Cooperation of the Russian IT University and X5 Retail Group has started with an agreement signed by the Minister of Information and Communication of the Republic of Tatarstan Roman Shaykhutdinov and X5 CFO Svetlana Demyashkevich during the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The parties agreed to foster infrastructure for innovations and social and economic development in the retail industry of the Republic of Tatarstan, and also to work on enhancing import substitution and driving Russian information technologies.
Under the agreement, X5 Retail Group and Innopolis University will start working on R&D projects, in particular, a pilot project of a store-of-the-future. The parties will focus on automation and robotization of retail processes, as well as testing of new technologies, products and services created in a new IT Competency Centre based on Innopolis University. The parties also plan to create educational programs for students and provide employment to the best IT professionals in X5 Retail Group, organize the IT competitions for schoolchildren and thematic hackathons. To that end, X5 Retail Group will be awarded the official status of an "Innopolis" SEZ partner.
"An IT competency centre based at Innopolis University will bring new knowledge and skills to our internal IT team. By learning from the Innopolis centres for robotics, big data modelling and analysis, and geographic information systems, we will be able to improve our expertise and enhance the quality of the solutions that we rely on. Certainly, the next step will be building dedicated product teams, as Innopolis is perfectly positioned to spawn innovations and new technology," commented Fabricio Granja, X5 Retail Group's Chief Information Officer.
"Innopolis University trains future IT professionals for the real economy and carries out multi-disciplinary projects across education, science and business in association with 130 partners. Our partnership with X5 Retail Group, a major retail market player, will give insights into the needs of leading Russian companies and help us to develop efficient digital solutions, bring advanced technologies to routine processes and train the most in-demand talent for the industry," marked Kirill Semenikhin, Director of Innopolis University.
X5 Retail Group partners with Russia's largest development institutions and organisations focused on R&D and education, start-ups, and mature companies. Jointly with the Internet Initiatives Development Fund and Skolkovo Foundation, the company is developing new retail technologies.
Roman Shaykhutdinov, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan and Minister of Information and Communication said: "We would be happy to see Innopolis filled with large companies that imagine their future only with the latest and most advanced technologies as part of their production processes. Our cooperation with X5 Retail Group will modernise the retail sector with new technologies, products and services, and will also promote innovation in the Republic of Tatarstan."
"The R&D cooperation with the Republic of Tatarstan opens up totally new opportunities that will benefit both X5 Retail Group and the retail industry in general. Amidst the digitalization in the economy, it is technology that fosters the potential for successful competition and flexibility in scaling up businesses and operations. We pay special attention to IT technologies and innovations, and have a major strategic project centred around big data, while also introducing robotised and automated processes. I believe that by teaming up with experts of Innopolis University, we are set to succeed," said Svetlana Demyashkevich.
