An award ceremony was held on 19 November for the winners of a data analysis competition organised by Center-invest Bank. Specialists from universities throughout southern Russia were set the task of analysing the results of the “Me and the World in 2030” survey conducted by the bank earlier this year. The competition entries confirmed the key finding of the survey: young people in southern Russia see their future as “Love for Their Home Region + Global Competitiveness”.

Thirty-five analysts from ten universities entered the competition. The ten best entries made it into the competition final, and the three winners were announced at the award ceremony. The first prize was RUB100,000, and two runners-up each received RUB50,000. The prize money was provided by Center-invest Bank.

The panel of judges comprised representatives of the business committee, the local administration, and universities. Dr Vasily Vysokov, chairman of the Board of Directors of Center-invest Bank, headed the panel.

“Today we encounter the problem that although we are able to generate huge quantities of data, we do not always know what to do with this data,” said Dr Vysokov. “The competition was announced so that, using various analysis methods, we could obtain a new, bright and vibrant image of what our world will be like in 2030.” Dr Vysokov thanked all the entrants for their hard work, and also the universities for their support and assistance.

A number of special guests were invited to the award ceremony: the Rostov Region Minister for Economic Development, Alexander Levchenko; the deputy head of the Rostov Region Office of the Federal State Statistics Service, Marina Samoilova; and head of the Rostov-on-Don Department of the Economy, Svetlana Kambulova.

In his opening words, Alexander Levchenko noted how important it is that the younger generation is thinking about the future, taking the initiative, and striving to continue living in the Southern Federal District, as this is the main indicator of southern Russia’s socioeconomic development and economic success.

The winner of the First Prize was Georgii Lukyanov from Southern Federal University. Commenting on his entry, Georgii said, “I spent more than a month on this work. I used cluster analysis methods to establish key conclusions for the economy, politics, the social sphere, the migration situation in the Southern Federal District, the labour market, demographics, and risk management priorities.”

The competition results will be taken into account in the writing of Southern Russia’s Development Strategy to 2030. The competition finalists and winners have been invited to take part in the discussions about the new strategy.