Veliky Novgorod: How a Regional Campus Became a Magnet for Global AI Technologies

From Hackathons to Export-Ready Solutions

Exactly two years ago, on September 21, 2023, the fifth Russian campus of Sber’s School 21—and the first in the Northwestern Federal District—opened in Veliky Novgorod. The inauguration, attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, underscored the project’s strategic importance.

Housed in the ultra-modern “Intelligent Electronics – Valdai” innovation center, the campus quickly became more than just a place to learn. It developed into a vibrant ecosystem where participants could acquire professional and personal skills—from coding to teamwork.

Back then, the focus was on accessible education without teachers, based on the “peer-to-peer” model with 24/7 access. Today, the campus is home to a world-class technology lab in AI and computer vision. Its opening coincided with the finals of the High Technology Championship, designed to merge education, competition, and real-world business applications.

A Laboratory of the Future: From LLMs to Bionic Robots

What makes the new lab unique? First, its advanced technical infrastructure. Students and researchers can deploy large language models (LLMs) with up to 14 billion parameters, experiment with RAG modules, voice assistants, and agent-based architectures—capabilities that were previously available only to global corporations or top foreign universities.

Second, the lab offers much more than software. It includes training complexes for circuit design, electronics, and image processing, as well as state-of-the-art bionic platforms for in-depth studies of robot kinematics and dynamics.

Our priority is to give participants a sense of acceleration, to reshape their relationship with learning, to highlight the value of community, and to teach them not to fear asking questions, experimenting, or making mistakes. Already, more than 300 of our participants have secured internships at 50 companies, ranging from blue-chip corporations to startups

Svetlana Infimovskaya

Director of School 21

Regional Strategy: Building a Northwestern IT Hub

For Novgorod Oblast, the project represents more than education—it anchors the region’s digital transformation. As Governor Alexander Dronov emphasized, the lab will serve as a full-fledged center of expertise, preparing specialists in high-demand AI fields.

By leveraging synergies with the Valdai Innovation Center and Novgorod State University, the initiative connects academic research and student projects with practical applications that influence the local economy. For citizens, it provides direct pathways into IT careers without relocating to Moscow or St. Petersburg. For businesses, it ensures access to a pipeline of mid-level professionals ready to deliver results from their first day on the job.

Export Potential: From Novgorod to the World

Russian AI labs are already in demand abroad. Companies like VisionLabs and NtechLab successfully serve markets in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa with solutions in industrial video analytics, retail, and smart transport. The Novgorod lab could become the next hub for developing such products.

Within the next three to five years, the lab expects to produce external platforms that combine computer vision with language models (VLMs), as well as autonomous systems adapted to international markets. With backing from Sber, federal agencies, and Valdai Innovation Center partners, these projects come with both infrastructure and access to global distribution channels.

Forecast and Risks: Between Ambition and Reality

Short-term goals include regular hackathons, partnerships with enterprises, and graduate employment. For long-term success, however, two challenges must be addressed: the global competition for AI talent and access to high-performance computing resources such as GPUs and specialized software.

The School 21 model is unique in its openness—no age restrictions, no entry exams, and a practice-oriented approach that enables rapid scaling of education.

The launch of the Novgorod lab sends a powerful message: Russia’s technological future is not being built only in Moscow or St. Petersburg. Regional campuses are becoming growth points where world-class technologies are born. School 21 in Veliky Novgorod is living proof that even a small city can attract talent from across the country and become a launchpad for technologies that shape tomorrow’s world.