Students' project works debut at INRTU Virtualization of Society and Economy Forum

INRTU hosted the 10th International Conference on Informatization and Virtualization of Economic and Social Life on April 3, 2023. The hybrid event, organized by INRTU’s Department of Economics and Digital Business Technologies, attracted students from Irkutsk, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar, Tomsk and the Moscow region, including speakers from Belarus and Japan.

Within the framework of the conference program, discussion sections covered eight scientific fields. Issues concerning economic development and information security were also discussed and reports on application of IT technologies in management and finance prepared. The first and special feature in the program was the presentations of results of students' projects.

Since its foundation Vladimir Konyukhov, the head of ‘Innovation’ direction of Automation and Management Department, has supported the conference. During his speech he wished the speakers successful delivery of their presentations. He further invited prospective students to pursue their master's degree program at the Institute of High Technologies under the ‘Research and Development, Technological Entrepreneurship in the Fuel and Energy Complex’ Program, as 15 state funded places are available for the program this year.

The conference commenced with a presentation by Arina Petrova, a finance program student. She described the role of neural networks in forecasting bankruptcy of financial institutions and significance across a variety of banking operations including:

- Processing Federal Tax Service and Bank of Russia inquiries,

- Opening current accounts,

- Credit risk assessment.

Neural networks are also able to analyze clients' emotions, define a place for a new bank branch, and optimize employee turnaround time.

Dmitry Sokolik, Dmitry Reshetnikov and Nikita Ryazanov presented a report on Performance-based Budgeting. The students studied management of the Goloustnensky Municipality, situated on the western shore of Lake Baikal, Irkutsk Region. They examined the budget and legal framework, designed, and developed a website prototype. The site allows residents to vote for projects recommended for implementation in the municipality.

'We decided to research how the budget of the Municipality is generated, and what part of it is derived from tax and non-tax revenues. Another reason of interest is that the object of the research is located near Lake Baikal, a UNESCO Heritage site. Therefore, it is important for us to establish what financial support the UNESCO Natural Heritage Protection Fund can provide to the Municipality', said Dmitriy.

Other student presentations that drew immense interest include: Polina Khokhlova’s (Moscow Polytechnic University) presentation on use of digital technologies in the catering industry; Daria Melnichuk’s (INRTU) lively discussion on influence of innovative technologies in banking and evaluation of Russian-Chinese relations by Natalia Polupudneva and Asya Shabanova.

Photos by Arseny Chekmariov