Votyakov: Russia’s Regions Need Technological Specialization in AI

“In my view, we need a different model—technological specialization of regions and a distributed network of AI competence centers. There is no need to try to develop all existing technological areas simultaneously in every constituent entity. It is far more promising to identify the competencies for which prerequisites already exist in a given region: industrial demand, a scientific school, developers, universities, talent,” Votyakov said.

According to him, several developers of the same profile should operate around the chosen specialization. This will allow enterprises to understand where to look for the necessary expertise, preserve competition among technology companies, and create a local labor market. At the same time, regional universities will receive a specific demand for training specialists and involving students in real projects.

“A cluster should begin not with a building and not with a signboard, but with competence, real demand, and participants. A region should be able to determine its strengths independently. But at the federal level, it is necessary to see the country’s overall technological map: where strong teams already exist, which areas are being developed in many regions at once, and which important technologies, on the contrary, are practically not represented anywhere,” Votyakov noted.

One tool for creating such a map could be the CCI system in Russia, the expert believes. Regional chambers work directly with enterprises and know their technological needs; professional associations know developers’ competencies; universities have the human-resources and research base; and development institutions have support instruments. Their interaction will make it possible to match the economy’s AI technology needs with competencies that already exist or can be formed in the regions.

“Another path is to ensure that, around the real tasks of the regional economy, the region’s own competencies grow: developers, projects, specialists, university programs, and new technology companies emerge. Then the region stops being only a consumer of technologies and becomes a place where they are created. If there are many such centers and they are connected to one another, we will get a new technological geography of Russia—not concentrated in a few largest cities, but distributed across the country,” Votyakov concluded.