A 'Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution' is to be established in Russia, dedicated primarily to smart city developments across Moscow. The institute, which is a part of a global initiative by the World Economic Forum (WEF), is to be dedicated to the development of AI technology. Its establishment is currently under negotiated with the Russian government. 

"This groundbreaking center in Russia will help to facilitate smart city developments across Moscow. AI is already crucial to the provision of many of the city's e-services. However, with a centralized learning center for the implementation of AI, we will be able to optimize these services with the end goal of improving urban living in the capital," said Eduard Lysenko, Head of the Department of Information Technology, Moscow.

Upon establishment, the center will work to develop proposals on the use of AI and the IoT to facilitate the collection and processing of big data and inform smart city development. In addition, the new institute will work on solving AI-related regulatory issues.

According to WEF, the center could also work on projects related to information politics and blockchain technology. By 2025, over 40 billion devices will be IoT ready. As such, the issues of intellectual property and personal data protection will become even more critical.

The center will operate on Sberbank's platform, the largest Russian transnational bank. In turn, Sberbank's senior executives will be educated on the advantages of AI in decision-making and the need for digital transformation.

Similar centers have been established in the USA, China, Canada and Japan. Their primary purpose is to provide means for cooperation, learning and exchange in the field of AI development. Creation of the center will furthermore enable Russia to achieve AI goals as set out in its National Development strategy for 2030.

For reference:

The Department of Information Technologies of Moscow (DIT) has been rapidly developing and actively growing for the past 5 years. During these years we have created over a thousand systems and services and we are pursuing the target of launching around 300 new projects annually. Today, we are proud of having digitalized over 166 state services, this is obviously more than any other region of Russia. Moreover, within the last years we have created an outstanding number of 178 portals, including the official Mayor
and Government of Moscow web-site "mos.ru". Our systems cover over 60 industries and penetrate into each aspect of

Moscow citizens' everyday lives, our products and services include:

• Electronic queue for Civil registry office;
• Arrangement of remote medical appointments;
• Personal electronic medical records;
• Children assignment to kindergardens/schools/extracurricular activities;
• Providing schools with cutting edge technological equipment;
• Obtaining references, enquiries and services remotely;
• Numerous projects in housing and public amenities, starting from telemetrics and
• Energetics to the possibility of submitting water usage information.

Current structure of the Department distinguishes up to 30 unique products and programs, including medical and education systems informatization, creation of crowdsourcing platforms, development of various resources and portals for Moscow and its citizens. We are aimed at continuing the process of effective informatization of the city with an emphasis on innovation development and advanced technologies application.

For more information, visit: https://www.mos.ru/en/