PJSC Sberbank : SberGames to teach students how to find business ideas in the gaming industry

SberZ, an accelerator for school students in grades 8-11, and SberStudent - an accelerator for undergraduates, postgraduates, and university researchers - are opening a track on gaming and game-related services. In addition to basic entrepreneurship classes, the track participants will learn about the gaming industry trends, metaverses, and work with mentors from SberGames, a video game developer.

SberZ and SberStudent accelerators have three stages lasting eight months. Stage one is about theory, it includes online lectures and familiarizes students with instruments that facilitate digital product creation. Stage two is when the participants build teams and work on their startups' MVPs (Minimum Viable Product).

Apart from the main program, the gaming track participants will have access to an extra course on game development (including mobile gaming) and trends in gaming services. Those who make it to the second stage will have a chance to fine-tune their products with gamedev experts.

The best teams advance to the third stage where they pitch at the demo day and present their designs to Sber executives, investors, top officials of technology companies, and deans of Russian universities. The winning teams will share the cash prize fund from Sber; school teams will also receive additional USE points when entering universities, and student teams will receive startup development grants from the Moscow Seed Fund. The SberZ and SberStudent programs are free; you can apply until March 1. For registration, you do not need a ready-made business project, you will create one during the program with experts' help.

Young people seeking to be prioritized during the selection stage and proceeding straight to the second stage can take part in the hackathon, where they will need to develop a game in 48 hours. SberGames experts will review the pitched projects and select the best ones for potential cooperation in the future.

Lev Khasis, first deputy chairman of the executive board, Sberbank:

"According to Drake Star Partners, game industries deals surpassed USD 85.4 bn in 2021, a 2.5-fold increase y-o-y. This is a growing market with a high exportation potential. Young game enthusiasts can turn their hobbies into a profession or create a sought-after startup, and we are ready to support them along the way."

Ogranized by SberGames, this is the second industry track supplementing the programs of the accelerators. Young AI enthusiasts are also invited to participate in the track being implemented in partnership with the AI Academy for schoolchildren established by Sberbank Charitable Foundation Investment to the Future.

SberZ is a federal acceleration program for students in grades 8-11 designed to develop their entrepreneurial skills. The students gain specialized knowledge and create startup projects under the guidance of mentors. The best teams present their startups during a demo day, receive cash prizes, extra USE points, and enjoy preferences when entering universities and colleges. In 2021, 14,000 school students from 85 Russian regions participated in the accelerator.

SberStudent is an all-Russian accelerator for undergraduates, post-graduates, and research fellows. The participants take online courses in tech entrepreneurship and then create their own startups. The best teams present their designs during a demo day and receive their first investments for project development purposes. Twelve thousand students and research workers from across 85 regions of Russia participated in the program in 2021.

SberGames is a new player in the video game industry and part of the Sber entertainment industry, with the management company SberIntertainment, a subsidiary of the bank, at the core. The company joined the Sber ecosystem in 2021 as a game publisher. It focuses on the development of mobile and PC games by in-house and third-party studios, as well as their publishing in Russia and on international markets. The head of SberGames is Alisa Chumachenko, the founder of Game Insight and the data platform named GOSU Data Lab.