Published on: 2026-09-07
Source: Moscow Government – Правительства Москвы –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Reception opened in Moscow applications to the third annual competition “Leaders of the social industry”. Teams of social projects and non-profit organizations (NPOs) that operate in the social sphere and want to increase their efficiency through digital technologies are invited to participate.
The competition is held by the Social Projects Support Fund and the Sberbank Charity Fund “Contribution to the Future.” Ten projects will become winners. The grand prize is free education at SberUniversity under the “Digital Business Transformation” program. The course combines theory and practice: the winning teams will be able to implement their own digital project under the guidance of experts.
“Digital transformation in the social sphere is a tool that allows assistance to be more prompt, qualitative, and accessible to a larger number of people. Last year, we saw projects of completely different scales and directions — from IT platforms for nanny searches and mobile applications to support oncology patients to animal identification systems and digital tools for working with children with disabilities. Each of them offered its own effective solution to an important social issue. This season, we also expect a wide range of initiatives and interesting digital solutions from various fields,” emphasized Natalya Kremneva, director of the Fund for Support of Social Projects.
The competition accepts projects that use or implement digital solutions — from creating online platforms and mobile applications for monitoring and working with aid recipients to applying artificial intelligence technologies, virtual and augmented reality, and geolocation services. Projects aimed at developing chatbots and voice assistants to support clients and automate routine processes are also invited to participate.
“Every year, we receive over 100 applications, and year after year, participants submit increasingly mature projects. We are glad that with our help, useful social projects can become more effective and sustainable. We are confident that this year we will see interesting digital solutions in the competition that will help an even greater number of people. Together, we can make technology a tool for real social change,” noted Marina Mikhailova, Program Director of the charitable foundation ‘Contribution to the Future.’
The teams — winners of last season — completed their training at the end of August and are already implementing digital tools. For example, the ‘Baba-Deda’ portal-navigator for the older generation, which has been operating since 2011 in more than 250 cities across Russia and the CIS. Its developers initially planned to automate the collection of information for an event catalog, but during training they revised their strategy and focused on creating an analytical product — automated reports on changes in consumer sentiments among the ‘silver’ generation.
Anastasia Lazibnaya, the portal’s founder, noted that the training program “Digital Business Transformation” gave the team not only new knowledge but also a valuable foundation for the future. The process of generating hypotheses, which initially seemed complex and required stepping beyond usual boundaries, ultimately helped break free from internal constraints and find several promising product ideas that the project plans to develop over the next three years.
The “Leaders of the Social Industry” competition supports initiatives aimed at employment and training of socially vulnerable groups, creating an accessible environment, social-medical services, and assistance to people in difficult life situations. Organizations registered in the territory of Russia for at least one year are eligible to participate.
Applications will be accepted until September 30 on the foundation’s website “Contribution to the Future”. In October, the semifinal, the selection of finalists, and the project presentations will take place. The names of the winners will be announced no later than October 27.
On September 10 at 10:00, the contest organizers will conduct a free webinar for representatives of social projects and NGOs. Experts will explain in detail the conditions for participation and the nuances of submitting an application, as well as discuss how digital transformation affects the development of such projects.
Social Projects Support Fund, subordinate Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development of the City of Moscow, is engaged in developing a favorable environment for social entrepreneurship — from conducting educational and media projects for social business representatives to creating infrastructure and working on improving legislation.
Business support in the capital is provided within the framework of the federal project “Small and Medium Enterprises and Support for Individual Entrepreneurial Initiative,” which is part of the national project “Effective and Competitive Economy”, as well as the Mayor of Moscow’s strategy to support capital entrepreneurship. More about Russia’s national projects and the capital’s contribution can be found at special page.
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