IT revolution in Moscow: as the city in the next five years will change. Interview with Andrey Belozerov

Andrey Belozerov For the last six years a lot of things were made. It is possible to tell that in each industry of municipal economy fundamental practices appeared. The basic framework is created, further a system it is necessary to improve, screw up, operate. Professionally internally I am a person of break, but not operation. It is much more interesting to me to start perspective, advanced, disruptive things, than to maintain operability of the developed products. Without belittling importance of this function at all.

Besides, the position of the deputy head of department means rather large volume of daily bureaucratic work which needs to be performed. Six years in a mad rhythm left a mark too. We together with the chief Artem Yermolaev decided what will be correct to be unloaded me from a routine for more interesting challenges. I resigned at own will, at the same time remained the adviser for strategic projects and innovations on a voluntary basis with the minister.

Andrey Belozerov The head of the Russian Government Analytical Centre Konstantin Noskov made me the proposal to become his adviser, and I pass there. It now my principle place of employment. Work gives the chance of synergy here. I have professional "baggage" acquired in Moscow, and the Russian Government Analytical Centre is a good expert platform on which everything can be discussed, to discuss and study. Through this platform, on the one hand, it is possible to replicate experience of Moscow to other regions, and on the other hand as the Analytical center actively is engaged in innovations, it is possible to try to implement innovations which are discussed there in Moscow.

Andrey Belozerov "The smart city" and everything that is connected with it. Because more the last six years I was engaged in solutions of city level. At the same time solutions of smart city simply and clear can be replicated also on other levels, on federal including.

Andrey Belozerov First, the basic infrastructure framework allowing to function to services of any level and scale was created. These are data processing centers and also communication – a communication network for providing services to authorities, budgetary institutions and citizens. Our DPCs – rather high level both on resources, and on a management system. For example, the Uniform center of storage and data processing ensuring system operation of video surveillance of Moscow by the sizes is almost comparable to data center of the Pentagon. ETsHD stores 20 PBytes of video from 140 thousand cameras from all city.

The second, and most important part is a basic change of interaction of the city and Muscovites. We collected offline and online interaction with citizens in a uniform point. Offline are the centers "My Documents" which saved citizens from need to visit different organizations for receiving services. In them there is an electronic queue, Wi-Fi and the standard of waiting – 15 minutes, and upon average time in queue – only three minutes. It is not anywhere in the world any more. If the citizen expects more than 15 minutes, to him free of charge pour coffee if more than 30 minutes is a brazen violation which is considered at the highest level.

Now about online interaction. What it is necessary for the person from the city? Three main things: receive service, complain if something does not suit it, and the third – to participate in adoption of city solutions. Three requirements are closed by online solutions which allow to do all this, without leaving the house.

The first here – the portal of city services. Now it is already integrated into the portal of the mayor of mos.ru and does not exist as the separate website. On it more than 160 electronic services and services for citizens and business are implemented. Several tens of services turn out completely in electronic form, i.e. it is not necessary to go in general anywhere. Among them – a design of benefits on pregnancy and the child's birth.

To complain, the Our City project was created. Here citizens can tell what does not suit them in the city, and there is procedural term in 8 days when the city should or correct a situation according to the complaint, or reasonably explain to the person why cannot make it.

For participation in decision making there is an Active Citizen project - electronic referenda on city questions. The project totals 1.5 million users having an opportunity to vote, and some votes collect 100-300 thousand participants.

Considerably work of a number of the industries of municipal economy changed. For example, educations. Schools began to work in a different way, technologies are not locked in a computer class any more, they penetrate all educational process. There was a normal Internet, interactive panels force out old cretaceous boards, the personal notebook for the budget account is issued to each teacher. What, by the way, is not present anywhere in the world any more. There were electronic diaries, in Moscow there is almost no school left which still duplicate estimates in paper magazines.

The health care strongly exchanged with introduction of the Uniform medical information and analytical system. One of modules of EMIAS is a management system for flows of patients. She allows inhabitants to make far off an appointment with the doctor, and both via city channels, and via third-party applications, and gives to the city the chance to manage the resources and in case of need to redistribute them, distributing load of doctors. There were electronic recipes, cards, electronic attachment and many other things.

Also the housing and utilities sector changes. It became more transparent. There was a Houses of Moscow resource where management companies are obliged to open the data. Many utility services became available in electronic form. The system of maintenance of the yards and roads changed: all road equipment is equipped with the telemetric systems. Garbage trucks are also equipped with GLONASS that allows to control garbage removal, at the same time a system is integrated with city video surveillance.

In housing and public utilities the automated system of accounting of resource consumption also appeared: using the special sensors installed in the cellar of the building we can trace how many heat it consumed. It allows to save means. Now a system equips 3.2 thousand buildings of schools, clinics and cultural institutions. Its implementation and in houses is planned.

Andrey Belozerov In terms of city Internet space we go the way Great Britain and New York where the separate state websites integrate in a uniform online resource. In our case consolidation goes on the platform mos.ru. The first big step was taken recently: since February 1 the most visited our resource - the Moscow portal of state services pgu.mos.ru joined mos.ru. We will translate all websites of authorities and other portals there. In the next 5 years, I hope, there will be a uniform resource of Moscow which will integrate all content and all services.

Moscow will be strongly affected technology by trends – artificial intelligence, big data, a blockchain. Everything that is connected with it, will change life of Moscow. And not always the state or the city will be the driver of it, it will be frequent the driver business. Already now there are startups and the working services which allow to order, for example, food where the order is taken not by the operator, and a bot. Such services will be more and more. On the one hand, it will accelerate and simplify life, and with another – at the first stage of implementation of these technologies of the machine will be sometimes mistaken. Here it is important that similar errors did not attract sad consequences.

The city will do similar services too. For example, in the new mobile satellite application of the city Internet portal, there will be a chat-bot which work is constructed on neural networks and artificial intelligence. Its design and development is now conducted.

This application will have absolutely other interface, than the existing city applications. Now they are constructed by the principle of the menu, a submenu and filling of forms. In the new application there will be a text line through which it is possible to set natural language queries. For example, "My child today at school or not?". A system will specify a name of the child and number of school and will issue result. She will understand that the person asked, and will be able to specify at him parts. The chat-bot will be available also to receiving services, and content. It is possible to tell that it will be the intellectual assistant, by the principle of work similar to Siri or Cortana.

Andrey Belozerov We hope to start by the end of this year in a public access the first version which inhabitants will be able already to use.

Andrey Belozerov In the field of health care the main changes went in an out-patient and polyclinic complex, and changes in hospitals, their automation begin now. The project starts this year. It extremely difficult and big as in hospitals there are a lot of processes both medical, and supporting.

In education in the next five years work will be conducted to make educational process absolutely other - interactive and interesting. There has to be modern interactive educational content, including tests, virtual laboratories, testing tools, etc. For example, shortly we are going to try VR technology at lessons of chemistry and biology.

In addition to retrofitting of schools the equipment, we also plan the huge work connected with advanced training of teachers for the next 2-3 years: since a blind ten-manual method of text typing and work with office suites and finishing with trainings how to create electronic textbooks for the city platform of electronic materials and to teach with their use.

In the field of housing and public utilities in a number of districts we implemented the Uniform dispatching center when the call of the plumber occurs through uniform city number of call center. After accomplishment of the request from call center call the citizen to check whether the plumber came and to estimate service quality. In a system it is visible all statistics on city requests, it is possible to analyze and identify it bottlenecks. In 2017 this system is going to be replicated for all districts and to start also electronic receive channels of requests: through mobile application and the mos.ru portal with a possibility of tracking of the status of execution.

Further development will be gained by Internet of Things: the city will be filled with consumer and industrial sensors. Infrastructure of IoT and augmented reality will develop very much. It is possible to expect also development of robotization and 3D - printings.

Andrey Belozerov Projects can be implemented and not for city money. There would be desire something to change also an administrative resource for this purpose. Very many smart projects can be implemented, raising funds from investors. The simplest example – projects of the paid parking. It is not obligatory for city to pay money for this system, the investor can create it on the means, and then take away percent from payment. It is possible to create infrastructure using service model.

At us by such principle, for example, the video surveillance system is implemented. Operators invested in infrastructure. We do not own cameras and communication channels, and we buy delivery of "picture" of the set quality in our Uniform center of storage and data processing. If there is no "picture", then we do not pay money. If we did this project at the expense of the city budget, then, even despite financial opportunities of Moscow, we would hardly cope.

Andrey Belozerov Our legislative process – rather democratic and clear, and federal initiatives usually correct. Often the problem happens in the mechanism of implementation of these initiatives. The inefficient mechanisms of implementation conducting if not to a failure are sometimes put, then to results it is worse, than could be.

Here it is possible to cite as an example from 210-FZ about state services. In it there were several sections, including electronic state services and portals of state services, the section about MFC and about the universal electronic card (UEC). What happened to state services and MFC, we see: they are everywhere now and develop. And there is no universal electronic card. Why? Because in state services the effective mechanism in terms of balance of powers and financial resources of the center and regions was put. To regions permitted to create own portals of state services if they want and can, and if not, then they for rendering state services they could use the federal gosuslugi.ru portal.

In turn, in UEC the mechanics of implementation was such is that requirements to the card, the procedure of its release and production were set by the center, and regions should finance all this. The card and infrastructure for work with it turned out very expensive and difficult. If regions could set requirements, many of them would establish requirements less. As a result of money nobody gave to regions, and at the federal level the mechanics of financing was not, and the project came to naught. Of course, it left behind good infrastructure heritage. Ours "The social card of the Muscovite" uses now a lot of infrastructure which was created under UEC.

I to the fact that it is necessary to think over mechanisms of implementation of federal initiatives in terms of financing, balance of responsibility and powers of the federal center, regions, municipalities, business and citizens in advance. Then initiatives will be implemented much better.

Concerning efficiency of interaction of federal and regional levels, from the point of view of IT I would place emphasis on the following. To regions it is very important that these initiatives were accurate, clear and consistent. For example, ratings on transfer of state services to an electronic form. There is a rating of the Ministry of Economic Development and the rating of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications – they become on different methodologies and issue different results. Moscow, for example, takes different positions in them. It is obvious that such approach complicates life to regions and sends signals which they do not understand how to interpret.

Andrey Belozerov Rates, actually, very different IT economies in different sectors. If to speak about the hardware, there rates slow. It is connected, first of all, with the fact that Russia lagged behind in fundamental electronics, to component base, and we have no effectively working and cheap production capacities for release of such products. It will be very heavy to overtake for Taiwan.

In terms of software, in particular applied, rates of import substitution very good. For example, solutions of such companies as 1C and Parus force out SAP. And some domestic solutions advance also international market, there are recognized leaders in the areas. A good example - Kaspersky Lab.

Operating systems, in turn, should be able to work with "iron", drivers. Not to create them for the short period, years for 10. As for DBMS, there are normal DBMS based on [[Open Source which work well at large volumes of data, the same PostgreSQL.

In Moscow there are examples of import substitution. To workplaces for EMIAS, for example, there is a requirement that in them the Russian Linux distribution kits should be set. A part of the systems of the city migrate from Oracle DBMS on PostgreSQL. It allows to reduce license costs.

In general, with foreign on domestic we have some projects of migration. We try to create the new systems on domestic solutions or on Open Source at once. EMIAS, for example, is the largest project on Open Source in Europe, in a system import proprietary solutions are not used. Everything is made on Linux – both client, and server parts, and DBMS. When we thought of creation of uniform cloud accounting, the Russian platform - "1C" was initially selected.

Andrey Belozerov I would tell that it shot, but not a dostrelyala. Recently German Klimenko said that protectionist measures can save in Russia $3-4 billion a year. I have no such calculations, but in the order of digits I in general agree.

Why idea of the register not a dostrelyala? I consider that it should have stimulating, but not prohibitive character. It is impossible to tell the organizations that with tomorrow's for they could not buy anything, except solutions from the register. There is a set of systems which are single-step to transferring to the Russian software will not turn out for various reasons. Somewhere the Russian analogs do not have enough performance, somewhere there is not enough functionality, somewhere – the normal user interface. A good few of the register of domestic software are solutions which are not implemented anywhere.

We cannot take solutions which are not approved in practice and to use them in systems which 8 million people use. The city just will rise. It is necessary to finish very accurately this mechanism that it was the effective stimulating measure, and did not involve failure of services of the large state systems.

Andrey Belozerov In some areas the Russian developers are capable and cover demand well. The antivirus is Kaspersky, cloud accounting – 1C, etc. And in some not yet. Operating systems at us still generally Windows and office product from Microsoft. Moscow tests "MyOffice", having begun its implementation with a mail service, but to completely begin to implement it here then we cannot. It at first should be tested: as it will work with our systems as far as it will be convenient for users as it will sustain loading.

If to look more widely, than import substitution in a public sector, then it is possible to look at a segment of mobile OS. There is, for example, Sailfish OS. In spite of the fact that initially it is developed by the Finnish company, the Russian assembly is included in the register of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications as domestic by software. Phones on Sailfish in the market are not enough. Users, but not a public sector, estimate and decide that it is convenient to them. As soon as there is a system comparable on convenience and quality to popular OS, the market itself will begin to move in this direction.

Andrey Belozerov We, as well as in the States, have good contractors and bad. When in the USA it was started Obama Care, the website of this program did not work, and nobody knew why it does not work. At the same time on names the consortium of contractors looked very beautiful – IBM, Oracle, Xerox and others. But a system fell as it happens also in Russia.

It is worth speaking not only and not just about IT contractors. Any, even the coolest contractor will not be successful if the customer does not understand what he wants and as it should work. The IT project is not just writing and code injection. These are, first of all, organizational changes: change of business processes, regulating documentation, legal base, job descriptions of people and change in the heads of officials. No contractor of it will make. The successful project is when the contractor normally works, and the customer has understanding and can normally set the task. While in general our customers, I consider, fall short of the level of the leading cities or countries.

Andrey Belozerov I will call only a few things which, in my opinion, there should be. The first is smart city. The majority world's population lives in the cities. Smart city is not only convenience and quality of life to people, it also a clear economic benefit. The city, the more economic effect becomes smarter: budget money is more optimum spent and the off-budget investments are spent, there live business and inhabitants more conveniently. In the most progressive or most actively developing economies, for example, in China, there are even separate, well worked programs for smart city which are implemented with large volumes of financing.

The second is connected with support of domestic IT-Business. We have a special program, now even the fund of support of IT is created. At the same time there is an imbalance in the organization of financing of the IT companies. The IT company has no essential tangible assets, and it cannot take them on credit on the security. Therefore it is credited in the market under 18% per annum. It is expensive. The companies working with large business and with the state, living in an annual cycle of signing of the contracts, the whole year it turns out, live without money and begin to be credited under 18%. On the one hand, it increases the cost of the state order, and with another – reduces economic indicators of the company.

I think, in some type the mechanism of cheap crediting of the IT companies under a guarantee of government contracts should appear. It would result in big system synergy effects and would improve economy of the market which is especially working with a public sector and large corporations. Also it would allow to reduce the prices at state biddings.