Taliya Minullina: ''Internet of things promises us such a sweet life''
IoT World Summit 2018 opens in Kazan: forum participants discuss the tasks of IoT market in Russia and share their experience in implementing high technologies in business
IoT World Summit 2018, dedicated to the development of the Internet of things, opened on 1 October in Kazan. Experts discussed the prospects and practical application of IoT. Also, much attention was paid to the role of Tatarstan in the process of technological transformation of Russia and the transition to the full use of the Internet of things in all spheres of life. Read the details in the material of Realnoe Vremya.
''Even the prime minister sends the opening speech to this event''
IOT World Summit 2018 stays true to itself: like last year, representatives of the high-technology industry from Russia, the USA, Asia and Europe have taken part in it. The traditional exhibition, which presents solutions in the field of the latest digital communications, AI, machine learning, cybersecurity and blockchain, has not gone away either. The changes affected only the location — if last year the summit took place in Innopolis on a large scale, this time the platform for it has been Korston hotel and shopping entertainment complex, where the participants huddled in more humble conditions. Especially overcrowdedness was felt at the plenary session that opened the summit — seats were not enough for everyone.
The plenary session began with the opening speech of Director General of Redenex (co-organizer of the summit – editor's note) Olga Isakova. Giving the welcoming speech, the speaker made a ''curtsey'' to the leadership of Tatarstan, who, according to her, ''at all levels pays great attention to the innovation and development of IT infrastructure''. Also, the head of Redenex proudly informed the audience that Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev sent a greetings telegram to the participants of IOT World Summit 2018.
A little later, CEO of PTC in Russia Andrey Sholokhov commented on the address of the prime minister the following way: ''Our company has been engaged in the Internet of things before it became mainstream. A few years ago, when we went to the press, partners or customers, the phrase ''Internet of things'' caused laughter. It is very nice that the situation has changed significantly and now even the prime minister sends the opening speech to this event''.
The situation has really changed dramatically. The summit dedicated to IoT, on the first day of its opening, gathered more than 900 participants on its site, the technologies of the Internet of things had already been used in practice, and the volume of the global IoT market in 2017 reached 312 billion dollars (for comparison, in 2015 the volume was 113 billion dollars).
''I intentionally looked at how many requests are googled about what the Internet of things is. More than two million a month. It is really a buzzword,'' said Head of Tatarstan Investment Development Agency Taliya Minullina. ''Today, the largest investment and growing industry in the world is informatization and communication, and the Internet of things is what develops this industry.''
''Internet of things promises us such a sweet life''
According to Minister of Informatization and Communication Roman Shaikhutdinov, in terms of IOT application Tatarstan ''has something to tell and show''.
'''Two most popular technologies are being tested in the republic today — NB-IoT and LoRaWan. We already have the experience of their application in several thousand households when all data on volumes of the services rendered to owners of apartments are collected in the cloud. Besides, the industry uses the formation of data bank of digital field: a digital twin of the field is created, which takes into account the volume of consumed resources, developed resources, as well as the control over the equipment. All this is the Internet of things. In general, the use of these technologies should lead to two simple things: we either spend less or earn more,'' the minister said.
In turn, Head of Investment Development Agency Taliya Minullina outlined the main industries where revenue will be generated: transport (by the way, in Russia, business spending on the Internet of things in 2017 amounted to more than 20 billion rubles, and the main revenue was generated by the transport industry), then industry, utilities sector, healthcare, smart buildings and smart cities.
''I will give you examples of the use of the technology: first, public security (with the help of devices integrated into a single network the police can collect video surveillance data before arriving at the place or will be able to track criminals from drones). The second example is marketing goals. There are systems that track the movement of customers in the hall of the store in order to determine the best places to put the products. Due to this, sales of the individual items of the assortment can grow several-fold,'' said Taliya Minullina. ''We all want to live in an effective, beautiful, safe city. And, accordingly, we want to earn. The Internet of things promises us such a sweet life.''
Three roles of Tatarstan
According to Roman Shaikhutdinov, Tatarstan is ready to play three roles in order to promote ''the business that we are discussing today''. First of all, Tatarstan as a production site and investment-attractive region is ready to locate production facilities. Second, Tatarstan as a pilot zone, including for the organization of what they call it ''regulatory sandboxes'' (by the way, such ''sandbox'' is being tested in Innopolis in the framework of the project of unmanned taxi from Yandex). And finally, the third role — Tatarstan as a platform for entering the markets of CIS and foreign countries.
''Tatarstan is the leader among the associations of innovative regions of Russia, and we want to create pilot sites for testing various technological processes. We are not afraid to make mistakes — I think this is one of the main advantages of Tatarstan today,'' added Taliya Minullina.
Also, according to the head of the Investment Development Agency, one of the main results of the forum for the republic are specific contracts, not only the popularization of the Internet of things. It is contracts concluded between those who can offer the necessary services, and consumers, including industrial enterprises, and the state, which, for example, needs smart solutions for cities that can improve the lives of the population. Naturally, it is premature to speak about the ''exhaust'' of the summit for the republic — the results will be summed up only in a month. At the same time, the head of the Investment Development Agency has already announced that the organizers of the IoT World Summit intend to hold this forum again next year, in an expanded format.