On April 23, 2023, the holiday of the Technological College “Electronic Systems” at the Technical University - Sofia took place at the innovation forum “John Atanasov”, Sofia Tech Park. The Open Day of TUES, known as TUES Fest, aims to introduce future TUES students, technology enthusiasts, and parents to the educational model and achievements of our college.
This year's edition of TUES Fest had the motto “Unlock Your Potential”. The motto embodies the journey that students at TUES undertake.
A record number of projects - 129, created by 234 students, participated in TUES Fest 2023, demonstrating the progress of our students. You can view all projects at on the event website.
Special guests at TUES FEST 2023 Unlock your potential were European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Maria Gabriel and Prof. Dr. Eng. Ivan Králov, Rector of TU-Sofia!
The opening ceremony of TUES Fest 2023 Unlock Your Potential was held. “I am extremely happy on this beautiful day. First of all, I would like to congratulate our students - those who made this event possible - the participants, the organizers, our graduates - those who are the fruit of our labor. Our teachers - these people who have put their will, desire, and ambition into turning these young people into professionals, people who can dream, can achieve, and know modern technologies. You will see this for yourselves today at our festival, the festival of achievements of TUES. And let us say a few words about this school. This year it will celebrate its 35th anniversary. Established as far back as 1988, it originated as an idea for integrating secondary and higher education. The school was created within the structure of the Technical University. There is no other such school in Bulgaria that has realized such a successful educational model, in which the efforts of both the secondary school and the higher education institution of the Technical University - Sofia, as well as all those who support us - companies, IT business firms, are integrated. In recent years, everything that happens at TUES is thanks to the recognition and support of IT industry firms, and our TUES graduates, who always remain ours, who lend a hand to the school, return to it as teachers and as supervisors of diploma projects, and this symbiosis of efforts of these people and organizations leads to this unique success. Our school and our students are extremely creative, thoughtful, developing their own ideas, but this is a process that happens with difficulty, so let us congratulate the young people who want to cross this threshold and their parents. Make the right decisions, because it is extremely important in the next 5 years whether this will be the future and professional path of your child. So let us wish success to everyone - to those who will represent TUES in its splendor (our students), to those who will rejoice in their successes. Welcome to the people, the guests, who will have fun with us and our projects all day today. Once again, good luck to all the young people, participants, and organizers. A big bravo - we all believe in you!” - shared Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eng. Stela Stefanova, Director of the Technological School “Electronic Systems” at the Technical University - Sofia, during the opening ceremony.
The program included two discussions, aimed at introducing the visitors of TUES FEST 2023 to the educational model of TUES at TU-Sofia from a first-person perspective.
The first discussion was with current students from TUES from each graduating class. The students who participated in the lecture were Vladimir Demirev from 8th grade, Evgeniya Golubeva from 9th grade, Chavdara Beleva from 10th grade, Tihomir Germenliev from 11th grade, Kaloyan Georgiev from 12th grade. They talked about how TUES helps them unlock their potential.
The second discussion was held with graduates of TUES from different cohorts. Participants in the discussion were Petko Kirkov (1997), Teodora Yovcheva (2020), Yoan Dzhelekarski (2022), Teodor Panayotov (2006), and Diana Balkanska (1995). They shared what TUES has given them and how it has helped them in their further development.
This year, during TUES Fest, TUES BattleBots was revived, becoming a tradition. In it, students from our school build combat robots that face each other, with the help of teachers from the Embedded Microcomputer Systems department and A-Z TUES.
TUES Fest 2023 “Unlock your potential” was made possible thanks to our sponsors and partners:
Alpha sponsors - Appolica, Bosch Digital, Droxic, DXC Technology, Merkle, SAP, Stam Soft, TelebidPro, Telelink Business Services, Trading 212
Beta sponsors - Chaos Group, DevriX, IBM, MM Solutions, Neterra, Strypes Group, Yettel
Gamma sponsors - Accedia, Astea solutions, CNsys, ITGix, Imperia Online, Nemetschek, Ocado Technology, Takeaway, Tumba Solutions.
Event Partners are A1, Sofia Tech Park, Zayo Bayo, Green Cherry, Pure Water, Aronia, Corporate Gifts, SmartCOM, Comet Electronics
Media Partners of the Event are BNT, Engineer.bg, Careers.bg, bTV, DevStyleR, TLL Media.
The official end of TUES Fest 2023 was marked by the exciting awards ceremony, filled with many awards and recognition for the work of all participants and projects
The Award for Best BattleBot, presented by Rosen Vitanov, lecturer in embedded microcomputer systems, went to “Minotaur”.
The “Audience Favorite” award, given to the project that received the most votes, went to the dogoino project.
“Media Favorite” was the project with the greatest social impact, namely ECCS.
In third place in the computer networks category was TtT IoT Firewall. The project aims to create a secure system for all IoT devices in our home, office, and elsewhere. It routes the internet traffic of IoT devices through a Raspberry Pi, allowing us to block unwanted traffic based on certain criteria. The award was presented by our incredible director, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eng. Stela Stefanova!
In third place in the robotics and embedded microcomputer systems category is BelotCounter - an automated counting device for Belot cards. The award was presented by Rosen Vitanov, a lecturer in embedded microcomputer systems at our school.
In third place in the software category is WiGlobe - a social web platform for sharing travel experiences. The award was presented by Teodor Panayotov, Chairman of the Board of AZTUES.
The awards for second place in the three categories, our special guest, Prof. Dr. Eng. Ivan Kralov, Rector of the Technical University - Sofia, presented, who specially honored TUES Fest 2023 on his birthday.
In second place in the computer networks category is Petar Markov with his diploma thesis on building a corporate network between two central and three remote offices through the third phase of the Cisco DMVPN protocol. In second place in the robotics and embedded microcomputer systems category is the project Voice control at home - voice control of electrical appliances via Arduino remotely over the Internet.
In second place in the System Programming category is the project SHUSHShush is an anonymous chat application that allows you to communicate with friends and/or acquaintances without worrying about the possibility of your personal data being leaked to third parties. To create and use an account, you only need a password, and the messages you send are encrypted. This way, no one will have access to your data or messages!
The Awards for the winners in the three categories presented by our special guest Maria Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth. The winner in the computer networks category is Ivo IvanovThe project represents a simulation of a company's network, which uses L2VPN and internet services for connectivity between its offices. The thesis describes in detail the process of designing, building, and analyzing a computer network, adhering to all modern standards for building a corporate network.
The winner in the robotics and embedded microcomputer systems category is MECHKA. MECHKA is a four-legged robot created by the Budget Dynamics team. It can perform various functions. It has applications in industry and education. It is controlled by a mobile application.
The winner in the System Programming category is Beware. Beware is an interactive educational platform that puts you in the shoes of a hacker who has entered someone else's computer. You must complete a series of tasks that show what can happen if you do not protect your data well enough. Do you think your data is well protected? Today, cybersecurity is part of our daily life, even if we do not realize it. A security system is only as strong as its weakest link, and this is almost always the human factor. For this reason, proper training of people is very important for security.
We thank everyone who attended for sharing the celebration of our school with us. We thank all the volunteers, teachers, previous organizers, and our mentors from AZTUES, who helped us and worked with us so that TUES Fest 2023 “Unlock Your Potential” could take place and become the celebration it was.
