Russia needs at least one million IT specialists more - Boris Nuraliev

UFA, 16 November 2018. /Bashinform News Agency/ translated by Tatiana Aksyutina/. There may be not enough IT specialists in the country to implement the project on the economy digitalization announced by the President of Russia. In this regard, educational tasks come to the fore, says Boris Nuraliev, a member of the All-Russian Forum “Smart-Region”, a successful Russian entrepreneur, founder of 1C, a lecturer at leading Moscow universities MESI, MIPT, HSE.

Today, November 16, the 1C Company and the Government of Bashkortostan signed a cooperation agreement. “The company's software products are among the most sought-after in the domestic market. Together we are planning to create a Competence Assessment Center for the implementation of human resources and the region’s digitalization as a whole”, the Interim Deputy Prime Minister RB Ilshat Tazhitdinov marked.

“The main problem of the industry is a shortage of personnel,” said Boris Nuraliev. “Now 47 thousand people are enrolled to education institutions on state-financed programs in IT specialty. In 2024, this figure should grow to 120 thousand; this is a very challenging task”.

According to the industry, about 1 million IT specialists work in Russia - about 1.5% of the working population of the country (71 million people with a total population of 144.5 million). For comparison, Boris Nuraliev cites the example of the UK, which is not a recognized exporter of information technology: in the United Kingdom, the number of IT professionals is 6% of the working population (21.2 million people with a total population of 66 million).

The 2nd Smart-Region Forum is taking place in the capital of Bashkiria on November 16-17. It is dedicated to the issues of digitalization of the region. The organizers are the State Committee RB for Information Technology and Open Republic System Functioning, the Association for the Development of Information Technologies, the Association for Electronic Education of Bashkortostan.