OKTOWN FINALISTS of the Sikorsky Challenge 2022 festival!

Yes! And we did it together - with representatives of the Ukrainian authorities, our Ukrainian and foreign partners, colleagues, student community and friends! It was together that we were able to hold this year's Festival in the disturbing and unpredictable conditions of war.

The war changed the fate of the country and the lives of each of us. It has presented us with incredible challenges, made us realize new realities and develop strategic tasks for the post-war period of Ukraine's recovery and development.

The paradigm of Ukraine's post-war reconstruction should be based on the rapid and effective implementation of innovative technologies and developments in all areas of security, defense and the country's economy.

We dedicated this year's XI Festival of Innovative Projects "Sikorsky Challenge 2022: Innovative Transformation of Ukraine", held at the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (Kyiv) on October 26-28, 2022, to these crucial areas of Ukraine's recovery.

This year, 502 participants were registered for the Festival (367 in person and 145 remotely). 188 projects were submitted to the Innovation Project Competition - from Ukraine, China, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Only 75 projects made it to the final.

The program of the Festival was interesting, rich, and motivating. Among the main events:

• International Forum "Platform for Innovative Transformation of Ukraine based on the All-Ukrainian Innovation Ecosystem "Sikorsky Challenge Ukraine"
• Round table "Incubation of freedom for Ukraine - adaptation of women to the digital economy"
• KPI School of Creativity Sikorsky Challenge Junior
• Final of the Competition of innovative projects

Thanks to the cooperation, our team managed to hold the Festival in the face of constant air raids and power outages. We worked in a synchronous mixed format - speeches by guests, Jury members, and finalists in the hall were followed by online presentations from around the world. In critical situations, we had to quickly change the order of pitches and poster presentations to continue the Contest in the absence of electricity.

The main event of the Festival, as always, was the final of the Innovation Projects Competition, which was held in the following sections:

• Defense and Security. Aviation and space
• Infrastructure and industrial high-tech
• Information technology, digital country, cybersecurity
• Biomedical engineering and human health
• Environmental and energy security

The projects were evaluated by the International Jury members in a format convenient for them:

• synchronous evaluation immediately after the teams' presentations in the hall
• asynchronous, when a member of the Jury evaluated the projects in advance on the project website (we have been practicing this approach since 2019 and it has proven to be effective in providing comprehensive information about the project and providing feedback between the author and the Jury member)

OCTOWN PROJECT WEBSITE https://startups-2022.sikorskychallenge.com/2022/10/1.html

original Olena Kasian / Sumy / #WORK4UA