Sber has confirmed the opening of its first research and development (R&D) center in Europe at Web Summit, which is Europe’s largest tech conference, presently being held in Lisbon.
Executive Vice President of Sberbank, CTO of Sber, and head of Technology David Rafalovsky commented on the news in his address.
The center will reportedly be based in Berlin and will mainly focus on attracting high-potential IT developers, architects, and machine learning experts. Professionals from across the globe will be working on Sber’s technological ideas, including SberDevices, SberCloud and SberAutoTech products and services. The R&D center will begin operating in Q1 2022 after obtaining regulatory clearance.
David Rafalovsky, EVP, Sberbank; CTO, Sber; head of Technology, stated:
“The opening of our R&D center in Berlin underscores our commitment to creating the best technological products and services for our clients with the help of the best specialists in the world. We invite developers, architects, and data scientists to work on the most relevant and innovative projects that will change the customer experience for over 100 million Sber Group customers.”
In June 2021, Ivan Kuzmin had been appointed as Senior MD for tech development of the recommender platform. He will “focus on the creation of a recommender system platform for the entire Sber ecosystem.” As such, he will report “directly to David Rafalovsky,” according to a release.
The recommender system platform will be a key part of Sber’s IT architecture and will be “sought-after by the multiple businesses of the ecosystem.”
Before Sber, Ivan Kuzmin had worked for Intel for 17 years. During the past few years, he had been GM of Intel R&D in Russia. With him at the helm, the unit reportedly became a key contributor to the firm’s strategy, “ensuring a full management cycle of the key software products.”
Before that, he had been “in charge of the company’s strategy in machine learning and development of software products for data science purposes and unmanned vehicles,” the update noted.
He graduated from Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod with a degree in Mathematics and Informatics. Kuzmin holds a PhD in political science and public administration.
Rafalovsky had noted earlier this year:
“I welcome Ivan to our team. The recommender system platform is among the most popular parts of Sber’s IT landscape and infrastructure. It will be based on the current platform components and superior technology. I wish Ivan success in implementing these plans.”