Abstract This paper surveys a new actively developing direction in contemporary mathematics which connects quantum integrable models with the Schubert calculus for quiver varieties: there is a purely geometric construction of solutions to the Yang–Baxter equation and their associated Yang–Baxter algebras which play a central role in quantum integrable systems and exactly solvable (integrable) lattice models in statistical physics. A simple but explicit example is given using the classical geometry of Grassmannians in order to explain some of the main ideas. The degenerate five-vertex limit of the asymmetric six-vertex model is considered, and its associated Yang–Baxter algebra is identified with a convolution algebra arising from the equivariant Schubert calculus of Grassmannians. It is also shown how our methods can be used to construct quotients of the universal enveloping algebra of the current algebra (so-called Schur-type algebras) acting on the tensor product of copies of its evaluation representation . Finally, our construction is connected with the cohomological Hall algebra for the -quiver. Bibliography: 125 titles.