The Final of the First National Engineering Championship Shaiqas-2026 Will Be Held

From August 13 to 15, the Ministry of Defence of Kazakhstan will hold the finals of the Shaiqas-2026 National Engineering Championship at the Amandyk training area in the Akmola Region.

The battle of engineering talents will bring together 500 participants representing 20 regional teams selected based on the results of the qualification round. They include students, representatives of engineering schools, industrial enterprises and force structure units.

Engineers, programmers and developers will launch drones into the air, control ground robots, repel cyberattacks and perform combat missions on a tactical field.

The competition will be held in four categories: “Aerial Systems,” “Ground Systems,” “Cybersecurity,” and “Tactics.” Each category will feature a series of tasks, including cargo transport, evacuation of a simulated casualty, deployment of mock mines using robots, protection of infrastructure against digital threats, an obstacle course, and first aid training and others.

An independent jury evaluates the tasks, and winners are determined based on their total scores. The championship’s prize fund totals 20 million tenge. The finals and awards ceremony will take place on August 15.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Almat Makhanov, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Defenсe’s Department of Information Technology, Shaiqas is a competition where engineering ideas are transformed into real technological solutions needed in the fields of defence and national security.

-Today, the development of defenсe technologies is impossible without a strong engineering tradition, innovative thinking, and close collaboration between science, industry, and the government. By bringing together talented developers, the Shaiqas competition will help identify promising ideas and create conditions for their practical application in the interests of strengthening the country’s defenсe capabilities and technological development. The championship will place special emphasis on artificial intelligence, robotics, digital solutions, and autonomous systems, - emphasized Lieutenant Colonel Almat Makhanov.

Organizers and Partners

Organizer: Defence Tech Center of the Ministry of Defence. General Partners: WSE, Barys Dynamics. Partners: Akmola Region Administration; public foundations: USTEM Foundation, Ashyq Aspan Foundation, Cyberlabs, Astana Hub, Tensor Engineering, Barys Dynamics School.

Defence Tech Center — is an innovation hub dedicated to identifying, developing, testing, and implementing cutting-edge technologies in the fields of defence and national security. The Center brings together the scientific community, the startup ecosystem, technology companies, and enterprises in the defence-industrial complex to create innovative solutions aimed at strengthening the country’s defence capabilities.