27.04.2023

For the third year in a row, a contest of ideas and projects from high school students aimed at positive changes in the country and in the world has been held in Kazakhstan. Solve for Tomorrow is a global Samsung initiative that empowers teams of middle and high school students around the world to bring their ideas to life, solve real-world problems, and take steps toward better lives for themselves and their communities.

The Republic contest helps future young leaders develop creative skills and innovative solutions to important problems through science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The project was launched in 2021 in Kazakhstan and is carried out jointly with AYALA Charity Foundation.

“We are glad that AYALA Foundation’s long-term expertise in career guidance for teenagers is helping SAMSUNG in implementing the Solve for Tomorrow project. Ee have been working for many years to provide Kazakhstani teenagers with basic practical skills to choose a profession that will help them work and look confidently into the future. In 2021, our Foundation signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the area of career guidance. Every year, hundreds of schoolchildren take part in various competitions, master classes and courses to gain important and useful skills for life and professional education,” noted Aidan Suleimenova, President of AYALA CF.

Participants in Solve for Tomorrow will have 3.5 months of exciting work to develop their ideas in detail and then defend them before the jury. The prize fund of the contest exceeds 10 million tenge, which will be divided between the three winning teams based on the results of their projects defense, which will take place on August 25.

Over the past 3 years, this contest has become an excellent launching pad for many Kazakhstani schoolchildren.

The contest helped Alikhan Madibekov get into the list of 100 Rise Global Winners. In 2021, Alikhan and his team developed the Elds’ Plants project to help older people move their spontaneous street trading to an online platform and increase their income. The idea was included in the Solve for Tomorrow contest, but did not make it to the finals. This only inspired Alikhan to continue to work more actively on the implementation of new ideas. Among them is a project on free psychological support for teenagers. A board game about sexual education, which began to make a profit, thanks to which he received a grant to study at the British Haileybury school in Almaty. Then Alikhan developed video games about how space affects human health, how various organisms cope with the difficulties that astronauts experience. These projects made it to the finals of the International NASA Space Apps Challenge. Alikhan’s team was among the 35 finalists, leaving behind 5,327 competitors from all over the world. And already in September, Alikhan was included in the list of talented young people 100 Rise Global Winner, ready to finance his new projects and studies at any university in the world. Alikhan believes that it was his participation in Solve for Tomorrow that inspired him to further achievements: “Thank you so much Samsung for helping me realize my potential.”

Tenth-graders Sabina Yegemberdiyeva and Aidana Medetova from the Republican Physics and Mathematics School (RPMS) in Almaty, having received a powerful charge of motivation and valuable experience in creating startups in the Solve for Tomorrow contest, launched their own social project STEM Sisters in Kazakhstan. The founders call STEM Sisters a community in which high school students from schools such as NES, RPMS, KTL, and sometimes university students, help their peers improve their knowledge in STEM subjects (plus English) through free lessons.

“Our goal is to help every girl realize her potential. Courses and tutors may not be affordable for many schoolgirls, or their parents to bed precise, so we decided to provide free lessons for students from low-income families,” says Sabina.

The STEM Sisters program teaches girls ages 10 to 17 online with flexible schedule mentors. One course lasts three months, there are four streams per year. In total, about 160 women students per year can study in the project. Aidana and Sabina note, based on the results already obtained, that the STEM Sisters community has helped many students improve not only their school performance, but also their self-confidence.

One can take part in Solve for Tomorrow this year by submittingan application by April 30th. For this purpose, high school students need to join a team of up to 10 people under the guidance of a teacher. The selection of 30 applications for inclusion in the main contest will last until May 5, 2023. Then, through July 30, work on ideas will be carried out. Contestants will be able to take part in seminars, mentoring sessions, and consultations. All this done for the final result — the design of the prototype and design of the project. The final of the contest with the defense of projects and award of winners will be held in stages until August 25, 2023.

The rules of participation can be found here, and one can submit an application only after reading and agreeing with the rules of participation. Hurry up, because every idea you have matters if you want to make the world a better place around you!