Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Two Polytechnic University developments in the field of digital transformation have received patents from the Federal Service for Intellectual Property.
The "Digital Industry Technologies (University Location)" computer simulator will become a new tool for teaching the digital economy at universities. The simulator is designed for independent practical work by students and advanced training program participants. Users make management and technological decisions in an interactive game format within a virtual university, receiving automatic feedback and a detailed analysis of the consequences of their actions. The system supports unstructured responses based on large language models, online group collaboration, ratings, and progress indicators, and also provides secure data storage and remote access through a client-server architecture.
The development responds to the demand for accelerated implementation of digital tools in industry, education, and public administration.
"The 'Digital Industry Technologies' simulator (University location) was created by the team from SPbPU's Advanced Engineering School 'Digital Engineering' for a large-scale online course taken by all first-year students at the Polytechnic University," said Vladislav Tereshchenko, a senior lecturer at the Advanced Digital Technologies School 'Digital Engineering' and one of the developers. "It was a mandatory element of the educational program, allowing students to interactively immerse themselves in the logic of digital production and management decision-making. A new stage begins next year—students will master a course on technological leadership, and our team is already preparing a new simulator for it."
The research team, led by Alexey Borovkov, Director of the SPbPU Digital Engineering School, in addition to Vladislav Tereshchenko, includes Sergey Salkutsan, Director of the Center for Continuing Professional Education at the Digital Engineering School; Pavel Kozlovsky, Chief Engineer of the Strategic Development of Engineering Markets Research Laboratory; and Andrey Shimchenko and Elena Kasyanenko, senior lecturers at the Higher School of Advanced Digital Technologies.
A patent has also been issued for the first digital simulator, "Lean College," for managers in secondary vocational education. Users are encouraged to simulate the real-life situation at an educational institution: identify inconsistencies in scheduling, logistics, and document flow, and use Lean tools to see how the institution's performance indicators change. This format is particularly in demand amid the push to digitalize management and improve the efficiency of secondary vocational education: the simulator allows for experimentation with solutions without risking disruption to the educational process, while simultaneously accelerating the implementation of lean technologies in training for industry and high-tech sectors.
"'Lean College' is a logical continuation of our most popular simulator, 'Lean Manufacturing,'" explains Vladislav Tereshchenko. "It was developed specifically for the secondary vocational education and project-based learning system, including as part of the 'Lean Future' program with the support of the St. Petersburg government. The simulator adapts the lean approach to educational organization processes: it helps college administrators and faculty identify and eliminate waste, model, and test lean management changes. The development was carried out with the participation of an expert group from St. Petersburg colleges—we jointly identified best practices and assessed the feasibility of implementing a lean approach in secondary vocational organizations."
At the Polytechnic Institute (PSI) "CI," a series of simulators covering various levels of education and industry are being developed using the CML-Bench.EDU digital platform. The university's digital technology simulator addresses the challenge of engaging students broadly in digital production culture at the start of their studies. "Lean College" is a response to a real need in the secondary vocational education system: in 2024, the Polytechnic Institute trained 35 teachers and 417 students from nine colleges in St. Petersburg and held competitions. In 2026, the PSI "CI" simulator was adapted for the competition tasks of the regional stage of the "Professionals" championship in the Murmansk region, where a university representative served as a technical expert.
Vladislav Tereshchenko clarified that the basic "Lean Manufacturing" simulator was originally created specifically for an industrial context and to engage students in real-world production. Over the past five years, more than 20,000 people have been trained using digital simulators and training tools created by the PISh "CI" team. Projects include the "Wings of Rostec" educational program, AtomSkills, five training streams for the United Aircraft Corporation, the SPbPU Presidential Program, and continuing education programs for enterprises. The simulator simulates the entire production cycle—from demand research and component procurement to assembly, logistics, and product shipment to customers, making it a versatile tool for both training and competitive formats.
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