Moscow is among Top 7 of the smartest cities in the world

Moscow has reached the final stage of the Intelligent Community Awards rating for the second time since 2017. It includes cities that are examples of best practices in developing communications, training personnel, using innovations, digital inclusion, involving dwellers in city management and maintaining the principles of sustainability. The prestigious international ranking is annually compiled by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF, USA) organization.

"At the first stage, which took place in February this year, 21 cities from eight countries of the world were selected. At the second stage, an international group of independent experts determined seven finalists. Along with Moscow, the cities from Canada, Australia, Vietnam and Brazil joined the ranks. The winner of the Intelligent Community Awards will be announced in the fall," Natalia Sergunina, Deputy Moscow Mayor said.

The judges at a contest assessed not only how developed the urban infrastructure is, but also how effectively it is adapted to new economic challenges. In the field of broadband Internet access development, Moscow has presented a project of an urban Wi-Fi network. It includes more than 21 thousand free Internet access points, as well as 5G pilot zones launched jointly with telecom operators to study the use of fifth-generation communication technologies.

"Due to the continuous development of urban digital technologies, over the past four years, Moscow is among the smart cities according to Smart21 for the third time, and in the Top 7 Smart Communities - for the second time. This, of course, testifies to the high assessment of our work by foreign specialists," Eduard Lysenko, Minister of the Moscow Government, Head of the Information Technologies Department of Moscow, said.

Educational projects of the Moscow Government were honored in the field of formation of highly qualified personnel in Moscow. They are dedicated to pre-professional education, within the framework of which various specialized classes have been created in Moscow schools, and to a voluntary qualification exam. It is organized jointly with corporate partners to evaluate and choose students according to the requirements of employers for further employment.

The My Career project of the employment center was also presented as important initiatives. Here, the citizens can get assistance in finding suitable vacancies, the advice from a professional career expert, psychological support, as well as join trainings and webinars useful for employment. The center pays special attention to the most vulnerable categories in the labor market: women with children, young people, applicants of pre-retirement age, people with disabilities, poor families.

In the Innovations section, the Moscow Accelerator - the flagship project of the Moscow Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development aimed at scaling innovative solutions in promising industries in partnership with large corporations - market leaders, was presented. Another project in this field is the Moscow Innovation Cluster. It was created for the development of innovative organizations, projects and cooperation between large companies, industry, small and medium-sized businesses, educational and scientific organizations and the city. The i.moscow online platform provides opportunities for interaction between cluster members.

Moscow Innovation Ecosystem is also declared in the ranking. The program makes it possible for designers to test their technologies at the city and business sites before being released to the market, and for the authorities and potential contractors - to analyze the effectiveness of those technologies.

In the field of the inclusion development, the creation of intellectual communities and improving people's access to digital technologies, the Moscow Longevity project aimed at creating a network of free leisure for older Muscovites and expanding the opportunities for their participation in cultural, educational, physical culture, health and other events, was honored.

A visual demonstration of the new technologies offered in Moscow for residents of all ages is presented in the Smart City pavilion. This is a permanent exhibition of Smart City technologies, located on the territory of VDNKh. You can visit the pavilion for free, while excursions are held for all guests several times a day.

"The 5G demo center, which is located in the Smart City pavilion, is part of the Moscow pilot testing program of innovations. Several technological projects with the use of fifth-generation communication networks are already being tested at this site. These are wireless optical communication in the 5G, VR and AR standard in architecture and construction, virtual reality training via 5G, computer vision for drones and access control with remote temperature measurement," Alexey Fursin, Head of the Moscow Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development, said.

The Moscow Demo Center is open for cooperation and continues to accept applications for testing from technology companies and universities. The involvement of citizens in improving the quality of life is realized in the digital ecosystem of interaction between the city and dwellers. The Active Citizen project allows every resident to take part in voting on topical issues of the city's development, the Our City portal helps to report on a problem in the field of housing and communal services and landscaping, and with the help of the City of Ideas you can offer your ideas within the framework of crowdsourcing projects.

In addition, the city presented social projects. Among them is a charity service on the mos.ru portal, which helps residents to make a donation to trusted Moscow non-profit organizations and foundations, and the Search for Missing and Found Animals service, which helps citizens to find a lost pet. A number of projects are aimed at ensuring environmental sustainability. We are talking about a set of services aimed at reducing water consumption in Moscow (a service for transmitting water meter readings, an interactive test and the Price of Water project based on AR technologies), as well as about the Mosecomonitoring portal. It allows residents to monitor the state and quality of the air in their city or district online in real time.

Intelligent Community Forum is a non-governmental organization headquartered in New York. The ICF ranking has been compiling since 2005. The current holder of the title and the Intelligent Community Awards is Tallinn.

The Moscow Innovation Agency was created by the Moscow Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development. It brings together representatives of the city government and business, as well as technology companies to jointly solve the tasks of creating, testing and implementing innovative solutions in Moscow.