‘Many would be executed if the IT Park wasn’t ready for Republic Day’

Third IT Park for Tatarstan

The new IT Park named after scientist and engineer Bashir Rameyev — the developer of the first Soviet computers — became the third in Tatarstan. The first IT Park opened in Kazan in 2009, three year later it did in Naberezhnye Chelny. And 10 years later, during the Year of Digitalisation announced by the Tatarstan president, a new IT Park built in record time — just in six months — appeared in the capital of the republic.

The new IT Park consists of two blocks. The first is placed instead of the former Spartak leather and footwear factory, the second one was built next to it. The buildings are connected with a bridge with a public space. The total area of the new IT Park is 49,300 square metres — it is nearly 1,5 times bigger than the existing one. There will be enough jobs for more than 3,000 workers. The main objective of the project is to help develop start-ups, IT Companies, help creative and enterprising youth and representatives of investment funds.

The full reconstruction of a complex of buildings and the territory of the former Spartak factory to create the new area of the IT park and a space for the development of high-tech companies was assessed at 4 billion rubles. Evrostroyholding+ was entrusted with doing the works.

“The point of attraction of IT specialists”

In his speech, Rustam Minnikhanov noted that the opening of the new IT Park was one of the key events of the Year of Digitalisation in Tatarstan.

“In six months, we have built this huge and beautiful facility almost from scratch. It is located in a beautiful place — on the embankment of Lake Kaban. I am sure that the Rameyev IT Park will become a point of attraction of IT specialists. As I was told, there is already a huge number of people wishing to be located and work at this place,” he stressed. The head of the republic also expressed his confidence that the IT Park would become another gimmich of the Tatarstan capital Kazan will be proud of.”

According to Minnikhanov, nowadays nearly 2,700 companies work in information technologies in the republic, which is more than 40,000 people.

“However, this is obviously not enough. I believe the new IT Park will give a serious impetus to the development of digital technologies in the republic and become a good starting point for the youth,” thinks the Tatarstan president. Minnikhanov highlighted that much attention was paid to the development of kids when implementing the project. A children IT Park was created for this where young Tatarstan citizens can shape their inclination to digital technologies.”

As the president of the republic noted, the infrastructure of the new IT Park includes a cyber venue to host cybersport competitions.

“The popularity of cybersport doesn’t give way to leading sports, including football. The youth are very interested in it. A tournament in the Games of the Future will be held in Kazan in 2024. We must be ready for this,” he is convinced.

Minnikhanov also thanked Director of Evrostroyholding+ Vladimir Kazilov.

“All constructors have drawbacks. There aren’t perfect constructors. But among all constructors Kazilov is one of the best. Such work is worth its weight in gold,” claimed the Tatarstan president. He stressed that Vice Premier and head of the administration of the Cabinet of Ministers of the republic Shamil Gafarov was responsible for the project. Minnikhanov called him the sword of the party and joked: “Many would be executed if this venue wasn’t ready on time.”

Head of Technokratia, technological entrepreneur Bulat Ganiyev explained why he didn’t leave the country to make his dream come true — to create.

“It started to feel like everything is possible, possible at home. This feeling didn’t appear on its own, and as entrepreneurs we perfectly understand it. The republic has actively investment in infrastructure, the environment and people all the time and has done its best to make sure the young generation of IT entrepreneurs could start businesses here, live here and invest here,” he noted and hoped that the new IT Park would provide many names to the entrepreneurial history and GRP percentages and reason for pride to Tatarstan.

After solemn speeches, the guests were taken on an excursion to the new venue. The mass media could also get acquainted with the filling of the IT Park.

First floor open for everybody

One shouldn’t think that the new IT Park is a space only for IT geeks. The first floor of the venue was made available absolutely for everybody. A player piano, a stand with toggle switches one can create a picture by moving them — on that day it was the emblem of Tatarstan — different cafes and restaurants, a store without a seller, a chain of laundries and so on welcome the guests here. There is also a condition training gym where one can do stretching, boxing and other sports.

Cyberpark Arena is the feature of the first floor. On 25 September, it will host the Cyberpark 2022 Tatarstan Presidential Cybersport Cup. The cybersport venue that was given more than 1,000 square metres can accommodate about 600 people at the same time. There are 110 seats for gamers — now it is the biggest cyber venue in the country in number of seats. The average market tariff is offered for those willing to do cybersport — 80-90 rubles an hour.

The children IT Park is located on the first floor. Various educational spaces in robotics, biotech, 3D design, programming, prototyping is created for young visitors. It is planned that kids with disabilities can attend the children IT Park for free. The hall has a waiting area for parents and active games besides the reception where IT Park residents can leave their kids with an animator and teacher to hold a meeting, for instance.

The first digital art school is going to be created in the children IT Park. An interactive anatomic table was purchased deliberately for the biotech lab. Sensors measuring indicators of the human body, smart greenhouses are used here too, so robotics is interlinked with biology, anatomy. The airspace club is going to study rocket engineering, aircraft engineering, a satellite is scheduled to be launched with members of the children IT Park next year. Also, there is an entrepreneurship class too.

One of the main ideas is to unite children inside the IT Park as team to develop and implement various projects. The throughput capacity of the children IT Park is expected to be about 3,000 people a month, while some 50,000 people will visit it a year. About 100 people can be in one location at a time.

From digital library to start-up hub

The second floor is as rich as the first one. Here there is a big conference hall for 600 people as well as a veranda, offices, co-working area for 108 workplaces and a digital library where one can enter only taking off the shoes — the only sleeping capsule in Kazan welcomes guests there.

The co-working area isn’t for IT specialists but also representatives of other business areas. There are conference rooms, a sports area to get rid of stress, an eating zone for convenience.

The start-up hub or a kind of business incubator is a multifunctional area for attract start-ups from Russia and other countries. Particularly, representatives of Iran and Kazakhstan have already expressed their interest. However, according to the terms, the company must have a legal entity in Tatarstan. The start-up hub will have four main clusters: sports, medical, industrial and It. Moreover, the sports cluster is an absolutely new format launched in Russia for the first time. Earlier, it operated only in the USA. The cluster already has residents with a project on electronic time measurement through radio channels with special sensors. This technology is 10% cheaper than its Chinese analogues, however, it is more accurate.

From the third floor the park will be occupied by offices for residents. It will become a site for Knowledge Russian Scientific Community and Russia — My History Multimedia Historical Park. 11 labs, three prototyping, three modern lecture rooms, four terminal classes and a pre-school education resource centre will open here. Areas related to analytic chemistry, fundamental physics, X-ray radiography, genetics, physiology, alternative energy, robotic systems, competitive robotics, virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, computer graphics and automated design will developed in the technopark.

It is planned to create more than 3,000 jobs for 130 new companies during the next five years. Conditions will be created for both representatives of small and mid-sized businesses and large companies.