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Every year, the competition combines real-world IT challenges with the possibility of winning a scholarship and joining one of the faculty’s research teams. In the first phase, contestants independently solve a set of prepared tasks. The top performers then advance to the finals, where they meet with representatives from the labs and partner companies during interviews. This gives them the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and motivation.

“With the new name Talent@FI, we want to emphasize that we strive to identify talented and active students early in their studies and open the door for them to develop their skills on real-world projects,” explains Vlastislav Dohnal, Vice Dean for External Relations and Partnerships at FI MU. The competition is open to students in their 2nd and 4th semesters of bachelor’s studies, for whom it serves as a gateway to the world of research and work on real-world projects. It targets talent across bachelor’s programs, this year most frequently from the Informatics program.

Six teams composed of research laboratories from the Faculty of Informatics at Masaryk University and their industrial partners participated in organizing the competition:​ 

• Team 1: LEXICAL COMPUTING CZ s.r.o. + Natural Language Processing Center (NLP)
• Team 2: Red Hat Czech, s.r.o. + Laboratory of Analysis, Verification, Logic, and Automata (AVELAB) 
• Team 3: Honeywell, spol. s r.o. + Laboratory of Analysis, Verification, Logic, and Automata (AVELAB) 
• Team 4: MONET+, a.s. + Centre for Research on Cryptography and Security (CRoCS) 
• Team 5: Sewio Networks s.r.o. + Design and Architecture of Digital Systems Laboratory (EmLab) 
• Team 6: Novanta ČR s.r.o. +Design and Architecture of Digital Systems Laboratory (EmLab) 

This year, contestants were given a choice of 8 IT tasks, which they downloaded from the competition website on Monday 23 March. A new feature this year was inclusion of a hardware-based task, using Raspberry Pi devices, which participants could borrow from the organizers. Students had a total of 36 hours to complete the tasks. The 19 most successful students advanced to the finals, which took place on Thursday 26 March. As a result, nine winners will divide the seven available research positions.

For faculty laboratories, Talent@FI is a way to identify talented students while they are working on specific tasks and to establish further collaboration with them. Rather than a one-off event, it often marks the beginning of a longer journey into research. This is confirmed, for example, by Petr Švenda, whose CRoCS laboratory has already hosted three dozen successful finalists, many of whom have become an important part of long-term research and project activities. Participating companies appreciate that they can influence the task assignments themselves. “The competition is of fundamental importance to us because it gives us the opportunity to see how students solve problems designed by the company, and we then have the chance to discuss their solutions with them,” adds Jakub Lešinský from Sewio. 

The competition earned positive feedback from the finalists as well. For example, the assignments themselves led them to explore interesting areas they had not previously considered. They also repeatedly appreciated the pleasant atmosphere of the competition, the organizers’ helpfulness, and the opportunity to establish direct contact with research groups. They chose their tasks and research positions mainly based on their interests, their existing experience, and where they wanted to go next, whether it was Linux, the Rust and Flutter languages, cryptography or security. The winners expect their new positions to provide them with new skills, the opportunity to apply theoretical knowledge in practice and the chance to work on meaningful tasks with people who can help them grow further. The scholarship they received also gives them the freedom to fully dedicate themselves to this collaboration. 

We thank all representatives of laboratories, companies, and especially the students for their participation, and we look forward to collaborating with you again next year. We are tentatively planning the next edition of the competition for the week of 5 April 2027. More details will be available on the competition website.

Author: Marta Vrlová, Office for External Relations and Partnerships, FI MU

Photo: FI MU