ISTU Vocational College and Sigma Software have joined forces to develop IT education and professional opportunities for students. The Professional College of the Higher Education Institution "International Scientific and Technical University named after Academician Yuri Bugay" concluded a Memorandum of Cooperation with Sigma Software LLC. The document was signed on September 3, 2026. For modern education, partnership with representatives of the real sector of the economy is no longer an additional advantage, but a necessary condition for training a specialist who will be ready for the challenges of the professional environment. That is why it is important for ISTU Professional College to develop stable ties with technology companies and create opportunities for students to receive not only fundamental knowledge, but also practical experience. The new Memorandum is a step in this direction. Education that has a direct connection to the profession. The cooperation between the College and Sigma Software involves interaction in the field of information technologies, software, innovations and development of educational potential. Among the identified areas are the implementation of joint scientific and innovative projects, seminars, trainings, hackathons, olympiads, competitions and other specialized events. It is especially important to involve company representatives directly in the educational process. Sigma Software representatives will be able to engage in interaction with students, as well as participate in the development, revision, and updating of the College's educational programs, providing consulting assistance. This means that education gets the opportunity to be even closer to the real needs of the IT market. More practice means more opportunities for students. A separate area of cooperation is the organization of internships and training for students. This is one of the most valuable partnership formats, as it allows students to better understand the specifics of professional activity, get acquainted with the corporate environment, and test their knowledge in practice while still studying. The parties also plan to conduct joint research and analyze labor market needs and educational needs in the field of information technologies, develop methodological materials and educational resources, and work together on grant applications for the implementation of educational and technological projects. Thus, the partnership has a practical dimension: the student receives more opportunities for professional development, the College receives relevant tools to improve the educational process, and the employer receives the opportunity to interact with future specialists even at the stage of their training. Partnership as part of the College's development. For the ISTU Professional College, such agreements are also a matter of developing a modern educational ecosystem. A college that systematically cooperates with business, is open to new technologies, and involves the professional environment in the educational process demonstrates a willingness not just to respond to changes, but to shape education in accordance with the future. It is such partnerships that strengthen students' professional orientation, contribute to the development of their soft and hard skills, expand opportunities for their first professional experience, and help build a conscious trajectory of career development. At the same time, this strengthens the position of the College itself - as a modern educational institution that understands the needs of students, listens to the requests of employers, and creates real intersections between education, technology, and the professional environment. Not just a memorandum - a shared responsibility for the future. The Memorandum of Cooperation is concluded for a period of five years. The parties declare the principles of equality, mutual benefit, honest partnership, mutual assistance and transparency, as well as their willingness to initiate joint projects and programs. It is important for ISTU that this partnership is not limited to the formal signing of a document. Its true value lies in what will be created after the signing: new educational formats, practical opportunities, professional contacts, joint projects, and experience that students will be able to transfer from the classroom to real professional life. ISTU Professional College consistently builds education that is not separated from the rapidly changing world. ISTU is convinced: a strong specialist is formed where knowledge meets practice, education meets business, and a student meets real opportunities. This is how ISTU invest today not only in the quality of education, but also in the professional future of its students - and in the future of the country, which they will create with their knowledge, competencies, and decisions.

Sigma Software Group and NEAR AI launch secure AI infrastructure. 2026-05-13 10:39 | Sigma Software Sigma Software Group has partnered with NEAR AI to deploy confidential AI infrastructure that allows enterprises and government organizations to run AI on sensitive data without exposing it - even to cloud providers or infrastructure operators. As AI adoption accelerates across regulated industries, one challenge remains unresolved: how to use powerful models and automated workflows without compromising sensitive data. The Sigma Software and NEAR AI partnership addresses this by combining enterprise-grade systems integration with hardware-enforced confidential computing, enabling organizations to process data in secure, isolated environments where it remains protected at all times. The first deployments will focus on financial services, where strict data protection requirements often limit the use of AI, such as fraud detection or transaction analysis. By integrating NEAR AI's confidential computing stack and secure agent infrastructure into enterprise environments, Sigma Software will enable organizations to automate complex workflows and run AI models with full control over data access and execution. At the core of this approach is a shift from trust-based security to verifiable execution. Each AI request generates cryptographic proof - including hardware attestation and signed outputs - allowing organizations to independently confirm that their data was processed securely and never exposed to cloud providers, infrastructure operators, or any third party. Beyond secure inference, the partnership also enables the development of intelligent AI agents using NEAR AI's open-source IronClaw framework. These agents can automate complex business workflows across internal systems while operating under strict access controls and verifiable execution, allowing organizations to scale productivity without compromising security. "Most enterprise AI security today comes down to contractual promises that your data won't be accessed. That's not trustworthy verification," says Illia Polosukhin, Co-Founder of NEAR. "From confidential inference to secure AI agents running on IronClaw, NEAR AI proves cryptographically that no one touched the data. Sigma Software can put that proof into production for mission-critical enterprise systems." "AI is increasingly embedded in critical business and public-sector processes," emphasises Katherine Tuluzova, CEO at Sigma Software. "Our partnership with NEAR AI strengthens our ability to engineer AI solutions where security, transparency, and control are built into the system architecture from the start." The partnership will begin with pilot deployments across enterprise clients, with plans to scale globally and support high-impact use cases in industries where data security is critical.