«TOM: Kazakhstan» is an international social project that unites inventors and people with disabilities. TOM: Tikkun Olam Makers - means "changing the world", it is a global movement that gradually covers the entire globe.

TOMs have been held since 2014 in the USA, Argentina, Great Britain, Israel, Brazil, Canada, Australia, Vietnam and other countries of the world. The first TOM meikathon in the CIS was held in Kazakhstan in June 2017. The organizers of the project in Kazakhstan were the Association of Friends of Tel Aviv University in Kazakhstan. Meikathon is a 72-hour marathon where inventors (makers) design devices for people with disabilities (need knowers).

From November 26 to 29, 2021, a 72-hour continuous work of teams on the implementation of ideas took place within the framework of the "TOM: Pavlodar" Meikathon in Pavlodar.

Sergey Bespaly, the captain of the Social Project Pavlodar (SPP) team, told about the project in more detail: I must say that this is the 12th meikathon, which takes place in Kazakhstan. And it started a little earlier, on October 22. 7 teams participated in the meikathon, it was necessary to meet with need knower and think about how to solve his problem within a month. Our team consisted of 5 people: me - Sergey Bespaly, Vladimir Golubin, Egor Prokhorov, Alexander Patrushev, Alexander Petrenko. We also attracted freelance members of our team, these are Alexander Kulikov and Andrey Kaptsov, who helped us in implementing our idea.

A little bit about need knower. Fink Alexander, a tragedy happened to him at the age of 7 due to childish negligence, he was hit by a train and, as a result, a high amputation of the lower limb. Now he is 21 years old, he has received a secondary technical education, works, is fond of archery, an active person, but the problem is that the prosthesis that he is given is very heavy and uncomfortable. During the month there were a lot of ideas, we dug through patent databases, studied the development of the University of Massachusetts, and discussed all Alexander's wishes, considered several options of materials from which we were going to make prosthesis.

Here's what Vladimir Golubin says: "Alexander, having lost his leg, periodically grew out of the prosthesis that was given to him, and initially, we wanted to make a temporary prosthesis, for the period when he is waiting for the prosthesis put to him. In the process of working on the prosthesis, we came to the conclusion that we can make a universal, permanent prosthesis that will grow together with Alexander and will have interchangeable parts."

We also conducted a market research and saw the following figures: about 50 thousand people a year in Kazakhstan need prosthetics of limbs, and only 15 thousand people receive this service, and 70% have to wait in line.

There was a time when we wanted to give up, but Yegor Prokhorov said: "We will do it" and we did it! Patrushev Alexander reduced costs, prepared financial calculations, Petrenko Alexander developed instructions for the manufacture and stages of creating a prosthesis. Golubin Vladimir and Prokhorov Egor conjured over technical solutions and their implementation, and left at two or three o'clock in the morning, and on the last day at the sixth hour of the morning! The result was worth it, when Alexander picked up the prosthesis, you had to see his emotions! Comparison in the lightness of his prosthesis lost! The lightness of the prosthesis, its versatility, cost, speed of manufacture, these are the main value characteristics of our product. Defending our project, we saw the interest and support of the jury members. Alexander Vladimirovich Naumov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Eurasian Bank, was on the defense, who on behalf of the Bank supported the idea of creating a prosthesis, given its scalability, and the Bank invests certain financial resources to finalize the prototype!

During the work, we had ideas about finalizing the prototype we created; we plan to continue working on the project, supplement and test the prototype in the near future, and further scale the project. Moreover, the main components for the provided prostheses are imported from Russia in Kazakhstan; it is possible to participate in the import substitution program. We see this in the project development plan. Sania Gamalievna Arapova, Vice-President of the Association of Friends of Tel Aviv University in the Republic of Kazakhstan, a member of the jury, promised to assist in cooperation with the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan, to access the social services portal.

We are grateful to the ERG group, the Association of Friends of Tel Aviv University in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Non-profit joint stock Company «Toraighyrov University» (on the site of which the Meikathon took place, and in the Technopark, we used lathes, drilling, milling machines and other equipment!) for organizing this contest and for supporting our project.  Evgenia Mnaidarova, project manager, many thanks for organizing and conducting the meikathon! We have known Sania Arapova and Zhanna Milatkhanova for a long time, and their team is super professionals!

We have agreed to meet with our need knower, which means that the project continues!

Sergey Bespalyy,
Candidate of Economic Sciences,
Professor, Innovative University of Eurasia