Moscow entered the top 20 in the ranking of cities digital transformation

The capital is actively developing the digital environment, introducing innovations in various areas, creating electronic services.

Moscow was ranked 18th in the Services Globalization Index of the international consulting agency Tholons. During the year, the Russian capital improved its position by five points. This was announced by Vladimir Yefimov, Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Economic Policy and Property and Land Relations.

“The top three places in the ranking, which analyzes the digital transformation of the 100 largest and most developed megacities in the world, were taken by Bangalore, Sao Paulo and Toronto. Over the past few years, Moscow has been actively developing the digital environment, introducing innovations in various spheres of city life, and creating electronic services for citizens and businesses. The success of the Russian capital in this direction is confirmed by the advancement in the ranking, where Moscow is on a par with Los Angeles, Johannesburg and Santiago and ahead of Dubai, Tokyo and Seoul, " he stressed.

Cities are assessed according to five groups of indicators, such as Talent, Skills & Quality, Business Catalyst, Cost & Infrastructure, Risk & Quality of Life, Digital & Innovation.

“The group “Digital & Innovation” has the greatest weight in calculating the final rating - 40 percent of the overall rating, while earlier it was 25 percent. It is in this area that Moscow's indicators have increased 1.5 times. In addition, the capital's indicators in the Risk and Quality of Life group have significantly improved,” said Kirill Purtov, head of the Moscow City Economic Policy and Development Department.

The high positions of Moscow among the 100 leading IT capitals of the world have become possible, among other factors, due to the implementation of comprehensive programs for the development of infrastructure, human resources, tools to support the activities of enterprises in the field of information technology, says Alexey Fursin, head of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development of Moscow.

“Today young Muscovites have the opportunity to solve real business cases of IT companies within the framework of the Future Tech project and launch successful start-ups using various educational and acceleration programs. In addition, the Russian capital has a chance to become a center for pilot projects in the field of digital transformation thanks to the introduction of an experimental legal regime for artificial intelligence technologies from July 1,” he added.

According to Alexei Fursin, Moscow companies already have a large number of solutions based on neural networks and will be able to use the so-called regulatory sandbox mode to develop their projects. We are talking about developments in the field of education, health care, as well as in the social sphere, urban management, construction, housing and communal services and transport.

Today, the Russian capital competes with the most developed cities in the world in attracting investments and introducing innovations, noted Eduard Lysenko, head of the Moscow Department of Information Technologies.

“Positions in international rankings once again confirm the effectiveness of the consistent policy of the Moscow Government aimed at digitalizing all spheres of city life. At the same time, the main principle for us is that we are introducing technologies not for the sake of the technologies themselves, but for the sake of the townspeople, so that the city becomes even more comfortable for living and doing business,” he said.

The Tholons Services Globalization Index has been published since 2017. Moscow began its advancement in it from 38th place, in 2019 it was already in the top 30, and this year it entered the twenty most developed megacities in terms of digitalization development, innovation, as well as the quality of life and business conditions.

Moscow's achievements in various areas are regularly noted by the prestigious Russian and international top 20 most promising technological cities in Europe.