Digital Eco-Initiatives Take Top Honors in Russian Environmental Tech Competition

This year’s 'Ecology Is Everyone’s Business' contest broke records with a surge in youth-driven digital and engineering solutions for the planet.

Moscow has announced the winners of the fifth annual 'Ecology Is Everyone’s Business' competition, organized by Russia’s Federal Environmental Supervisory Service (Rosprirodnadzor). According to agency head Svetlana Radionova, the event saw an unprecedented number of innovative submissions—many from young participants—featuring tech-driven ideas for ecosystem monitoring, waste recycling, and even orbital cleanup.

The Grand Prix went to 17-year-old Moscow native Nikolai Petrenkin, who developed CleanCube Technology, a nanosatellite system designed to remove space debris. The platform has already passed technical trials and can also be adapted to monitor forest fires. Another standout was the 'Matryoshka' project by 15-year-old Stanislav Miroshnik from the Amur region—a hydrogen-powered locomotive capable of generating electricity through solar panels.

Artificial intelligence also took center stage. A special prize from contest partner SIBUR went to 17-year-old Maxim Tsygin of Kemerovo, whose IoT and AI-powered platform automatically analyzes biodiversity with minimal human intervention.

International contributions included Jordanian student Isa ibn Yakub’s 'Youth Agriculture' initiative, which teaches digital agro-technologies. Meanwhile, Pavel Shvyryov from Lipetsk secured 900,000 rubles in funding for his 'Young Ecologist School,' which uses interactive formats to raise environmental awareness.

The competition attracted 110,000 submissions from 43 Russian regions and 8 countries, including first-time participants from Pakistan, Argentina, and Angola.