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National center of artificial industrial intelligence to be created in St. Petersburg

The relevant memorandum stipulates that Gazprom Neft,the City Administration and partnering schools will establish a project office to develop regulation, a financing model for the center in June 2019

ST. PETERSBURG, June 6. /TASS/. A memorandum on creating Russia’s first-ever national center of industrial artificial intelligence in St. Petersburg was signed on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday, the press-service of Gazprom Neft PJSC has said.

The document was signed by Alexander Dyukov, CEO and Chairman of the Management Board, Gazprom Neft, and acting Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov, together with the rectors of the city’s leading higher technical educational institutions - the St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (Polytech), the National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics (ITMO University), and St Petersburg Electrotechnical University (LETI).

Under the memorandum, Gazprom Neft, the City Administration and partnering schools will establish a project office to develop regulation and a financing model for the future center, in June 2019.

The memorandum envisages joint activities in accelerating developments in artificial intelligence able to make a tangible contribution to developing both Russia’s digital economy and real-sector industries. The center will coordinate research initiatives and start-ups in using machine learning to improve the efficiency of both assets and management in extractive and manufacturing industries. A further major task of the center for industrial artificial intelligence will be training specialist staff with highly developed skills and competencies at the interface between the basic sciences and programming.

"We see huge potential in Gazprom Neft project teams joining forces with universities to develop competitive products in artificial intelligence. And given the complexity of the tasks that modern technologies are used for in the oil and gas sector, our developments could well be rolled out to other industries," the press-service quotes Dyukov as saying.

St. Petersburg’s acting governor, Alexander Beglov, added: "We are joining forces in creating a world-class scientific and educational center. Its appearance in St Petersburg, specifically, is down to the colossal potential our city offers in terms of science, education, industry and people. Establishing this center will allow us to make a genuine breakthrough in developing the ‘smart economy’ and solving the challenging tasks facing the country today."

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is being held on June 6-8. The forum’s moto this year is Creating a Sustainable Development Agenda. SPIEF-2019 organizer is Roscongress Foundation. TASS is the information partner, official photohost agency and operator of SPIEF presentation zones with support from the company EY and the Foreign Investment Advisory Council in Russia.