Designed for top managers in IT – heads of tech, infrastructure, and digital departments – the program will offer insights into systematic implementation of AI within key business processes: production, sales, HR, marketing, and budgeting (with an AI-first approach). The practical aspects of the program will be based on cases from participants’ respective industries.
While ITMO and Skolkovo are responsible for the academic and research contents of the program, Yandex will provide the infrastructure, practical business cases, and applied AI training.
Yandex will also provide students with access to its cloud technologies, as well as the Yandex AI Studio platform, where students will be able to create their own AI agents for data analysis, client communications, automation of planning, and other tasks. Special attention will be paid to AI infrastructure, working with corporate data, and the opportunities offered by various AI models.
“Two thirds of all Russian companies are already using generative neural networks, but their use is largely fragmentary. In order to produce a significant economic effect, managers need to take a complex approach to AI implementation. In our program, they’ll be able to learn through real-world cases and tools. Moreover, students of the program will enter an exclusive community of IT leaders, where they’ll be able to share their experience in AI transformation of their businesses,” says Daria Kozlova, the Director for Strategic Development at ITMO and the director for education at Yandex.
Daria Kozlova. Photo by ITMO University
The program will last nine months and include nine modules, culminating in students defending their AI strategies in front of an expert committee. Graduates will receive professional retraining diplomas from the Skolkovo School of Management. Applications are accepted on the program’s website.
This new program was created in response to market demands. According to a study by Yandex and the consulting company Yakov and Partners, the expected economic effect of AI in Russia is estimated to reach between 7.9 and 12.8 trillion rubles annually by 2030, while companies that will introduce AI into their key processes are expected to demonstrate the greatest growth in revenue.
