17 May 2026
From May 12 to 14, the International Exhibition Centre in Kyiv hosted Aquatherm Kyiv—the premier engineering exhibition of the year. Its central stage served as the venue for the final round of the “ChillPro Students Awards” 2026, a STEM competition for students in the field of low-temperature technology, held in accordance with WorldSkills international standards.
This nationwide competition was organized for the third time by the academic staff of the Department of Thermal Engineering and Refrigeration Technology at the National University of Food Technologies, in partnership with the Refrigeration Association of Ukraine, Premier Expo Ukraine, and our charitable foundation.
Over three days of intense competition—interrupted by the largest-scale missile and drone attack on Kyiv—eight resilient student teams, guided by experienced coaches from universities and vocational colleges in Poltava, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa, Bila Tserkva, and Kyiv, vied for the title of the best in their profession.
The winners of the competition, who received valuable prizes from our partners, were teams from the following educational institutions:
— National University of Food Technologies
— Kyiv Professional College of Restaurant Business (a structural unit of the National University of Food Technologies)
— Kharkiv Professional College of the Food Industry (a structural unit of the State Biotechnological University)
Additionally, all participants and their coaches received useful gifts from the Foundation for Educational Initiatives: refurbished laptops, provided through the international “Unbreakable Education” program to support their work and studies. The Grand Prix of the competition—a trip to Chillventa 2026, the world’s leading exhibition for industrial refrigeration—was awarded to the winning team and their mentor, courtesy of Volodymyr Hrynko, CEO of EUROCOOL.
The competition was also supported by the following socially responsible companies:
— Danfoss Ukraine
— Green Frost
— Metalgazpro
— Prana
— Techma
— GEA Ukraine
— Schneider Electric
— Walraven Group
— Modern-Expo
The competition was held with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.
We extend our gratitude to the participants and their mentors, the jury members, the organizing committee, and everyone who supports the development of student STEM initiatives in Ukraine—thank you for your invaluable contribution to training the nation’s engineering talent!
We are sharing a brief photo recap from the competition venue.
Side by side toward Victory!
