President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin set the following tasks: to focus on fundamental areas in the field of AI and conduct research in other areas, but with the mandatory use of AI technologies. Within the framework of the federal project “Artificial Intelligence”, operated by the Ministry of Economic Development, a grant competition is being held for research centers on AI.
In 2024, a foresight session was held, which identified 10 priority areas for the development of artificial intelligence. The selection of the third wave takes these priorities into account. The Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Education and Science are preparing a unified research program in the field of AI.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko presented the results of the selection of the third wave of research centers in the field of artificial intelligence, summarized based on the work of the relevant competition committee to determine the winners. One of the members of this committee was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Institute of the Information Society Yuri Hohlov.
A total of 19 applications from 10 regions were submitted for selection. The centers’ programs cover key areas of foresight: agent systems, elements of strong AI, fundamental and generative AI models.
The winners were HSE, Innopolis, ISP RAS, ITMO University, MIPT, Skoltech, and Lomonosov Moscow State University. They will receive grants to conduct research and create world-class breakthrough industry solutions.

Each of the 7 selected third wave centers will receive 676 million rubles for 2 years (until 2026) to conduct fundamental research in the field of strong, trusted, multi-agent AI. “The total amount of budget funding will be 4.7 billion rubles for all centers,” said Dmitry Chernyshenko.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister, investments in such centers have already proven their effectiveness.
- The first wave centers dealt with issues of strong, trusted, ethical artificial intelligence.
- The second wave is dedicated to industry research for medicine, transport, industry and smart cities.
These centers create almost half of all Russian scientific groundwork in AI.
Dmitry Chernyshenko asked the selected centers to support the winners of the AI Olympiads, who also took part in the event.
Source: Official channel of the Government of the Russian Federation