The Phystech IT Cluster was established in Russia last week in a multiple-partner effort led by the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), a leading Russian research university popularly nicknamed “Phystech.”
The new nonprofit partnership is expected to develop and implement advanced educational programs in computer science and software engineering and promote large-scale IT projects. The cluster will seek close ties with the world’s leading research centers, hoping to make MIPT a magnet for top-notch scientists, both Russian and international, as the Institute tries to put together new world-class labs.
MIPT has enlisted broad-based support for the project from an impressive consortium of alumni currently in top management positions in Russia’s IT industry.
The corporate side of the consortium features Parallels, an established global developer of desktop virtualization and cloud solutions; Abbyy, a provider of document recognition, data capture and linguistic technologies and services; 1C, Russia’s leading publisher of enterprise software; Acronis, an international provider of data backup software and disaster recovery solutions; Competentum, a provider of IT solutions for staff development; and Runa Capital, a VC fund.
According to MIPT alumnus Serguei Beloussov, a senior partner at Runa and founder of Parallels and Acronis, “the creation of the IT Cluster is the next big step in MIPT’s development, enabling it to bring external resources into the university and boost its effectiveness by collaborating with the IT industry more closely.”
The announcement came just weeks after MIPT launched its own $30 million seed fund, Phystech Ventures, to incubate and grow MIPT-related tech companies. The new fund partnered with Runa Capital and others last month in opening Russia’s first hardware startup accelerator in Kazan, 800km east of Moscow.
Source: MIPT
