The competition we now know as Bubble Cup was founded in 2008 with the aim of engaging high school and university students in programming and providing them with a platform to prepare for international competitions. The Microsoft Development Center in Belgrade ensured that Bubble Cup became one of the most significant programming competitions in the region, while the community formed around Microsoft employees involved in organizing the competition diligently designed new contest problems and made key contributions to its organization year after year.

In the years following the launch of Bubble Cup, it became clear that providing equal opportunities for all competitors also meant creating preparation materials that would be accessible to everyone, regardless of their place of residence or socioeconomic status. As a result, the Bubble Bee platform was created from Bubble Cup - an open educational platform for learning programming. In 2017, with the introduction of Informatics as a mandatory subject in upper grades of primary school, this platform was used as the foundation for building the platform of a newly established organization at the time - the Petlja Foundation.

Petlja has been a member of the Bubble Cup team since its early days and, with great pleasure, will take over the leadership of this initiative starting in 2026, with the strong support of the Microsoft Development Center.

“Over its eight years of existence, Petlja has become a unique hub bringing together the IT and education community in Serbia. It is our responsibility to continue being part of that community and to support initiatives such as Bubble Cup, as we recognize their importance for the development of the IT industry. We are looking forward to meeting all the new talents that this competition will reveal,” said Dražen Šumić, Director of Microsoft Serbia.

“The Petlja Foundation develops in young people the skills we see as essential for the future labor market. Microsoft’s desire to pass on its extensive experience in organizing a competition with such a long tradition, and to enable us to involve the broader IT community in keeping the Bubble Cup competition relevant in times of rapid change, is a great opportunity that carries great responsibility,” said Milan Simić, Director of the Petlja Foundation.

Bubble Cup remains the result of the efforts of industry enthusiasts; it does not change its address nor its final destination.