Innopolis turns 10: why the city is not waiting for sanctions to be lifted and where it will get another 474 billion rubles
Laying a capsule with a message to descendants at the construction site of the Innopolis project
The city operates as a “triune entity”
On 9 June, Innopolis will celebrate the tenth anniversary of its construction. Designed by Singaporean architect Liu Tai Ker, today it is a full-fledged mini-state with a developed infrastructure, manufacturing sector and personnel training system. This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister of Tatarstan, supervisor of the Innopolis project Roman Shaikhutdinov at a press conference The Innopolis Innovation Centre is 10 Years Old: Achievements and Development Plans.
He called Innopolis a “triune entity” uniting the city, university and special economic zone (SEZ). The implementation of the “15-minute city” concept initially assumed the project would pay off, and at the moment the 31 billion rubles invested have fully justified themselves.
According to the mayor of Innopolis, Dmitry Vandyukov, the city continues to hold the lead in terms of average salaries, which amount to 154,600 rubles. More than 75% of Innopolis residents are IT specialists working in 10,100 jobs.
But people come here not only for a “shift.” Over 10 years, Innopolis has become a home for many families. 441 new units of society have been created here and 525 children have been born.
“They can consider the city their small homeland,” Vandyukov proudly declared, noting that the average age of an Innopolis resident is 31 years old.
By 2050, the city needs to attract 400 billion rubles in investments
“12 years have passed [since the start of the Innopolis design], but much more needs to be done,” Shaikhutdinov said. Indeed, by 2050, the city should become much stronger and acquire money and territory.
According to the master plan, it is planned to create a convenient transport network with Kazan and launch aeronautical logistics. At the same time, the area of the housing stock should reach 2.2 million square meters, and the number of jobs should increase threefold — to 46,600 people. Innopolis will open another 10 schools and 23 kindergartens.
Vandiukov reported that the implementation will require 474.9 billion rubles, while 3/4 of the amount will be attracted through investments from partners, not government funds.
“It would be good if the sanctions policy continues
“Despite the sanctions pressure, the Innopolis SEZ continues to attract new startups and residents. This is evidenced by the figures: 342 registered companies, 11,200 jobs and 214 billion rubles of investments. It is noteworthy that 22 companies are included in the Forbes top 100.
“For the first five years, we worked on the reputation of the ecosystem, where projects can be successfully implemented. Now we have reached the level of 40-50 new companies per year, selecting the best of 150 incoming applications,” noted Renat Khalimov, CEO of the Innopolis SEZ.
Paradoxically, the sanctions had a “favourable” effect on the work of the Innopolis SEZ, stimulating the development of not only the IT sector, but also industry. Khalimov emphasized the importance of not just import substitution, but also support for the export of domestic solutions.
“New niches previously occupied by Western companies have opened up, which has resulted in a strong increase in residents. It would be good if the sanctions policy continues, since import substitution has not yet been completed,” he noted.
Innopolis food companies are actively entering the markets of friendly countries. Solutions developed in the SEZ are in demand in the CIS, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, since the software does not require complex logistics.
In parallel with business development, Innopolis is also expanding its infrastructure for accommodating companies.
“In addition to two existing technology parks, 85% filled, this year a private investor built two more buildings with a total area of 62,000 square metres as part of a public-private partnership,” Khalilov said.
