Open Technologies Engineering Organized a Session on Data Center Development at INNOPROM 2026

An expert session titled “Data as Infrastructure: Data Center Siting Strategy for Russia’s Digital Sovereignty,” dedicated to the development of the data‑center industry, was held as part of the INNOPROM‑2026 international industrial exhibition in Yekaterinburg. The discussion was organized by Open Technologies Engineering.

During the session, participants addressed the sector’s key issues: data‑center siting and scaling, technological independence, the role of domestic solutions, infrastructure reliability, and the conditions required for accelerated market growth. Special attention was paid to the economics of data‑center projects and their impact on the development of the country’s digital ecosystem.

Evgeny Virtser, CEO of Open Technologies Engineering and founder of Key Point Group, emphasized the central role of data centers in the investment chain:

“If we take the cost of a data center as an engineering asset as one unit, the equipment housed inside it is, depending on the technology, 8–10 times more valuable. At the same time, the businesses and services running on that equipment are priceless. The further development of these processes makes data centers a critically important, yet very narrow, link in the entire infrastructure. Enormous investments and growth potential for both companies and the state pass through this ‘bottleneck.’ Therefore, every ruble we cannot invest in a data center effectively results in a loss of 20–30 rubles for the businesses that could have developed on that platform.”

Open Technologies Engineering noted that INNOPROM once again confirmed its status as an effective forum for dialogue, where a professional agenda is formed and practical solutions demanded by the industry are developed.