Metalloinvest, JSA Group (part of ICS Holding) and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) have launched a joint programme to develop talent in the industrial digitalisation field. Nazim Efendiev, CEO of Management Company Metalloinvest, said: "The metals and mining industry is going through a global transformation phase. Digitalisation enables enterprises to become 'smart', more flexible and resource efficient, changing the employee roles in the production chain and guaranteeing their safety. MIPT is the country's leading technology university and an advanced research centre, and cooperating with it will provide the Company with trained specialists and enable it to significantly accelerate the development and implementation of advanced solutions.” Experts from the three organisations will jointly develop the ‘Industrial Digitalisation’ targeted master's programme. The first ten students will be enrolled next year. Yulia Shutkina, Digital Transformation Director of Management Company Metalloinvest, noted: "We are experiencing a shortage of professionals trained in the latest technologies, including machine vision, blockchain and artificial intelligence, as well as analytics and big data. This targeted programme will allow us to start preparing students to solve realworld problems even before they graduate. We plan to involve students in digitalisation projects from the fifth year of their master's degree, with the possibility of their subsequently continuing work on such projects as our employees.” The second area of cooperation will be the creation of hybrid project teams comprising experts from Metalloinvest, JSA Group and MIPT to develop technologies for specific production tasks in the metals and mining industry. From the institute's side, teams will include associate professors and PhDs in theoretical physics and computer modelling, information technology and applied mathematics, as well as senior students. The joint work will optimise existing solutions or create new ones in areas such as the use of computer vision for surface quality assessment and defect detection on the top side of sheet metal, the use of predictive analysis in blast furnace production, a ladle tracking system, etc. JSA Group has already transfered a number of projects to the labs of the Institute of Aeromechanics and Aircraft Technology, a structural unit of MIPT, in order to collaborate with students on them. The third area of joint cooperation between Metalloinvest, JSA Group and MIPT will be the organisation of a hackathon, expected to take place in the first quarter of 2022 and to include the examination of real-world production digitalisation business cases. The hackathon will allow company representatives to talk to dozens of MIPT students and graduates, see them ‘in action’ and offer internships to the most promising at companies with further employment.
Dmitry Livanov, Rector of MIPT, commented: “The partnership between MIPT, JSA Group and Metalloinvest, including the opening of new educational programmes, joint R&D projects and engaging students in solving real industry problems, organically fits into the strategic development programme of the institute for the medium term. Our cooperation will further the development of the metals and mining industry, solve business challenges for our partner companies and favourably impact the demand for our researchers and graduates.”
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