to function as a truly international academic platform.
The competition opens with a remote exam on mathematics and basic programming concepts, standardized for students regardless of their national curriculum. In the second stage, participants work on industrial case studies in frontend, backend, mobile development and MLOps — areas reflecting the practical challenges faced by IT teams worldwide. The olympiad’s technological framework helps students understand principles applicable across global markets, whether in fintech, e-commerce, or large-scale digital ecosystems.
The final stage includes two rounds. During the individual round, participants develop a project within a chosen track; in the team round, finalists join groups to design fully functioning solutions based on cases provided by the organizers.
One of the key drivers of PROD’s international recognition is its tangible impact on participants’ professional trajectories. Over two years, 39 winners and finalists secured internships at technology companies building financial and lifestyle ecosystems. Nineteen continue their internships today, and nine have already become full-time employees.
In a world where software has become a universal language, initiatives like PROD help cultivate a new generation of engineers — young specialists capable of creating world-class digital products even before entering university. PROD has already shown that high-school students are more than ready for this challenge, and its growing international footprint is making this opportunity accessible to talented teenagers everywhere.
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