On June 9 th, the MCCI and Düsseldorf Chamber of Commerce and Industry held an online conference on "Smart Cities - Moscow and Düsseldorf: How Artificial Intelligence Solution Providers - SME Companies are Changing the Life of Cities.
"We intend to continue pursuing cooperation. We are ready to discuss and develop diverse programs and plans together," said Mr. Suren Vardanyan, the Vice President of the MCCI, opening the event. For many years, Germany has been one of the main partners of Russia in the foreign economic sector. As far as technology, I think we collaborate to a no lesser degree.”
The Vice President added that this conference opens a new direction - the possibility of using artificial intelligence. Digitalization, according to Mr. Vardanyan, “…still requires attention and clarification. There are also a number of issues in the legislative, mental and psychological aspects as well as in the sphere of employment in the new reality that is being created," he added.
Mr.Ralf Schlindwein, the new Head of the Düsseldorf Chamber of Commerce and International Affairs (IHK), noted, in his response, that the German side considers the partnership as mutually supportive of each other's interests. He reminded that the partnership between the regions exists since 2001. "Moscow and Düsseldorf are smart cities, 'smart-city' in the sense of possessing excellent opportunities in communal technologies and digitalization. Our experts want to share practical solutions for Düsseldorf and Moscow," said Mr. Schlindwein.
Mr. Alexander Smolyanitsky, the Head of digital projects for the Düsseldorf government, spoke about the practice of using artificial intelligence solutions in a city’s structure. "We are constantly conducting research and development, and arriving at some serviceable conclusions. The management of a city cannot be tied to a single application - it moves from district to district and influences the rendering of funding - for example: levying additional expenses on the people, who live in the areas exposed to innovation," - said the expert.
Mr. Uwe Kerkmann, the Project Manager of “Euref - Smart City Düsseldorf”, gave a presentation entitled "Smart Solutions MADE IN DUSSELDORF. Energy, mobility, sustainable development”.
The Deputy General Director for international development, “Cognitive Technology,” Mr. Ilya Shkabara, spoke about the challenges and opportunities of Russian AI companies and their products that are trying to enter the international market. He emphasized that such meetings between CCIs are very useful for establishing direct contacts. "Since we, as an example, are engaged in quite a narrow niche.
Мы разрабатываем и производим беспилотные транспортные элементы, роботы (роботов, может быть?)для транспорта. И мы очень заинтересованы в германских партнёрах, которые могли бы с нами продвигать этот продукт на рынок Германии. И мы заинтересованы в сотрудничестве с германскими компаниями, которые разрабатывают аналогичные вещи и которым был бы интересен наш 30-летний опыт в этой области», - подчеркнул Илья Шкабара.
We develop and produce unmanned transport elements, robots for transport. We are very interested in German partners, who could work with us to promote our products on the German market. And we are interested in cooperation with German companies that develop similar devices and who would be interested in our 30 years of experience in this field," - said Mr. Shkabara.
Mr. Robert Jenisch, the Director and Founder of the “ IOX GMBH”, gave a presentation titled "Smart Cities and solutions, using artificial intelligence in practice”.
Mr. Sergey Tishchenko, the General Director of the “Analytical Center for Sustainable Development and Digital Economy, LLC,” spoke about the experience of developing an algorithm for regional locations of State trauma centers in megacities, using Moscow as an example.
The General Director of the “ATF MEDIA’, Mr. Edgar Grigoryan, suggested a more global approach to cooperation and the creation of an international working group. This, in his opinion, would help to remove certain administrative barriers and “promote entrance to the scope of financial relations”.
The Vice President of the MCCI described the idea of creating a working group as "extremely interesting. "Let this be the first building block! The MCCI and Düsseldorf Chamber of Commerce and Industry are creating a working group for the realization and implementation of projects in the field of digitalization," said Mr. Vardanyan.