Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Novosibirsk State University –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
The Novosibirsk Region boasts one of the most developed IT training ecosystems in the country. Thousands of IT specialists and engineers graduate annually from 10 universities and 14 colleges in the region. Many of them are in demand at leading Russian and international companies and become proponents of the latest technologies. This was announced by Elena Proforuk, head of the Novosibirsk Region Ministry of Digital Development, at a press briefing that kicked off the "Impulse T1" conference in Novosibirsk. The event took place on the new campus of Novosibirsk State University.
Novosibirsk has traditionally been among Russia's IT leaders. Today, the sector employs over 30,000 specialists, and approximately 3,000 IT companies are registered in the region. In 2025, the digital industry's contribution to the gross regional product reached 4%, exceeding the Russian average. In the first six months, the local IT sector contributed over 7 billion rubles to the budget, with revenue and tax revenues increasing by 20-30%.
"Our main competitive advantage is our highly qualified workforce. The region boasts a unique combination of education, science, and industry, which ensures dynamic growth in the IT sector and the digital transformation of the entire economy, as well as provides young people with opportunities to successfully find employment in their home region," said Elena Proforuk, head of the Novosibirsk Region Ministry of Digital Development, Communications, and Mass Media project office.
Mikhail Knigin, Executive Director of T1 Integration, noted that Novosibirsk is one of the key regions for the T1 IT holding company. "Today, we have over 500 employees in Novosibirsk, and the team has grown by 37% over the past year. This demonstrates the growing potential of the region's engineering workforce and the effectiveness of the practice-oriented approach to training specialists, which is achieved through the collaboration between educational institutions and businesses," Mikhail Knigin emphasized.
This year, NSU launched a bachelor's degree program in applied artificial intelligence: 176 students from more than 20 regions are studying not only technical disciplines and programming but also IT project management. All students are participating in the development of real-world solutions for Russian businesses. The program's anchor industry partner is the IT holding T1. As part of the program's training, the company provides students with access to its own IT solutions. In 2026, NSU will implement the Cybox platform for a full cycle of working with machine learning models, which will be used both in education and for research purposes.
"Artificial intelligence isn't a privilege for a select few, but a tool that should be taught to students from their first year. The sooner we introduce practical and project-based learning, the faster young specialists become marketable," says Alexey Okunev, Director of the NSU Institute of Intelligent Robotics.
As part of the conference, IT holding T1 also held a hackathon across two tracks: "Digital Dress Code: Creating Local ML Video Segmentation Modules and a Personalized Background Generator"; and "CodeMetrics: Developing a System for Automatically Assessing Team Performance Through Git Metrics Analysis." Over 630 students registered for the competition, with 10 teams reaching the finals. Third place in the "Digital Dress Code" track was taken by first-year students from the Institute of Intelligent Robotics, studying in the new bachelor's degree program "Applied Artificial Intelligence," supported by IT holding T1 and supervised by the Analytical Center under the Government of the Russian Federation.
A cooperation agreement was also signed between NSU and the IT holding T1 in the field of education. Key areas include improving the quality of IT education, taking into account current practical needs, and developing students' research activities in the field of AI.
The event demonstrated that Novosibirsk is becoming not only a magnet for high-tech companies, but also a true laboratory for new educational solutions, forming the foundation for Russia's digital future.
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