A rough road to success. What hinders the development of digitalisation in Tatarstan

How Tatarstan is getting digitalised

Tatarstan is one of Russia's leaders in the implementation of digital technologies. Back in 2022, the Digital Tatarstan project was launched, which aims to improve public administration and the quality of life of the population. In the first year, the level of digitalisation increased from 61% to 87%, which raised the region from fifth to first place. According to the Ministry of Digital Development of the Republic of Tatarstan, Tatarstan ranked fifth in the third quarter of 2024 in the national ranking of digital maturity of Russian regions. The high figure of 97.5% was achieved due to the widespread introduction of information technology in local government and healthcare.

The republic was the first in Russia to fully convert public services to electronic format, and the number of available online services reached 319. Residents receive more than 75% of services through the Gosuslugi RT platform, and thanks to this they have already saved 38 million hours and 9 billion rubles. In August 2024, the Ministry of Digital Development of Tatarstan announced Gosuslugi 2.0, which will allow you to receive the same services via video call.

This year, the region completed the transition to electronic medical records within the framework of the Electronic Healthcare of the Republic of Tatarstan program. The system combines regional and federal information platforms, thanks to which over 50 million electronic medical documents were issued in 2024.

Also, for the second year in a row, Tatarstan has been holding a leading position in the digitalisation of the agro-industry. In 2022, a comprehensive information system of 9 modules was introduced in the field of agriculture, which brought together almost 3,000 users. This increased the accuracy of reporting to 83% and reduced labour costs by almost 100,000 hours annually.

However, there are still problems in many industries. For example, the unevenness of digitalisation is observed in the urban development sector. In 2024, Tatarstan introduced reforms and transferred powers in the construction sector to the Ministry of Construction of the Republic of Tatarstan. This was done in order to improve the quality of the building, but the review time was increased, and the number of building permits decreased significantly — almost 70% of applications were eliminated.

The deputy director of the Institute of Spatial Planning of the Republic of Tatarstan attributed this to the uneven level of digitalisation in the republic. Some organisations have the data in a folder, others have it in a PDF on a computer, and only a few have it digitised to a state in which it can be used. This makes data processing more difficult, and therefore increases the review time.

In addition, the republic occupies an average position in the digitalisation of roads. The Federal Road Agency Rosavtodor expressed dissatisfaction with the slow pace of implementation of intelligent transport systems (ITS). This year, 56 regions signed agreements worth 3.15 billion rubles, but by September 1, only 36.9% of the allocated amount had been spent. Tatarstan was not included in the lists of both lagging and successful regions, and the deputy minister of transport of the Republic of Tatarstan noted that the work was on schedule, but did not disclose details about financing.

What challenges digitalisation faces

Despite Tatarstan's active efforts in the field of digitalisation, there are certain problems that hinder progress.

One of the difficulties that experts noted at Kazan Digital Week is the lack of competencies for the commercialisation of scientific and technical activities. Digital technologies have reached incredible heights not only in Tatarstan, but also in Russia, but there is no one to implement them.

Firstly, the source of the problem is the conservative nature of human being. People often resist innovation and prefer to stay in a familiar environment. This attitude can slow down the progress of society as a whole. Secondly, new approaches to quality personnel training are required. Therefore, it is important to popularise digitalisation, train employees, and hold events that will allow them to get to know the unknown.

Artificial intelligence plays an important role in digitalisation today, and attitudes towards it are ambiguous. In many industries, market participants and outside experts express doubts about its implementation and use. For example, in medicine, it is necessary to study the social aspects of the use of AI.

Officials also have concerns about the use of AI. In December, Deputy Minister of Digitalisation Bulat Gabdrakhmanov announced a new unified application Gosuslugi 2.0, which will combine the functionality of the service for housing issues Lokolo and the current service for public services Uslugi RT. At the meeting, Bulat Gabdrakhmanov said that the new application would make interaction with public services and solving housing issues easier. Its main feature is the Gosconsyerzh service, which will allow users to receive services via video communication with the call centre operator, without filling out applications themselves. The launch of the new application is scheduled for the first or second quarter of 2025.

The Gosprompt platform is also under development, which will enable civil servants to use language models for various tasks, including text correction, preparation of analytical reports and assistance in working with documents. Deputy Marat Galeev noted that civil servants have started using artificial intelligence. At the moment, more than 300 jobs have already been connected to this platform.

However, even at the meeting, the older generation had problems with terminology. Officials also expressed concern about the younger generation, who lack systemic knowledge due to that information is forgotten as quickly as it is found.

In the field of education, concerns are coming from parents of schoolchildren due to the transition to online learning. The Ministry of Education of Tatarstan believes that digitalisation provides new perspectives, and since this year all schools have implemented the My School system, which simplifies the work of teachers and provides students with access to paid educational resources. However, many parents are unhappy and fear for the safety of their children's personal data and health, as they already spend a lot of time behind screens.

The teaching side is also concerned: KFU Associate Professor Aida Nurutdinova cites the example of a study by colleagues from the Higher School of Economics, where three groups of students who studied face-to-face, online and using a mixed system were compared. The level of learning did not differ much between them, but the mental and physical well-being of the online group was lower.

There are other obstacles too. Participants of the round table discussion Industry Digitalisation identified a number of serious problems: many enterprises in Tatarstan encountered difficulties in implementing new business processes due to the lack of a clear financial model. Others point to the slow pace of robotisation and the lack of qualified data processing specialists, which is holding back technological breakthroughs in the industry.

However, the interest of enterprises in process automation is quite high. According to Alexander Gavrilov, the director of product development at Yandex Magistrali, Russian IT technologies today meet all the demands of business and the state, so the demand for digital products in Tatarstan will only grow. According to the expert, the availability of the necessary tools will accelerate the transformation of the market, which will contribute to the improvement of the economy in the region.

With increasing amounts of data and the intensity of their processing, the problem of cybersecurity increases. Most of the small and medium-sized businesses in Russia are not protected from attacks. Tatarstan, like other regions, also faced security threats — in 2024, one in four companies faced local threats, and almost 10% faced Internet attacks. Trade organisations are particularly vulnerable.

Potential and prospects

Despite the existing difficulties and barriers, Tatarstan has every chance to become the leader of digitalisation in Russia due to its initiative, active support from the state and the high level of educational institutions.

The Ministry of Digital Development of the Republic of Tatarstan continues to actively develop digitalisation. Among the initiatives being implemented is to create a Single Approval Cabinet, which will speed up the process of submitting projects in the field of public utilities. For example, the approval time for the highway project will be reduced to 195 days, which can now reach 358 days.

In addition, IT parks are actively growing, the total area of which exceeds 100,000 square metres. This allowed to create 6,000 new jobs and attract almost 3 billion rubles of taxes to the budget for 2023. The region actively supports young IT entrepreneurs through technology parks and business incubators. For example, the Business Incubator program operates in the Bashir Rameev IT Park and aims to support startups at all stages, including after entering the market.

One of the main goals of the republic for 2025 will be progress in the field of artificial intelligence. The high cost of computing resources needed to train neural networks remained a serious obstacle, however, Tatarstan Minister of Digital Development Airat Khairullin addressed IT entrepreneurs with a statement on support for AI startups.

Digitalisation of Tatarstan is a promising process that requires an integrated approach to solving problems. Identifying and overcoming these challenges will lead to the creation of an efficient and flexible digital ecosystem and the sustainable development of the region. Wherever information technologies are being introduced, there is an increase in indicators, therefore, attracting investments, solving personnel issues, ensuring cybersecurity and establishing system integration are key steps towards the successful digitalisation of Tatarstan.