Ayrat Khayrullin: “Tatarstan is now in the global digital transformation race”
IoT & AI World Summit Russia opened in Kazan
IoT & AI World Summit Russia took place at Kazan Expo from 1 to 2 October. The event was held in the republic for the third time already and doesn’t stop breaking its own records: this year, it gathered over 1,500 delegates and 200 sectoral experts from 25 countries. To compare, in 2018, the summit hosted about 900 delegates from 25 countries. The solemn opening ceremony of the IoT was on 1 October. More is in Realnoe Vremya’s report.
Tatarstan makes headlines again
No sooner did the final of Digital Breakthrough all-Russian competition’s final end at Kazan Expo than the site was occupied by IT geniuses again — a two-day IoT & AI World Summit Russia opened here.
The event gathered representatives of the biggest companies from different spheres (oil and gas, retailing, finance, state management, utilities) for the third time in a row who generously share all intricacies, difficulties and results of the implementation of projects in digitalisation with the summit’s audience.
It should be noted that the number of participants increases year after year — 1,500 delegates have visited IoT & AI World Summit Russia this year — compare to 900 in 2018. Organisers claim that this event will help them gain real, practical experience in the application of digital technologies, optimise their company’s costs and introduce successful digital models to augment profit quickly.
“Such sites help us gather, exchange opinions, listen to experts who really know their onions, see pilot projects that have already been implemented,” head of the TIDA Taliya Minullina described the effect of the summit. “This event is attractive for us from a perspective of investments because Tatarstan is making headlines again. Guests from 25 countries of the world have arrived here.”
Minister of Digital Development of State Management, Information Technologies and Communications of the Republic of Tatarstan Ayrat Khayrullin claimed in turn that he expected “right contacts” from the summit.
“Companies didn’t come to sell presentations here, they are here to touch the ground and show the products available on the market. First of all, we expect right contacts from the forum. The state’s task is put one business with another,” the minister said.
Digitalisation, Lukyanenko and robots
The opening ceremony of IoT & AI World Summit Russia was held in a format of small talks with high-ranking guests: for instance, the moderator tried to find out details about upcoming projects based on the Internet of Things or asked them to evaluate the level of penetration of IoT into all spheres of life.
“I think the level of investments in information technologies in Tatarstan not only grows, it grows manifold. As for the digitalisation level compared to other regions, it is linked with innovations in many ways. And, as you know, the Tatarstan president is the chairman of the Association of Investment Regions of the Russian Federation,” Taliya Minullina said.
Besides, the speaker shared the most proximate plans for the launch of digital projects in Tatarstan: “We are thinking of creating a circular economy centre, which is linked with digitalisation in many ways. We want to open it in Power Engineering University. We’ve just explained its conceptual strategy, and in the end it must minimise costs”.
Minister of Digital Development of State Management, Information Technologies and Communications of the Republic of Tatarstan Ayrat Khayrullin also gave a speech during the event, he stated that “Tatarstan is now in the global digital transformation race”.
“A task of our ministry is to look at it from a perspective of the citizen: the same state services, waste disposal issues and so on. By the way, yesterday there was a meeting with the president in the Tatarstan Government, at the end of which it was made a decision that we will monitor the quality of discharges of our treatment facilities with the help of the Internet of Things. The Internet of Things allows obtaining objective information about what’s going on around the clock and made managerial decisions,” the minister said.
Generally speaking, the official part of the first day of the summit was full of the futuristic spirit: the opening ceremony’s moderator talked not only with experts and high-ranking guests but also robots. For instance, Elza humanoid robot appeared on the stage — with flute in cybernetic hand and in company with her creators. On the host’s request, she accompanied one of the guys who played the theme song of Games of Thrones on guitar. Promobot, which was designed by a namesake company from Perm founded by Oleg Kivokurtsev, also got a minute of fame. The host tried to corner the robot with strange questions and jokes out of place, but we have to admit that it performed well and didn’t leave the moderator’s attacks unanswered.
Traditionally, the summit was accompanied by a big exhibition with companies and their latest developments in the Internet of Things. Among the stands, one could see Kaspersky Laboratory, Tatneft, Softline, Neoflex, Oracle and many others.
The participation of famous Russian fantasy writer Sergey Lukyanenko also complemented the general futuristic picture.
