Oleg Tinkov and Tinkoff Bank management donate RUB 100M to MIPT Endowment Fund

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), Oleg Tinkov and Tinkoff Bank managers announce the establishment of a RUB 100 m endowment fund to support artificial intelligence and machine learning research.

The fund has become the largest MIPT endowment, and is an open fund, which means that MIPT alumni joining Tinkoff Bank will be able to contribute to the fund at a later stage.

The endowment fund was initiated by Artem Yamanov and Evgeny Ivashkevich, MIPT graduates and currently top executives at Tinkoff Bank, and Oleg Tinkov, founder of Tinkoff Bank.

Oleg Tinkov, founder of Tinkoff Bank, said, “We believe that Russian technical professionals are the best in the world and we want this trend to continue. That is why we are ready to engage in close cooperation and share practical knowledge with universities. As part of this drive, in the first half of 2017, Tinkoff Bank opened a special Financial Technologies Department in the Phystech School of Applied Mathematics and Informatics at MIPT. Now, Tinkoff Bank employees have decided to make personal contributions to support their alma mater and set up a special fund as part of the existing MIPT endowment. I am happy to support initiatives like this one and ready to stay involved going forward.”

Artem Yamanov, Senior Vice President at Tinkoff Bank, said, “Hundreds of Tinkoff Bank employees, across junior and senior positions, are MIPT graduates and establishing a fund like this is a way to express gratitude to the university. We hope that our experience will inspire colleagues to support the initiative and the number of endowments in Russian universities will grow.”

Evgeny Ivashkevich, Vice President, Risk Director at Tinkoff Bank, said, “Artificial intelligence and machine learning will enable a quantum leap in client products and services, hence the massive interest we are already witnessing. We expect that the inflow of additional capital to Russia’s technical universities will help to raise up highly qualified professionals who will form the core of Russian business going forward.”