A new joint educational program “Technological Entrepreneurship” between Sberbank and the Russian Technological University (RTU MIREA) will be opened in the next academic year as part of the “Innovation” educational direction at the university. Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sberbank Alexander Vedyakhin announced this at the demo day of Sber youth accelerators.
The company’s top executive said the new program is based on the SberStudent accelerator program for undergraduates, graduate students and university employees.
Training will be carried out full-time on a budget and contract basis. Candidates with experience in project activities or participating in accelerator programs, including the Sber accelerator for schoolchildren, will gain an advantage when assigned to a profile.
Students will gain access to theoretical materials in design thinking, technology trends and venture capital financing, and other areas.
Students will receive practical help from current entrepreneurs and technology experts. This will help them launch the minimum viable product (MVP).
A special feature of the program is an innovative approach to creating an educational trajectory. Each first-year student will choose one of five majors in IT, engineering or biochemistry, where he will work on his own project for the entire duration of study. Students will be able to defend startups created within the scope of the “Startup as Diploma” program of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science as diploma thesis.
“As Sberbank, we believe that introducing young people to technological entrepreneurship is one of the most important conditions for ensuring the competitiveness of the Russian economy in the future,” said Alexander Vedyakhin.
He explained that SberStudent has already created a number of master’s and additional training programs in IT entrepreneurship at the country’s leading universities.
According to him, the undergraduate program, which will be carried out in cooperation with a strong technology university such as RTU MIREA, will make it possible to popularize this subject among students.
RTU MIREA Rector Stanislav Kudzh stated that Sberbank and the University of Technology will be able to jointly implement the important ideology and real practice of supporting young entrepreneurs.
“In collaboration, we will help young people consistently move all the way from the first steps of creating start-ups to possible implementation and monetization,” he concluded.