Sberbank and INRTU Sign Strategic Cooperation Agreement at Baikal IT Forum
The main program day of the 3rd Baikal IT Forum was held at the Irkutsk Youth House on September 11, bringing together business leaders, government officials and industry experts. One of its key events was the signing of a long-term cooperation agreement between INRTU and PJSC Sberbank. Participants discussed digital transformation and the development of artificial intelligence.
The agreement was signed by Alexey Kuzmin, Manager of the Irkutsk Branch of Sberbank’s Baikal Bank, and INRTU Rector Mikhail Korniakov. The strategic partnership is designed to strengthen the region’s technological capacity, train highly sought-after specialists and integrate advanced IT solutions into education.
Under the agreement, Sberbank will provide technological and methodological support for the university’s digital products. The partners plan to jointly develop innovative learning models, including educational platforms, remote testing systems and automated analytics services. Particular emphasis will be placed on creating personalized learning pathways for students using artificial intelligence and digital footprint analysis.
A major area of cooperation will focus on career development for students of the School of Information Technology and Data Science, named after E.I. Popov, the Baikal School of BRICS, and the School of Economics, Management and Law. Sberbank will offer internships and work placements, launch accelerator programs to support youth technology entrepreneurship, and run large-scale career and recruitment initiatives. Bank experts will also contribute directly to improving the academic process, fr om reviewing degree programs and updating graduation project topics to serving on state examination boards.
The agreement also provides for extensive support of research activities. The partners will launch incentive programs for talented students and faculty, creating opportunities for professional development, additional income and the implementation of innovative projects.
INRTU Rector Mikhail Korniakov commented on the significance of the agreement:
“Although a trilateral memorandum between the regional government, Sber and the university was already in place and led to the establishment of the Baikal Center of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies, which continues to operate successfully, this is the first time INRTU has signed a bilateral agreement directly with the bank. Our partnership is moving to a new level: the commitments already made will remain in place, while the range of joint projects will expand. We are already successfully implementing a number of major social and industrial initiatives, and specialized educational courses have been running at the Center since September 1”.
Alexey Kuzmin, Manager of the Irkutsk Branch of Sberbank’s Baikal Bank, stressed that the main value of this new stage of cooperation lies in preparing future professionals to work with the technologies of tomorrow:
“Discussions about technology should not be confined to experts and companies. They need to reach the people who will be developing and using these technologies tomorrow. That is why we want our work with universities to go beyond one-off events and develop into long-term cooperation. We want to create educational projects together, give students opportunities to gain practical experience and introduce them to real-world business challenges”.
Speaking about how the agreement will be put into practice, INRTU Rector Mikhail Korniakov emphasized that bringing Sber’s expertise into the university will enable INRTU to make a major leap forward in IT:
“Our focus is on cutting-edge technologies that are integral to today’s innovation ecosystem, including artificial intelligence, machine vision and video surveillance. The next practical step in our cooperation will be the planned creation of a joint teaching laboratory wh ere students will be able to work on real-world cases. Our main goal is to transform the educational cooperation we already have and move confidently toward a full-scale research, engineering and business partnership with Sber”.
The partnership will be based on equality and organizational independence, while specific measures and the financial terms of joint programs will be set out in separate agreements.
