This year, Dnipro became one of 16 cities all over the world to host stages of FAI World Cup in drone racing. 40 pilots from 4 countries competed at the Noosphere race cup. In addition to the official competition, there were also competitive flights by amateur pilots, FreeStyle and night show drone races.

On September 16-17, 27 teams joined “volley battle” at the Noosphere Volley Beach IT Cup 2017. This was the second annual beach volleyball tournament for Ukrainian IT specialists, organized with support from Association Noosphere and Max Polyakov. Participants competed on the volleyball grounds of the Monastic Island on river Dnipro.

On 1-3, September, the 1st FAI International Drones Conference and Expo took place in Lausanne, Switzerland. The Conference and Expo are part of the EPFL Drone Days 2017, a global gathering hub for drones. The landmark event couldn’t have taken place without FAI’s global tech partner Noosphere Ventures, managed by Max Polyakov.

On June 3-4, the Meteor Sport Complex in Dnipro hosted one of the largest tech events in Ukraine, BestRoboFest 2017. As a festival of technology, innovation and robotics, this year’s event program included a variety of robot design competitions, presentations of modern technology solutions at expo-zone, the drone racing championship, open air action at art & play zones, and much more to see, participate in and enjoy.

On May 27, 2017, Association Noosphere hosted the student innovation tournament “Best Deviсe For FAI”. The tournament was dedicated to a specific tech challenge FAI is currently facing in Ballooning, which was tackled by six teams from the most prominent Ukrainian universities.

April 22 marked the finals of the third exciting engineering competition, Vernadsky Challenge 2017. After the prize fund was doubled to 2 million UAH in 2016, competition for the Vernadsky Challenge stiffened in 2017. This year’s competition finals were momentous for everyone involved as the legendary Mythbuster, Jamie Hyneman, attended the event.