Iranian students bag top prizes at Yakutsk, Seoul science contests
Iranian students took home top honors at two global innovation events in Russia and South Korea in July, the Iranian Education Ministry.
The teams competed at the Yakutia International Science Fair (YISF) from July 6 to 9 in Yakutsk and the World Invention Creativity Olympics (WICO) from July 17 to 19 in Seoul.
The dual triumph underscored Iran’s growing presence on the international science stage, with young inventors showcasing projects from AI-driven waste segregation systems to seizure-predicting medical devices. Both contests drew hundreds of participants from more than two dozen nations, offering what officials called “a global stage” for emerging talent.
At YISF, which brought together 129 teams from 10 countries, Mehran Rajabi and Alireza Jafarnejad won first place in physics, astronomy and engineering for their “EcoNet Bin,” an AI-powered, IoT-enabled waste sorting system.
Siblings Moeid and Helena Rajabi took second place for a smart child safety solution using IoT and image processing.
Third place went to a team led by Artin Radmatin for a project on magnetic gears in process systems. Zhina Aminorroaya-Karladani won a special prize for her “UVGuard Grooming Brush.”
In the mathematics, computer science and IT category, Artin Salari and Amir-Abbas Kavosi Amin ranked second with smart glasses for the blind using real-time object detection, while Ilia Majidzadeh Heravi and Parsa Karimi Yazdi placed third for a deaf communication app called “CommuniMate.”
At WICO, hosted by the Korea University Invention Association, 313 teams from 28 countries competed.
Radin Abbasi and Sam Rashidi won gold for “NannyBot,” a humanoid robot designed to manage children’s activities through IoT.
Silver medals went to Matin Hayati for seizure prediction via EEG frequency band analysis and to Raman Nafarieh for research on plant nanogels in skin cancer treatment.