On 19 July, a design session, “AI transformation of the Voronezh Region”, was held in the “My Business” centre. Among the participants of the round table discussions of the event were the heads of the relevant departments and institutions of the Voronezh Region and artificial intelligence and IT development specialists. VSU was represented by Dmitry Kostin, VSU Vice-Rector for Research, Innovations, and Digitising, Dmitry Zhukalin, Head of the Department of Innovation of Voronezh State University, and postgraduate students and representatives from the Faculty of Computer Sciences and the Faculty of Mathematics.
During the meeting, the regional government with the support of Sberbank organised brainstorming sessions in five areas: agriculture; health care; “smart city” and housing services and utilities; transport; and state administration. The participants were divided into groups moderated by Sberbank representatives, who helped to formulate team ideas and solutions.
As a result, each group developed recommendations on using artificial intelligence algorithms within the relevant sphere. The finalised presentations were evaluated by Alexander Gusev, Governor of the Voronezh Region, and Natalia Tsaitler, Chairperson of the Central Black Earth Branch of Sberbank of Russia. According to Alexander Gusev, the regional system of state administration is ready for the introduction of artificial intelligence technologies since the Voronezh Region has been engaged in digitalisation for over ten years. The proposed ideas were highly appreciated by the government. The development of artificial intelligence in the region will be continued in working teams, which will include representatives of VSU.
“Voronezh State University has been ensuring a high level of training of specialists in the field of innovative technologies for many years. Specialised faculties have established themselves as reliable suppliers of professional personnel. The companies that cooperate with the university often turn to our specialists for help in implementing artificial intelligence algorithms. We appreciate the trust of our partners and try to further develop. For example, VSU has a number of successful image recognition projects, in particular, in medicine. Without a doubt, the participation of VSU specialists in the working team on the development of artificial intelligence will be beneficial and will help the regional government to use our tools”, said Dmitry Zhukalin.
