About the event

Business Forum “Smart City & Region: Digital Technologies Paving Way to a Smart Country” took place on June 14, 2019 in the Swissôtel Resort Sochi Kamelia (Sochi).

The event gathered over 80 members of legislative and executive regional and municipal governments of the Southern Federal District, government institutions, federal telecommunication service providers, IT companies, power distribution and other utilities, suppliers of ICT solutions, system integrators, developers of digital services, and also regional media.

PJSC MegaFon was Strategic Partner of the Smart City & Region in Sochi, while OrionM2M was Session Sponsor. The Forum was also supported by AT Сonsulting Vostok and ICBCom.

The business forum was endorsed by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Krasnodar Territory Administration, the City of Sochi Administration, the Krasnodar Territory Development Foundation, the Civic Chamber of the Krasnodar Territory, the Foundation for the Development of Internet Initiatives, the Smart City Association, Non-profit Partnership RUSSOFT, National association of house communications and information networks (NADIKS), the IoT Market Association, International Academy of Communications, the IT-Directors’ Club in the Central Federal District and over 20 industry media.

The plenary session of the business forum was dedicated to conceptual development and scaling of well-proven models of Smart City. Andrey Bezrukov, President of the Digital Development Foundation, spoke about the tools, which can help to overcome regional digital inequality. Andrey Tambovtsev, Regional Representative for the Agency of Strategic Initiatives, shared insights on the strategy of Smart City Sochi, its key priorities and first outcomes. Anatoliy Golovchenko, Head of IT Unit, the Krasnodar Territory Department of ICT, explored in his report the role, place, tasks and bottlenecks of the region in the implementation of the national program ‘Digital Economy of the Russian Federation’. The Plenary Session also featured a report entitled “Smart City Economy: from intuition to pragmatic calculations”, which was delivered by Chairman of the Commission for Economy, Industrial and Agricultural Sector, Complex Development of Rural Areas, and SME Support of the Civic Chamber of Krasnodar Territory Alexander Polidi. Finally, MegaFon’s Regional Development Director Denis Nikitin spoke about the goals of city digitalization and practical solutions.

The discussion around the concept of Smart City continued at the plenary round table. Panelists included: Anatoliy Golovchenko, Head of IT Unit, the Krasnodar Territory Department of ICT, Andrey Bezrukov, President of the Digital Development Foundation; Andrey Tambovtsev, Regional Representative for the Agency of Strategic Initiatives; MegaFon’s Regional Development Director Denis Nikitin; Alexander Molchanov, Business Development Director of Rostelecom in Krasnodar; Evgeniy Panasenko, EY’s Associate Director; Chairman of the Commission for Economy, Industrial and Agricultural Sector, Complex Development of Rural Areas, and SME Support of the Civic Chamber of Krasnodar Territory Alexander Polidi; and Dmitriy Sopinskiy, Commercial Director of ER-Telecom Holding, Southern branch.

The next session showcased solutions, which can be harnessed for Smart City needs. Elena Artemyeva, CEO of Sochi Digital Valley Foundation, spoke about the mechanisms for incubating and scaling best projects and implementation models.

OrionM2M’s Business Development Director Mikhail Vilkov chose to speak about the theory and practice of a Smart City. CEO of AT-Consulting Vostok Vladimir Vysotskiy dedicated his report to a platform for Smart City control center. ER-Telecom’s Director in Krasnodar Oleg Gavrilov offered some insights into digital solutions for Smart City program. Anton Zaripov, Head of Business Development, Orange Business Services Russia & CIS, entitled his presentation “Smart City projects implemented in Europe and the Middle East by an international service provider”. ICBCom’s CEO Oleg Lisyutenko spoke about cutting-edge IoT solutions for Smart City.

After lunch, the session continued, offering the audience more solutions for Smart City. Director of Legal Initiatives of the Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF) Alexandra Orehovich, spoke about public-private partnerships and new opportunities for cooperation between business and government when it comes to regional digitalization projects. Head of OPORA Russia’s branch in Krasnodar Daniel Bashmakov touched upon the role of SMEs in the implementation of Smart City Projects. Inform-System’s CEO Alexey Ignatyev made an overview of the unified information system “Smart City”.  Deputy Chairman of the Commission for Economy, Industrial and Agricultural Sector, Complex Development of Rural Areas, and SME Support of the Civic Chamber of Krasnodar Territory spoke about the tools to promote investment into infrastructure projects. The session ended with an insight into data security from Robert Bekariya, Chief Architect of Zion.City project.

The event wrapped up with a round table discussion entitled “Best practices: identifying and scaling the best regional projects”. Panelists included: EY’s Associate Director Evgeniy Panasenko, Head of IT resources unit, ICT Department of the Krasnodar City Administration Mikhail Martynenko; Head of ICT Division of the Sochi City Administration Alexander Pokhlevaev; Regional Representative for the Agency of Strategic Initiatives Andrey Tambovtsev; author and leader of strategic project ‘Smart City’ at the Tyumen Industrial University Oleg Danilov; and Head of Fixed-line market at J'son & Partners Consulting Yuriy Ishmaev.

Smart City & Region forum in Sochi showed the acute importance of exchanging opinions, approaches and best practices between different regions and cities. ComNews will hold the next event from this series in Sevastopol on September 26, followed by Ekaterinburg (October 31), Kazan (November 14) and Novosibirsk (November 28), to finish in Moscow on December 5.