The article presents the author’s view on the role and significance of the Central Economics and Mathematics Institute (CEMI) in the State project of the introduction of computing technology in the management of national economy. Despite the presence in the project of a wide range of bigscientific, design and production organizations, in the author’s eyes, the Institute was engaged in vast and important activities in a wide range of problems, including the coordination of research, scientific supervision, training, experimental work at enterprises and at the industrial and computing centers. The author highlights interesting facts and tells about the events that played an important role in the success and failures of CEMI, but have not been so far reflected in the scientific publications.