On 6 November, the qualifying round of the "Smart RPE 2025/26" National Competition was held at the RPE Business Communications Center. Participants included bachelor's and PhD students from technical universities across the country, who presented their developments to improve the efficiency and safety of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Aleksandr Dmitriev, Director of the Smart Labor training site and Assistant at the SPbGASU Department of Technosphere Safety, acted as a member of the event's expert committee. He noted that the competition serves an important educational and enlightening function: "The main goal of the competition is to foster a culture of safe work practices and instill skills for the conscious use of personal protective equipment. Students propose innovative ideas that can later develop into full-fledged scientific research." He noted that students of various levels, from first-year to PhD students, participated in the competition. This allowed them to see a wide range of approaches to solving current technosphere safety problems. "For me, the key evaluation criteria were the practicality and economic feasibility of the proposals. It is important that the development can be implemented and applied in practice," the expert noted.

The project by Anastasia Masyukova and Natalia Chernyakova, students from the Faculty of Civil Engineering and the Department of Technosphere Safety, "RPE with color-coded hazardous gas indication," received special recognition. The work received high marks and advanced to the final round of the competition.

"The project's main advantages are its innovation and relevance. Toxic gases are a factor present in many industries. A development that allows for visual signaling of excess concentrations could significantly improve occupational safety," commented Aleksandr Dmitriev.

He also discussed the activities of the "Smart Labour" training site, which implements modern approaches to education and demonstrates safe technologies: "Our training center is an innovative platform that presents various educational methods and installations demonstrating correct and incorrect work practices. The use of modern PPE significantly simplifies work and makes it safer. Therefore, we are interested in developing new solutions similar to those presented at the competition."

The final round of the "Smart RPE 2025/26" competition is scheduled for February 2026. According to Aleksandr Dmitriev, SPbGASU will provide students with all necessary support to participate in the final round.

At the end of the discussion, the expert offered some advice to the future participants: "I want students to focus on the practical applicability of their ideas. Courage and creativity are great, but it's important to understand how the project can be implemented and who will be its consumer. I hope our students refine their projects, taking the recommendations into account, and represent the university with dignity in the finals."