Moscow

VisionLabs

SWiP application allows to pay for purchases using selfies using Selfie2Pay payment solution. After downloading the application and linking the bank card, the application asks the user to take a photo. Face biometric data is used for payment. Cameras installed at sales outlets read biometric parameters of the client’s face (creates a 3D model of the customer's face). To confirm the payment the client needs to look into the camera.

<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.it.swip" target="«_blank&quot;">Mobile app</a>

Payment and automatic discount with a glance

SWiP

retail

identification

MTS AI is considering holding an IPO on the Moscow Exchange. The procedure could take place in the first half of 2025. Until then, the company plans to look for teams for acquisitions and investing in Russia and the CIS. Also, MTS AI may search for and attract strategic investors. At the same time, the company plans to conclude three deals by the end of the year, the details of which are not disclosed.

 
 The company mentioned the areas of its technological interests: biometrics, speech recognition and synthesis, industrial analytics, the use of artificial intelligence in medicine, content synthesis and analysis, AR/VR, edge computing.

 
 At the moment, MTS AI is owned by MTS, but by the end of September Alexander Khanin and Ivan Laptev will receive a share of “10% or more” in the company after the completion of the acquisition of VisionLabs (face recognition systems developer).

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/mts-ai-mozhet-vyiti-na-mosbirzhu-v-pervoi-polovine-2025-goda/" target="_blank">Original in Russian</a>

MTS AI May Hold IPO on Moscow Exchange in First Half of 2025

The service is based on the LUNA computer vision platform. The company plans to use the service to enable customers to change the number, SIM card, tariff or carry out other operations without a passport. Before that, customers have to take a picture and enter a digital “cast” of their faces into the biometric identification platform of MTS. When a customer visits the store, the system captures the face and extracts a biometric template from the image, and then compares it with the data in the existing database.

 
 Experts from MTS told say that the company expects that the service will become popular due to its convenience, however, the company did not disclose plans about the development of the platform.

 
 According to Kommersant, other mobile network operators are not yet sure of the demand for biometrics among customers. MegaFon’s experts say that they tested a similar solution in stores with partners in 2020, but today the implementation of biometric identification is not efficient in retail. Tele2 plans to use biometric authentication for employees.

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 Product cards

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/luna-platform/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">LUNA</a>

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 At the end of 2021 it was <a href="https://www.sberbank.ru/ru/press_center/all/article?newsID=83fa16be-027f-4ee6-8631-880fd29643be&blockID=1303&regionID=77&lang=ru&type=NEWS" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">reported</a> that MTS would buy out the full stake in VisionLabs from Sberbank. The deal was estimated at 7 billion rubles and <a href="https://www.interfax.ru/business/826097" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">closed</a> in February 2022.

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/mts-nachala-ispolzovat-tekhnologii-visionlabs-dlia-biometricheskoi-identifikatsii-klientov-v-salonakh-sviazi/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Original (in Russian)</a>

CNews

MTS Uses VisionLabs Technologies for Biometric Identification of Customers in Telecom Stores

In mid-February, the Ministry of Economic Development will publish for the first time the White Paper, a summary report on the development of certain high-tech areas. It is expected to be released annually.

 
 In addition to the department, other ministries participated in creating the document, as well as the Higher School of Economics, Sberbank, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Rostec, Rostelecom, Rosatom, Russian Railways (RZD), Rosseti, Roskosmos and Gazprom. First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov ordered to prepare such a book in the summer of 2021.

 
 The authors of the White Book specify that Russia, among other countries, ranks from 7th-8th to 19th in terms of publication activity of researchers and from fourth-sixth to the border of the second and third ten in patent activity. The development of technology in Russia is hampered by a strong dependence on the import of components and equipment, sanctions, a lack of qualified specialists, as well as an insufficient number of start-ups and the almost complete absence of unicorns.

 
 In particular, the document states that:

<ul>
 <li>from 2015 to 2019, the global number of patent applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) increased from 22,500 to 63,700. Russian authors filed about 100–140 patent applications per year. In the total volume of scientific papers on AI, the share of Russian authors is 1.5% (2020 data). Among the main AI developers in Russia are Yandex, VisionLabs, NtechLab, Sberbank, VK, MTS, Gazprom Neft, Kaspersky Lab.</li>
 <li>Russia accounted for 0.2% of the total number of patent applications for inventions related to the Internet of things&nbsp;(IoT) in the world (2019 data) and 1.5% of the total number of scientific publications (2020 data). Among the leading Russian companies in this area are MTS, Beeline, MegaFon, Rostelecom, Rostec, etc. The main advantage of Russian players compared to the foreign ones is more functional software, more efficient data processing algorithms, storage solutions data and monitoring, etc. However, the main hardware solutions are made on a foreign element base.</li>
 <li>Russia accounted for 0.1% of the global number of patent applications for inventions related to fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks in 2019 and 1.8% of the total number of scientific publications (2020 data). Already, the penetration rate of 5G in the USA, China and South Korea is 15-20%, while in Russia the technology is implemented only in pilot zones, their full launch has been postponed until 2024. By this date, “the gap can reach critical values ​​both in terms of the level of development of the infrastructure of 5G networks and the degree of readiness of services based on them,” the authors of the document said.</li>
 <li>In 2019, Russia accounted for 1.5% of total patent applications related to quantum computing and 4.7% of scientific publications (2020 data). Rosatom, the Russian Quantum Center and various universities are developing these technologies in the country. The technological gap between Russia and the world leaders in the field of quantum computing is estimated at seven to ten years. In 2025-2030, when quantum computers will be massively introduced, “non-quantum technological leadership of the state will become impossible,” the document says.</li>
 <li>Russian authors occupied 0.2% in the total volume of patents in the field of distributed registry technologies (data of 2019) and 2.1% in scientific publications (according to the results of 2020). The project using this technology is being implemented by the National Settlement Depository, the Federal Tax Service, Dom.RF, Sberbank, Raiffeisenbank, Norilsk Nickel, Gazprom Neft, and others.</li>
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 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/v-rossii-sozdali-beluiu-knigu-tekhnologii/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Original (in Russian)</a>

Russia Сreates a White Book on Technologies

The demand for smart urban video surveillance and its development

ICT.Moscow

Eyes of Metropolis: How the New Scenarios Appear in Video Analytics

Intema (a subsidiary of MTS) will acquire the developer of computer vision systems VisionLabs. The deal will amount to about $95,2 million (7 billion rubles). According to the press service of Sberbank, the total amount may change based on the achievement of VisionLabs' targets within three years.

 
 The structure of the deal is as follows: MTS will buy back a 51.77% stake from the founders of VisionLabs, 25.07% from Sber, and 23.16% from Sistema's venture capital fund Sistema VC. Currently, Intema has signed a binding agreement and is awaiting regulatory approvals. The deal is expected to close in 2022.

 
 VisionLabs will continue to operate independently, as well as maintain the same business strategy and team. Co-founder of the company Alexander Khanin will remain the head of the board of directors. As the President of MTS Vyacheslav Nikolaev specified, the purchase of the developer will help MTS unleash the potential of its own ecosystem.

 
 According to Lev Khasis, First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Sberbank, the partnership with VisionLabs will continue in a number of key areas: face and gesture recognition for SberPortal, as well as within the SmartBio biometric platform.

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 Connect with

 
 <a href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100072735932622" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Vyacheslav Nikolaev</a>, the President of MTS

 
 <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lev.khasis" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Lev Khasis</a>, the First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Sberbank

 
 <a href="https://www.facebook.com/alexander.khanin.3" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Alexander Khanin</a>, Co-founder of VisionLabs

 
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 <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/cards/?tags=VisionLabs" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">VisionLabs</a>

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 MTS created the Intema company “to develop market products related to artificial intelligence technology and operate on international markets,” <a href="https://www.rbc.ru/technology_and_media/13/12/2021/61b716039a79473198123c6f" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">according</a> to RBC. In September, it <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/russia-banks-sberbank-sistema-idCNL8N2QN1OI" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">was reported</a> that Sberbank was planning to sell its stake in VisionLabs at the end of September.

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/dochka-mts-priobretet-razrabotchika-sistem-raspoznavaniia-lits-visionlabs/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Original (in Russian)</a>

Sberbank

MTS to Acquire Facial Recognition System Developer VisionLabs 

Face DJ is based on 3D face model reconstruction technology and can transfer it to virtual reality. 3D model reconstruction from a single Image is available due to the technology that defines key points on the face and transfers them to the adaptable virtual head model.

Individual face features are defined in the image, and the virtual model adapts to them. Face key points definition algorithm includes 2 stages. Firstly, the face is detected in the image, then it is extracted from the image and complemented with a set of pre-defined key points. Machine learning is used in both stages. 

<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/ru/app/face-dj/id1208394008?mt=8" target=«_blank">Mobile app</a>

App for 3D model creation and transferring images to virtual reality

recognition

artificial_intelligence

machine_learning

Face.DJ

Luna Platform is based on LUNA SDK - Engine for face recognition. The system includes several modules: Broker web server, which ensures interface with external systems via HTTP protocol; Extracto handler, which extracts face descriptors; Matcher handler, which receives requests for descriptors matching. An additional Queue Manager ensures data exchange between Broker module and Extractor and Matcher handlers. DBMS Aerospike NoSQL module is used to create a storage for descriptors and their lists. The modules work independently from each other. The system uses RESTful Web API to transmit commands and exchange data.

 The main Application level protocol is HTTP 1.1, data exchange is initiated by an HTTP request. The implementation of neural networks allows to process a face in a fraction of a second, and the optimized sublinear search makes it possible to identify a person in the databases. The descriptors data is de-identified

System of data management and person verification and indentification

computer_vision

neural_networks

biometry

LUNA Platform

Specialized software for checking and identifying people, it ensures accurate facial recognition in images and also in video streams in real time.

Facial recognition processing in LUNA SDK includes several modules: face detection, face alignment in the images, face descriptors extraction, matching of the faces with image database, defining face attributes and prevention of face spoofing.

The system was developed in C++ and allows to optimize memory management, work in extensive multithreading mode, the system ensures high efficiency of the modules, allows to carry out cross-platform integration and use standard API in C++.

LUNA SDK uses deep neural networks (DNN) for face detection and descriptors extraction.

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LUNA SDK

Luna makes it possible to open a car without keys and operates as a plug-in on the Nvidia Drive IX platforms run on Nvidia Drive AGX supercomputer. The service is based on the data control and is used for verification and recognition of the Luna SDK users’ faces.

It uses the caroms both inside and outside of the car. When the user approaches the vehicle, the system scans his face. Then it compares the collected data with the previously registered data. If the system finds a match, the doors will be unlocked.

SWiP

Face.DJ

LUNA Platform

LUNA SDK

Luna for cars

Routek

Neurus

Rubbles SOPP

Brandquad