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Russian 
EKATERINBURG, November 12, 2025 – A large-scale conference program has begun as part of the International Hi-Tech Future Skills Competition and the concurrent International Youth Science and Technology Creativity Festival. Its key theme this year was the development of a national strategy for technological leadership.
The program brought together government officials, heads of leading Russian corporations, development institutions, and the expert community. The discussion focused on three key areas: "Technology: Drivers of Industrial Transformation," "Human Resources: A Talent Factory for Industry," and "Productivity: New Standards of Efficiency." Speakers and participants discussed the practical implementation of cross-cutting technologies defining the skills of the future, systemic solutions for training personnel in the digital economy, and industry-specific practices for increasing labor productivity.
The central event of the first day of the Business Program was the Festival's plenary session, "Priority—Future: National Architecture for Training Young Engineers," which brought together representatives of leading ministries, state corporations, and educational institutions to develop systemic solutions for personnel training.
Thus, during the discussion today, participants discovered that the Russian hobby group movement, for example, demonstrates significant potential in addressing one of the key economic challenges—training engineering personnel. The possibility of creating a national system for training aspiring specialists based on professional hobby groups was discussed at the plenary session "Priority—Future: National Architecture for Training Young Engineers." It was held in Yekaterinburg as part of the International Festival of Scientific and Technical Creativity for Children and Youth. The session brought together representatives of leading ministries, state corporations, and educational institutions to develop systemic solutions for training personnel.
Alexander Vaino, Director of the Young Professionals Department at the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI), cited key indicators confirming the model's success: "Over 15 years, 1 million participants have participated in the club movement. Of these, approximately 13,000 entered engineering programs at universities, with 93.5% of graduates successfully finding employment in their field. These figures confirm that we have an effective, albeit not yet scalable, model for training engineering personnel. Its effectiveness for participants is high, but the total number of club movement graduates does not cover even a small fraction of market demand."
However, despite the positive statistics, a serious talent imbalance persists. "By 2030, approximately three million people will graduate with engineering and technical degrees, while the total industry demand for the next five years is 11 million," Vaino noted. He added that according to the ASI's "Regional Attractiveness Index for Youth," only 39% of young people see opportunities for self-fulfillment in their regions, highlighting the need to develop regional educational infrastructure.
As one solution, the speaker proposed creating personalized educational trajectories: "It's important to create a clear path: a student is interested in robotics → sees job prospects in the region → chooses a specialized education → finds employment."
The plenary session also focused on creating a seamless pathway from school to high-tech enterprise, balancing fundamental education with the use of AI, and integrating the efforts of government, business, and educational institutions to rapidly scale up best practices. Participants noted that modern industry requires engineers capable of not only working with new technologies but also creating national products.
Maria Elkina, CEO of the Skills Development Agency, discussed the role of competitions in developing engineering competencies. She emphasized that this year's integration of the International Festival of Scientific and Technical Creativity of Children and Youth with the "High-Tech: Skills of the Future" competition creates a unique educational environment where schoolchildren and students can observe professionals at work. "Combining the Competition and the Festival for youth allows students not only to compete against each other but also to see what mentors and top-level professionals are capable of. Participants thus shape their personal professional trajectory: today I'm participating in the youth festival, and tomorrow I'll represent, say, "corporation No. 1" at the finals of the International Competition. I'll add: competitions are not a panacea for personnel shortages, but they are an effective mechanism for building connections between youth activities and enterprises," noted Maria Elkina.
Viktor Neumyvakin, Director of the Department of State Policy in Secondary Vocational Education at the Russian Ministry of Education, outlined systemic challenges in engineering training. He emphasized the need to accurately define both quantitative and qualitative training parameters. "When we talk about challenges, we must answer the question: how many personnel are needed? And if we can formulate an answer, it must be tangible. According to the Ministry of Labor's forecast, 70% of the replacement demand is concentrated at the secondary vocational education level," Neumyvakin said.
Today, work to overcome the talent gap is already underway in schools within the framework of the Unified Career Guidance Model, which has systematized the most effective approaches to developing students' readiness for professional self-determination.
Furthermore, starting with the new academic year, following the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation, the primary focus of career guidance work has been shifted to the regional labor market.
For reference:
This year, the International Festival of Scientific and Technical Creativity of Children and Youth is being held for the first time as part of the International Competition “Hi-Tech: Skills of the Future.” Over 100 young inventors aged 12 to 20 will present solutions to practical problems posed by industrial enterprises. The festival will feature sessions, roundtables, lectures, and master classes from industry leaders. These include ASI’s leading projects: VRConcept is holding a session called “VR Immersion: Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Unmanned Technologies,” UAVProf is holding a session called “Technologies of the Future: Drones and AI in Industrial Logistics,” and Round is participating in an interactive science and gaming zone.
The winners of the International Festival of Scientific and Technical Creativity for Children and Youth will be announced on November 13. They will receive up to 10 additional points toward their Unified State Exam scores when applying to partner universities of the Talent NTO platform, as well as internship offers from the country's largest companies. The winners will be included in the talent pool of leading Russian industrial enterprises.
