Published on: 2026-10-14
Source: Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
The DPO Forum has become an industry platform that creates an ecosystem of technological leadership through the partnership of universities, industrial enterprises, and domestic software vendors. The theme of this year’s forum is the St. Petersburg formula of workforce development: the vector of the state — the demand of the economy — the solutions of universities.
The forum is a unique opportunity to create new connections, launch joint projects, and shape the agenda of technological sovereignty through the development of engineering and technological continuing professional education (CPE). The main idea of the event is to connect government priorities, economic demands, and university competencies into concrete personnel solutions. The result of CPE is mastering technologies, solving production tasks, and ensuring professional demand for individuals.
The forum on continuing professional education is a forum for workforce development, a discussion of the state’s direction, the economy’s demands, and the university’s decisions. It remains relevant today and will continue to be so in the future. I am convinced that today it is not enough just to transfer knowledge: it is important to transform it into competencies that are in demand by production and the economy. The main idea is to combine state priorities, economic demands, and university competencies into concrete personnel solutions. Representatives of the authorities, universities, and leading companies are currently working together to find solutions that will link state priorities with the real tasks of enterprises. It is precisely this kind of cooperation that helps St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region strengthen their industrial potential, and the country to ensure technological leadership,” noted SPbPU Rector Andrey Rudskoy.
Participants of the DPO forum discussed how artificial intelligence is changing education and the social sector, where to find and how to retain qualified personnel, how to develop unmanned systems, and how to build effective career paths. Special attention was given to the training of veterans of the special military operation and their return to active professional life.
The focus of the discussion is the transition from educational programs to concrete results: new competencies, solutions for enterprises, and opportunities for professional growth. This is precisely how additional professional education becomes a tool for strengthening the country’s technological sovereignty and leadership.
The St. Petersburg DPO forum confirmed how important it is to unite the efforts of universities, industry representatives, and government authorities in addressing staffing challenges. Today, it is not enough to simply offer educational programs — it is necessary to understand what competencies enterprises require, how technological processes are changing, and what knowledge will help specialists work effectively under new conditions. The variety of forum topics showed that additional professional education addresses not only the task of improving employee qualifications but also broader issues of human capital development. For the Polytechnic University, it is especially important that professional dialogue becomes the foundation for further cooperation with enterprises and new educational initiatives. It is through this kind of work that the university can contribute to preparing in-demand specialists, implementing modern technologies, and strengthening the country’s technological sovereignty,” commented Dmitry Tikhonov, Vice-Rector for Additional and Pre-University Education at SPbPU.
The forum began with a plenary session “From Academic Hours to Technological Results.” Participants discussed models of corporate additional professional education and the current labor market situation. The session featured speeches by Alexander Pechenkin, Director of Gazprom University; Sergey Yungbludt, General Director of the St. Petersburg Energy Institute for Advanced Training of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation; Irina Kotusenko, Director for Work with Government Organizations at hh.ru; as well as Irina Drozdenko, Director of the Multicenter for Social and Labor Integration.
At the plenary session, the director of “Gazprom University” Alexander Pechenkin conveyed greetings from the Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of PJSC “Gazprom”, Sergey Khomyakov: “The II St. Petersburg Forum on Continuing Professional Education is one of the significant tools for developing personnel potential and technological advancement. Today, technologies are updated faster than generations of specialists in the industry change. Gazprom supports the development of continuing professional education at our key university, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University. Every year, we invite the university to develop and implement new programs for advanced training and professional retraining of personnel in the field of modern technologies. Together with Gazprom, the university conducts network programs. Technopolis Polytechnic has become a venue for practical training of the company’s employees.”
A separate place in the program was occupied by a vendor session dedicated to the interaction of the DPO system with developers of domestic software. This direction is related to the task of preparing specialists capable of using modern digital tools in professional activities and in production.
Another element of the program was the open campus for continuing professional education, within which participants could get acquainted with the opportunities for additional professional education at Polytech. The presentation of educational programs complemented the forum’s expert agenda with a practical component.
Then the participants split into four sections.
The section “AI in education, healthcare, and social sector: from individual practices to end-to-end scenarios” was dedicated to the systematic implementation of artificial intelligence in education, healthcare, and the social sector. The main topic of discussion was the transition from isolated experiments and local practices to the comprehensive use of AI in educational and professional processes. Special attention was given to the responsible and practice-oriented use of AI in the university environment. The moderator was Andrey Latyshev, advisor to the rector for strategic development at Yaroslav the Wise Novgorod State University.
At the second session “Personnel for Technological Development: Where to Find and How to Retain Specialists,” participants discussed personnel shortages, changing employer requirements, the development of professional competencies, and opportunities for continuing education for current specialists. A special focus was on the role of universities in promptly responding to new economic demands, creating individualized educational paths, developing additional professional education (DPO), and establishing long-term cooperation with employers. An important aspect is the shift from training specialists for a specific profession to fostering the ability to continually update competencies amid technological changes. The session was moderated by Alexandra Tutova, advisor to the general director of the Uralchem Group.
The third track is “Leningrad BAS contour: personnel, technologies, safety.” The moderator is the federal BAS personnel expert, advisor to the chairman of the board on personnel strategy for autonomous systems of the Association “National Autonomous Systems,” Anastasia Artyushina. The track focused on personnel and educational support for the development of the unmanned aviation systems sector. The focus was on forming new competencies, creating and updating educational programs for the rapidly changing technology sector, collaboration between universities, government, and industry partners, as well as issues of training and retraining specialists. A separate discussion block was related to the need to combine technological competencies, industry expertise, and safety requirements.
The section “People First — SVO Veterans: Service and Creative Work” was dedicated to issues of the professional and educational trajectories of SVO veterans, their return to professional activities, and opportunities for further skill development. The focus was on the role of universities and the continuing professional education system in retraining, advanced training, forming individual educational paths, and creating conditions for professional realization. They also discussed mechanisms for interaction between universities, employers, and the state in creating educational and career opportunities for this category of citizens. The section moderator was Ivan Kurta, Head of the Directorate of Continuing Education and Sectoral Partnership at SPbPU.
The event concluded with the second plenary session “Knowledge Transfer into Workforce Outcomes: University Continuing Professional Education, Corporate Training, and the National Project ‘Personnel’.” At this session, Vasily Ponidelko, Chairman of the Committee on Labor and Employment of Saint Petersburg, delivered a message to the forum participants from the Vice-Governor of Saint Petersburg, Vladimir Knyaginin: Today, our country faces large-scale challenges related to achieving technological leadership, strengthening industrial potential, developing domestic technologies, and providing the economy with qualified personnel. Solving these challenges directly depends on the main resource — people, their knowledge, professional competencies, and readiness to master new technologies and areas of activity. It is important to ensure a strong connection between the state’s strategic priorities, the needs of enterprises, and the capabilities of the education system. Continuing professional education plays a special role in this work.Its flexibility allows for the prompt integration of new scientific and technological solutions into educational programs, timely response to enterprise demands, and ensuring the professional development of specialists throughout their working life. Today, the forum is being held for the second time, confirming the demand for such a format and its importance in formulating joint solutions. It is important that its outcome includes not only new ideas but also concrete educational programs, joint projects of universities and enterprises, and solutions sought after by the city and the country.
The second day of the forum was also devoted to issues of inter-university cooperation and the development of additional professional pedagogical education. The program included the Workshop of Slavic universities, as well as the section “Pedagogical additional professional education: new competencies for schools and vocational education.”
These areas complemented the forum’s industry agenda with the theme of developing educational practices and inter-university collaboration.
More than 300 participants came together on one platform to discuss pressing issues of additional professional education — from the application of artificial intelligence and training personnel for unmanned aerial systems to corporate training and professional integration of special military operation veterans. The forum covered various areas of additional professional education development and demonstrated how diverse approaches to specialist training can be, depending on the industry tasks and professional field.
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