A real business case instead of textbook exercises: Lytvyn Foundation holds Code The Future hackathons for teens

Kharkiv IT entrepreneur and patron Volodymyr Lytvyn is building free entrepreneurial education for teenagers in Ukraine through the Lytvyn Foundation. One of the key tools of this system is the Code The Future hackathon series, where youths 13–17 years old develop IT solutions for real business needs.

The logic of the series is that teenagers do not train on contrived tasks, but receive assignments from a company that exists and operates. After selection and a training course, the teams receive a brief from the business partner: describe the idea, specify the scenario, develop a technical solution, and prepare a presentation.

The finale takes place offline, where teams defend the product before an expert jury. The jury mainly evaluates the practical value of the solution for the business, the quality of AI integration, and user experience usability.

"The Code The Future hackathon was not conceived as an ordinary contest or training course. Its idea is to give teenagers the opportunity to create effective IT solutions for business," emphasizes Lytvin.

At the first hackathon of the series, from nearly five hundred applications, 193 participants were selected, and 12 teams reached the final in Kyiv. The winners in the best technological solution category received certificates to an online computer hardware store for 50 000 hryvnias from Volodymyr Lytvin's foundation.

Hackathon in the education system for teenagers

Code The Future is part of a broader educational infrastructure of the foundation, which includes several related projects. The flagship project is the MindCraft online business school: over 1000 applicants seeking to learn, 400 graduates from different regions of Ukraine, 89 projects that have reached pitching before the jury. The strongest receive grants and investments from the Lytvin Foundation to develop their own ideas.

After school, participants can continue to develop their business in a business club and business incubator, where they are supported by practicing experts who themselves built a business from scratch.

The foundation also promotes a sports-educational direction: together with tennis player Elina Svitolina’s foundation, the Lytvyn Foundation implements the ONE POINT program for young tennis players 10–14 years old, the winner of which receives a grant 100 000 hryvnias.

A principled position of the founder: all foundation projects are free of charge. Lytvin views them as a long-term investment in a new generation of Ukrainian entrepreneurs that is growing in wartime.

Reference

Volodymyr Lytvin is a Ukrainian entrepreneur, investor, patron, and owner of several successful businesses in the digital sector.

Founder of the Lytvyn Foundation—a charitable fund that builds a systematic free education for teenagers in entrepreneurship and technology. The strongest participants in the foundation's projects receive grants to develop their own ideas and dreams.

Lytvin is convinced that entrepreneurial thinking must be formed from adolescence. That is why his foundation works with children 13–17 years old, investing in a new generation that will build Ukraine's future.