Yandex invests 330 million rubles in employee projects

Yandex has created an internal technology initiatives fund to support its employees' high-tech and high-tech projects. According to the company's press release, the amount of financing this year will amount to 330 million rubles.

Projects for the fund, called Yet Another Tech Fund, are selected by a specially created expert council. Its members are technical directors of various areas of the company. The main evaluation criteria are the technological potential of the project and the ambition of the idea. The initiatives that have been approved will be supported at every stage, from concept development to the creation of a working prototype.

It is already known that the foundation will primarily finance the development of smart store technology, hybrid search in its own database management system, medical diagnostic tools based on neural networks, as well as the creation of artificial intelligence-based software for humanoid robots. It is planned to teach them key skills: walking, climbing stairs, opening doors, passing through turnstiles, lifting and carrying cargo in their hands. After that, the developers plan to enter the full development cycle of humanoids — from writing software to control them to their design and production.

According to Alexander Gorny, co-founder of AiAcademy and the ShareAI entrepreneurial club, such mechanisms for supporting internal initiatives are standard practice in the world's largest IT companies.

"The most famous project that appeared as an employee initiative is Gmail inside Google. Such funds usually do not seek a balance between risk and return. Their goal is precisely the "crane in the sky", whereas "titmice" are caught using traditional methods in familiar segments," he noted.

According to PwC, an average of 56% of companies worldwide have the capacity to support innovative ideas from employees. Many IT corporations also invest in employee training. For example, a year ago Google created a fund to train employees to work with AI. Microsoft has similar programs.

In Russia, such initiatives are developing less actively. The expert explains the low popularity of such funds in Russia by the fact that few companies are willing to think about long-term prospects in conditions of turbulence, when it is difficult to encourage risky initiatives.