The “Annual Student Innovation Challenge 2025” became a remarkable event for the Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman. This year, the initiative expanded even further: in addition to the founding institutions — the Innovation Value Institute (Maynooth University, Ireland), our university, and the Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas,— students from Technische Hochschule Deggendorf (Germany) also joined the competition. The projects were presented at the annual IVI Summit on June 11-13, 2025.

The event was initiated and led by Professor Markus Helfert, Professor for Digital Service Innovation at Maynooth University and the Director of the Innovation Value Institute, the Hub for Data and Digital Research at Maynooth University. Thanks to his vision, enthusiasm, and dedication, the Challenge has become a vibrant platform for sharing ideas and achievements among students and academics from multiple countries.

The focus of this year’s Challenge was on deepfakes, fake news, and disinformation created using artificial intelligence. This timely and critical topic inspired participants to explore a wide range of issues — from the use of AI-generated photo, video, and audio content in marketing, to identifying fake AI products based on textual and visual analysis, and examining the risks of AI-fueled manipulation in political and fraudulent contexts. Students from the Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman were especially recognized, winning two awards at once:

●     The Award for Excellent Research and Outstanding Experimenting with AI Tools and Disinformation was given to a team of bachelor's and master's students in Computer Science consisting of Olesia Haidash, Valeriya Loyanich, Iryna Baidachna and Stanislav Rezunenko for their project NeuroSlim, dedicated to the use of AI for product promotion and advertising and the study of user reactions to materials created by AI.

●     The Award for Outstanding Innovative Idea andUnderstanding of Challenges with AI and Disinformation was given to a team of Master's students majoring in Economic Cybernetics consisting of Anna Proskurnia, Yuriy Moskalchuk, Victoria Chernyshova, Ivan Yurchenko, and Iryna Lazaruk for their AI Deepfakes project dedicated to the study of deepfakes and the development of practical examples of fake multimedia content.

These achievements are the result of the hard work and active involvement of students and their supervisor, Professor of the Department of Information Systems in Economics at the Institute of Information Technologies in Economics of the Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman, Doctor of Economics, Professor Olga Mozgalli, who was awarded the Mentor Two Awarded Teams award.

The success of the Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman teams at the Annual Student Innovation Challenge 2025 highlights the strong academic foundation and international competitiveness of our students.

Congratulations to our brilliant students and inspiring educators on this well-deserved recognition!This achievement serves as motivation for all those who strive to innovate, collaborate, and make a positive impact on the world.