HSE School of Finance Faculty Contribute to Sber Spring School as Part of the “I am a Professional” Olympiad

The Spring School of Economics, a joint initiative of Sber and HSE University, has concluded its intensive educational programme for participants of the “I am a Professional” Olympiad. Developed by Sber’s Technological Development Block and the Sber AI Lab – Centre for Practical Artificial Intelligence, the programme was dedicated to building an AI agent for business.

The intensive was held at SberUniversity, where young professionals were fully immersed in the project development cycle, progressing from an initial hypothesis to a fully-fledged financial model. Representatives of the School of Finance at the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences assisted participants in structuring their action algorithms and mastering the nuances of financial management, monetisation, and non‑standard data analysis methods.

Maria Mirzoeva, lecturer at the School of Finance, delivered an engaging session on evaluating the economic efficiency of projects. She explained how to translate abstract ideas into concrete criteria in order to determine whether a project is genuinely viable. Maria also shared a list of key financial and non‑financial indicators that should be prioritised. The lecture became a valuable source of insight, enabling participants to create a universal checklist for screening and filtering their own hypotheses.

Alexander Semenov, Associate Professor at the School of Finance, conducted a detailed analysis of methods for assessing the economic efficiency of AI‑focused startups. The lecture examined various monetisation models and profit‑generation approaches. It also addressed the formulation of investment proposals and ways to present digital projects to potential investors. Particular attention was paid to the metrics that are decisive for successfully attracting venture capital.

Alexander Tomtosov, Senior Lecturer at the School of Finance and Academic Supervisor of the Strategic Corporate Financе master`s programme, shared his experience of applying text analysis methods to evaluate the investment preferences of Russian retail investors. This approach makes it possible to analyse large volumes of unstructured information, such as social media posts, forum discussions and the news background. Such an analytical framework extends beyond conventional reporting data and helps capture market sentiment.

At the final stage of the school, experts from the School of Finance actively participated in evaluating the final projects. The jury included School of Finance faculty members: Associate Professor Alexander Semenov, Senior Lecturer Tatiana Malofeeva and Lecturer Egor Pashkov.

Having reviewed the projects, the experts noted the participants’ high level of preparation, their enthusiasm and talent. The young professionals presented strong works, managing in a short time to delve deeply into the subject matter and propose well‑considered, mature solutions that were highly appreciated by the jury.

The Spring School has once again confirmed its status as an effective platform for synergy between HSE University’s academic rigour and Sber’s hands‑on business expertise, helping future professionals build a bridge from theory to real‑world financial decision‑making.

 

The All‑Russian Student Olympiad “I am a Professional” is a project of the presidential platform “Russia – Land of Opportunities”. It is implemented within the framework of the national project “Youth and Children” with the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. The Olympiad has been held since 2017 and covers subject areas ranging from aircraft engineering to artificial intelligence. Each year the intellectual competition expands with new, relevant fields in response to student demand and labour‑market prospects. Competition tasks are practice‑oriented and are designed jointly by experts from Russia’s leading universities and representatives of more than 700 industrial partners of the Olympiad.