The Russian information technology (IT) market in 2020 remained at the level of 2019, its dynamics turned out to be close to zero. Kommersant writes about this with reference to the vice president of IDC in Russia and the CIS, Robert Farish.

 
 According to him, the preliminary forecast is based on data from integrators and large software suppliers. “No one had a fall at the end of the year, but we are still waiting for data from smaller companies,” said the top manager. 

 
 Farish added that the IT situation in Russia was better than in Europe. The lockdown, introduced against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, has done less harm to this area, while in Europe in 2020, customers cut IT costs. In turn, Russian companies continued to invest in this area, and many have built their anti-crisis strategy on this. The pandemic has forced organizations to focus on digital projects with short-term return on investment. Therefore, in 2021, IDC expects a drop in investment in long-term projects (Internet of Things and robotics), the newspaper writes.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/idc-rossiiskii-it-rynok-ostalsia-na-urovne-2019-goda/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Kommersant

IDC: the Russian IT market in 2020 remained at the level of 2019

Sifted, a European startup media site, has included iFarm as a European company to monitor in 2021. This was reported on the company's Facebook page.

When compiling the ratings, analysts evaluated the development strategies of startups.&nbsp;

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://sifted.eu/rankings/european-startups-top-rankings?fbclid=IwAR3acjYWsuJWLOyTzdcH4C89nt-fIS9tSraJAqAl9WQUbG3OrUqxz-6GCr0">European tech startups and scaleups to watch in 2021</a>

 
 Contacts:


 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/chizhov.maksim">
Maxim Chizhov</a>, Co-founder and CEO of iFarm&nbsp;&nbsp;

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/evropeiskoe-izdanie-sifted-vkliuchilo-ifarm-v-spisok-startapov-za-kotorymi-nado-sledit-v-2021-godu/">Original (in Russian)</a>

iFarm

European startup media site Sifted included iFarm in the list of startups to watch in 2021

The volume of the Russian VSAT market in physical terms in 2020 increased by 9%. The total number of stations of the 21 surveyed operators was 137.1 thousand compared to 125.6 thousand a year earlier. This is evidenced by data from ComNews Research.

 
 The leaders in the number of VSAT stations in Russia in 2020 were JSC RTKomm.RU - 30 thousand, the AltegroSky group of companies (LLC Astra Internet, CJSC Race Telecom, CJSC Settelecom, CJSC Moskovsky Teleport) - 25.8 thousand, JSC “CB“ Iskra ”- 21.8 thousand, which account for more than half of the serviced VSAT stations.

 
 The largest gains came from Konnect, Russia (Eutelsat Networks LLC) (+64%), Gazprom Space Systems (+43%), RTKomm.ru (+10%), Raduga-Internet (+ 9%), StarBlazer (+8%).

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/comnews-research-rossiiskii-rynok-vsat-v-2020-godu-vyros-na-9/">Original (in Russian)</a>

ComNews

ComNews Research: Russian VSAT market grew by 9% in 2020

Sberbank and R-Pharm Group announced that the joint investment deal in Eapteka was completed. They acquired 45% of the online pharmaceutical retailer each. The remaining 10% was retained by the founder and CEO of Sber Eapteka, Anton Buzdalin.

 
 Sberbank’s investment in the deal amounted to 5.7 billion rubles (equivalent to $76 million) The money will be used to “improve the quality of service and expand activities into the regions of Russia”. In 2021, it is planned to launch the service in 76 cities of the country. In many of these cities the purchase of drugs with delivery will become available for the first time.

 
 The joint investment in the company was first announced in October 2020. Since November 2020, Eapteka has been operating as part of the Sberbank ecosystem and has been developing under the Sber Eapteka brand.

 
 Contacts:

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

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/anton.buzdalin">Anton Buzdalin</a>, founder and CEO of Sber Eapteka&nbsp;

Sberbank

Sberbank acquired 45% of Eapteka by investing $76 million

The Moscow Department of Transport and Road Infrastructure Development, together with the truck manufacturer KamAZ, will launch a personalized bus transportation service in Troitsky and Novomoskovsky districts in the first half of 2021. Maxim Liksutov, Head of the Moscow Department of Transport and Road Infrastructure Development, wrote about this in the Telegram channel.

 
 The service will complement ground transportation along with bike rentals, car sharing and taxis. Passengers will be able to use it via the Moscow Transport application, where they will need to plot the desired route. Then the user will receive information when and where the bus, which goes in the same direction, will stop. The bus will arrive at an imaginary stop within a radius of 500 m from the place where it was ordered, it will be possible to book a seat in advance. Payment for the trip will be available only via a mobile application.

 
 According to Maxim Liksutov, the capacity of the buses will be approximately 8-16 people. Based on the results of the experiment, the service can be launched for carrying schoolchildren. The project has been implemented in the Troitsky and Novomoskovsky districts due to the impossibility of launching a full-fledged network of ground transport routes in this area.

 
 The new service is developed within the MaaS concept, the creation of which was <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/a-single-application-for-all-types-of-transport-will-appear-in-moscow/">announced</a> by the department in early November. The platform will unite all city and a number of private transport services.

 
 Read about the prospects for the development of MaaS in Moscow and other megacities of the world in the our&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/maas-in-global/">material</a>&nbsp;→

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/a-single-application-for-all-types-of-transport-will-appear-in-moscow/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Moscow Transport Department

Moscow Department of Transport and KamAZ will launch a personalised transportation service in Troitsky and Novomoskovsky districts

mos.ru

AI system for analyzing endoscopic tests is being tested in Moscow

The Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation has prepared a draft amendment to the government decree on import substitution in the software area, according to which Russian developers will not need to confirm a “significant modification” of a free open source software product, “Vedomosti” informs with reference to the document.

 
 The experts say that the mandatory requirement to prove the originality of the product was proposed by market participants, it was discussed by the expert council on software issues last fall. However, this clause disappeared from the final version of the document, according to the representatives of three major developers. It means that companies using elements or copies of foreign free software can also apply for inclusion in the register of domestic programs and participate in public procurement, the newspaper writes.

 
 The final version of the document did not include the mention of the quota for representatives of domestic developer associations to participate in the expert council on software. The document also did not include the previously proposed requirement to enter each program in software collections into the register separately.

 
 Free software is distributed under free license terms. Significant modifications and changes to the open source allow its developers to have exclusive rights to the derivative product. Currently the register of domestic software includes “Basealt SPO”, Astra Linux, AlterOffice.

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/mintsifry-dopustilo-vkliuchenie-v-reestr-otechestvennogo-po-pererabotannykh-zarubezhnykh-programm/" target="_blank">Original (in Russian)</a>

Vedomosti

The Ministry of Digital Development allows including foreign programs in the register of domestic software

In 2020, the Russian market for consumer cloud storage services decreased by 9% to 8.9 billion rubles (equivalent to $120 million) according to a study by TelecomDaily.

 
 According to analysts, Yandex.Disk has the largest share - 30%, and is ahead of Apple iCloud (23.4%), Mail.ru Cloud (17.6%), Dropbox (14%) and Google.Drive (8%). Over the year, the total number of cloud storage users grew by 13% to 75 million people, but the number of paying customers decreased by 9.87% to 7.3 million people. The study was conducted in December based on data from open sources, market participants and a survey of 2,000 respondents.

 
 According to TelecomDaily CEO <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/denis.kuskov.9">Denis Kuskov</a>, in 2021 the market will decrease by another 2%, to 8.8 billion rubles, but in 2022 it will grow by up to 3% to 9.1 billion rubles&nbsp;(equivalent to $123 million).

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/telecomdaily-v-2020-godu-rynok-potrebitelskikh-servisov-oblachnogo-khraneniia-dannykh-sokratilsia-na-9/">Original (in Russian)</a>

TelecomDaily: consumer cloud storage services market shrank 9% in 2020

A representative of <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/cards/?tags=Cognitive_Pilot">Cognitive Pilot</a> (a joint venture between Sberbank and Cognitive Technologies) said that the development of autopilots for vehicles is no longer a priority for the company. The reason is the absence of laws and by-laws regulating the movement of unmanned vehicles on the roads both in Russia and in other countries. Also among the barriers, a company representative names the lack of clear and well-developed business models related to unmanned vehicles. 

 
 Today, the main priorities of the company are unmanned control systems for agricultural machinery (<a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/cognitive-agro-pilot/">Agro Pilot</a>), smart active safety systems for rail vehicles (Rail Pilot) and radars for unmanned vehicles. However, the company is not going to completely abandon the direction of unmanned vehicles: research and development in this area will continue. 

<hr />
 
 Last year, the Cognitive Agro Pilot unmanned system began to be used in harvesting in 35 regions of Russia, with its help it was possible to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/4558498">collect</a> more than 720 thousand tons of the crop. And this year it became known that the company&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/cognitive-pilot-plans-private-placements-this-year/">plans</a> to open sales and service offices abroad - in Brazil, Argentina, as well as in the USA, in order to promote the Agro Pilot system there. 

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/cognitive-pilot-zamorazhivaet-razrabotku-avtonomnykh-sistem-dlia-avtomobilei/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Cognitive Pilot freezes the development of autonomous systems for cars

Yandex is going to launch its own non-cash payment service Yandex Pay, VTimes wrote with reference to company’s <a target="_blank" href="https://yandex.ru/legal/token_pay_termsofuse">documents</a>.

 
 Users will be able to enter, save bank card data in the service and make cashless payments. According to the documents, Yandex Pay will be available on Yandex web pages.

 
 According to the representative of the Internet holding, now users can link a bank card to their account and use this function to pay for purchases and orders in various company services. Yandex is constantly developing and improving the possibilities for online payment in its services and will elaborate on the developments later, the representative claims.

 
 In July, Yandex and Sberbank split their joint projects: Yandex purchased the bank’s stake in Yandex.Market; another project - Yandex.Money - was passed to Sberbank.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/iandeks-planiruet-zapustit-servis-beznalichnoi-oplaty-yandex-pay/">Original (in Russian)</a>

VTimes

Yandex plans to release a non-cash payment service Yandex Pay

Moscow-based IT company Hot-WiFi has announced its entry into the US market, where it plans to offer businesses a guest WiFi hotspot network with marketing functionality and data analytics services.

 
 Thanks to the geographical expansion, the startup has become the leader in the regions of its presence among the world's competitors, the company said. Hot-WiFi has users in 16 countries around the world in Europe, Asia, CIS and Eastern Europe, North America and the Middle East. In the next two years, the company expects to reach a stable annual profit of $1-1.5 million.

 
 Contacts:

 
 <a href="https://www.facebook.com/vadim.vinogradov.77" target="_blank">Vadim Vinogradov</a>, Technical Director of Hot-WiFi

 
 <a href="https://www.facebook.com/dmitiyhotwifi" target="_blank">Dmitry Stepanenko</a>, Founder of Hot-WiFi

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/moskovskii-startap-hot-wifi-obiavil-o-vykhode-na-amerikanskii-rynok/" target="_blank">Original (in Russian)</a>

RB.ru

Moscow startup Hot-WiFi announced its entry into the US market

MTS has launched a video broadcast with data analytics in 4K quality at VDNH via its pilot test network. For the demonstration, the operator organised an online broadcast from a 360º HD video camera over the 5G network. Information from the camera is sent to the video analytics server for processing by neural networks of the Sitronics IT company. AI estimates the average speed of movement, the number of falls and collisions, the ratio of children to ride on and adults.

 
 This is one of the possible scenarios for the practical application of 5G technologies and neural networks. AI can also determine the density of riders, the use of personal protective equipment, and even the predominant color of visitors' clothing.

 
 <a href="https://vdnh.ru/katok-online" target="_blank">Broadcast from VDNH → </a>

 
 According to <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/research/overview-new-5g-practices-in-the-world/" target="_blank">research</a> by ICT.Moscow, AI is the second technology after robotics that was used in the implementation of 5G cases in 2020.

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 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/mts-zapustil-onlain-transliatsiiu-s-katka-vdnkh-v-setiakh-5g/" target="_blank">Original (in Russian)</a>

CNews

MTS launched a video broadcast with data analytics over the 5G network at the VDNH skating rink

IT has become the most demanded area for graduates of the leading Russian universities, The Bell <a target="_blank" href="https://thebell.io/gde-hotyat-rabotat-vypuskniki-rossijskih-vuzov-issledovanie">writes</a> with reference to a study of career preferences conducted by Changellenge educational center.

 
 In addition to IT, the list of top 20 industries includes consulting, advertising and marketing, art, culture, entertainment, etc. The most popular IT companies in terms of finding a job the industry are Google, Yandex, Mail.ru Group, Microsoft and Kaspersky Lab. In the telecom industry, respondents most often chose MTS, Megafon, Tele2, Rostelecom and Beeline.

 
 The main factor in choosing an employer was the wage rate. Another important factor was the opportunity to develop an international career. The respondents also claimed that the availability of unique and interesting projects was also of crucial importance.

 
 The survey was conducted from October to December 2020 in 30 leading universities, including Lomonosov Moscow State University, Higher School of Economics, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, MIPT, ITMO and NES. 5.5 thousand students and graduates who received their diploma no more than two years before took part in the survey.

 
 Contacts:

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/a.aliasov">Andrey Aliasov</a>, CEO &amp; Founder at Changellenge

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/changellenge-informatsionnye-tekhnologii-vozglavili-spisok-samykh-vostrebovannykh-otraslei-sredi-vypusknikov-vuzov/">Original (in Russian)</a>

The Bell

Changellenge: IT tops the list of the most in-demand industries for university graduates

Orange Business Services (part of the Orange holding, previously France Telecom) has organised points of direct connection to its global network for local telecom operators and content providers in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

 
 Orange became the third international operator with a direct connection in Russia after the Swedish Telia and the American CenturyLink. In the future, the company plans to organize points in other cities. In total, in 2020, Orange has built 25 points of presence on four continents.

 
 According to Olga Baranova, COO of Orange Business Services, Russia and the CIS, the demand for international traffic in the context of the coronavirus pandemic has grown, including from Russian operators. Direct access to the global network will provide more favorable conditions for the exchange of roaming traffic and improve the quality of access to foreign services, Baranova said.

 
 The technical director of Qrator Labs, Artem Gavrichenkov, believes that direct access to international traffic may be of interest to companies such as RDIF, AliExpress Russia, which work for an international audience, the newspaper writes.&nbsp;

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/orange-zapustila-v-moskve-i-peterburge-tochki-priamogo-podkliucheniia-k-svoei-globalnoi-seti/">Original (in Russian)</a>

French telecom company Orange launched points of direct connection to its global network in Moscow and St. Petersburg

Expert column by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/fotokir">Kirill Polyakov</a>, Head of Distributed Registry Technology department at the IT Department of Moscow Government.

 
 For the first time, remote electronic voting was conducted as an experiment during the elections of deputies to the Moscow City Duma on September 8, 2019 in three voting districts. The solution was created from scratch and tested by the IT Department of Moscow Government in less than one year. Most of the key participants and customers claim that the experience was successful, the system passed all the tests and proved its resistance to hacking. Thus, the experiment confirmed that the system can be used for other votes. You can read more about that experience on <a target="_blank" href="https://habr.com/ru/article/480152/">Habr</a>.

 
 Back then in 2019 a technical working group was created, and it continued to work on the subsequent projects (anyone can become part of the group, details will be further elaborated in the article). The group made critical comments and also motivated the developers to continuously improve the project. At the same time, we received a lot of useful feedback, including the comments from the international expert on cryptography and election law Pierrick Gaudry. We realized the importance of internal audit with the involvement of the best teams for reviewing the system - including the search for vulnerabilities, developing a threat model, analyzing the code and functionality. As a result, the&nbsp; IT Department of Moscow Government became the first representative of the public sector in the world to present the <a target="_blank" href="https://github.com/moscow-technologies/blockchain-voting">open source code</a>&nbsp;of the solution, particularly the back-end and key modules.

 
 The main thing about that e-voting was that it was conducted as an experiment. We needed to understand whether such a solution was feasible. Therefore, the particular chosen technical solution was not the focus; it was the project itself that was important - how it would be perceived and how the system would work during the test voting.

 
 The most useful thing during the first launch of an IT system is open testing. We conducted four of them. During the testing, we worked out various risks from the threat model: blackouts, Internet outages, DDoS attacks, etc. This experience was used in the next votings.

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<h2>
 Differences in 2020
</h2>

 
 On June 25-July 1, 2020, the nationwide voting on amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation was held. In Moscow and in the Nizhniy Novgorod Region it was organized also in a remote electronic format using the blockchain&nbsp; technology (which was especially important during the pandemic).

 
 Having considered the available input data, we anticipated a load of 1 million voters. It was clear that Ethereum blockchain platform previously used in the electronic voting system would simply not be able to handle the load. We started to look for other options and chose Exonum, one of the fastest blockchains. It was also important for us that it was geared to solve problems as a private blockchain.

 
 Another new challenge in 2020 was to provide an “everlasting” election ballot. It is a ballot with an unlimited validity throughout the entire voting period that will not disappear if the computer of the voter freezes, communication failure occurs, etc. The “everlasting” ballot was available on the same device in the same browser in which it was first opened, provided that the link to it was saved.

 
 In addition to Moscow, the Nizhniy Novgorod Region participated in the e-voting on amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, so we provided voters with the opportunity to log in not only via mos.ru (the official portal of Moscow Mayor and Moscow Government), but also via gosuslugi.ru federal portal (public services portal of the Russian Federation). Attempts to log in in both systems were automatically blocked (only the first application for participation was taken into account). We also took into account the critical comments concerning cryptography in the 2019 voting and implemented a more modern solution based on the Curve25519 elliptic curve, which is used as the default key exchange in OpenSSH, I2p, Tor, Tox and even IOS.

 
 Another challenge was the growing load on all systems of the government of Moscow due to the self-isolation regime: residents started to actively use electronic services and the load on the channels increased significantly.

<h2>
 Architecture of the system
</h2>

 
 In order to increase the resiliency of the remote voting system we implemented a distributed architecture by using geographically dispersed data centers. This ensured fault tolerance - the system can continue to work even if there is a power outage in an entire district in ​​Moscow. We tested such a scenario before conducting the voting - we disabled one of the data centers and checked the stability of the operation of individual components and the whole system. We also used satellite platforms to fulfill the load requirements.

 
 The blockchain was distributed into two nodes for each data center - six nodes in three data centers in total, plus an observer node (details outlined further). The system is peer-to-peer, so working in the mode when one data center is the master, and the second is backup is impossible.

 
 The situation that occurred at the end of 2017 confirmed that Ethereum blockchain network cannot handle the high load. Then the transactions were not confirmed for several days, and sometimes they simply were not completed. It should be mentioned that at that time neither the high-tier application, which caused the excessive load, nor the main network was working, although the application accounted for only 10% of the total number of transactions. Obviously, such a point of failure is not suitable for the voting process, since it is strictly regulated by the timeline and transactions cannot be delayed even for a few minutes, let alone hours.

 
 Bitcoin network has a throughput of about 10 transactions per second, so it is also not suitable. With such a load, only 860 thousand people can vote in a 24 hours period, provided that no other transactions are processed at that time, which is impossible. We understood that the only possible way was to use a private network that allows connecting external observers.

 
 The observer node was implemented in such a way that it is possible to monitor the results in real time. The node was presented as a web interface that allows to view and download encrypted results in real time. The next step is to implement a full-fledged node, but it is necessary to foresee the risk of impacting the network through the observer node. The main advantage of electronic voting is the ease of monitoring the processes. But it is also important to find a balance between transparency and vulnerability. Therefore, our next step is anchoring to a public network (a mechanism for checking data from a private blockchain for immutability by publishing it to a bigger network with a large number of participants and blocks).

 
 In the future the electronic voting system will be available on mobile devices - we will try to enable synchronization with the node, provide processor power to&nbsp; ensure control and arrange an additional channel for calculating the result. The plans also include the development of the web interface’s functionality. We anticipate the development of greater opportunities for collaboration and verifying of the result at the observer level.

<h2>
 Special features of the electronic ballot
</h2>

 
 The most secure component of the remote electronic voting system was the ballot. Participation in the remote electronic voting was confirmed by entering SMS verification code and getting access to the electronic ballot.We envisaged a set of measures in case something goes wrong for the user. For example, the received link to the ballot could be opened in the same browser and on the same device at any time before the end of the electronic voting (20:00 on June 30th), provided that the device was not turned off, restarted, and that its memory was not cleared. If the Internet connection is lost or the device experienced any other disruptions in operation, the user just had to refresh the page with the ballot after the Internet connection was restored - this returned the ballot one step back to the “preview” mode and allowed to continue voting.

 
 The “vote” button appeared immediately after choosing an answer option in the ballot. After pressing the button, the ballot was encrypted on the voter’s device and sent to the blockchain. If the Internet connection was interrupted at the time of sending, the encrypted ballot was sent immediately after the connection was restored.

<h2>
 Anonymization and mixing
</h2>

 
 When designing the system, two fundamental mechanisms - anonymizer and mixer - were implemented to preserve the secrecy of the vote and the anonymity of the voter.

 
 The anonymizer made it impossible to track or identify the user, since the page is not connected with the identification data about the user and does not contain any artifacts and information about the person.

 
 And the mixer put voices into groups and randomly mixed the votes before sending them to the blockchain. This excluded the possibility of comparing the cast votes by the time they was received.

<h2>
 Non-obvious requirements
</h2>

 
 Our remote electronic voting system had several functions and elements which seem strange and unnecessary at first glance, however, they are required by current legislation. A striking example is the transmission of voting results to the state automated system “Vybory” (“Elections”). This process was not automated on purpose and was carried out manually by an operator from the Moscow City Election Commission on a special secure computer in the premises of the Territorial Election Commission for Remote Electronic Voting.

 
 Another example is the use of the so-called blockchain printers, which “left a&nbsp; paper trace” online - they printed encrypted key transactions online: providing access to the ballot, recording encrypted voice in the blockchain. These printers make it possible to count ballots manually if requested. It is also one of the mandatory requirements.

<h2>
 Testing of the system
</h2>

 
 To check the fault tolerance of the system, we conducted load tests (a set of measures to check all network components using the load that is close to or exceeding the expected one) every day until the day of the voting. The public test of the system (a real voting for Moscow residents and the residents of the Nizhniy Novgorod Region) was carried out for two days in order to practice emergency scenarios. In the meantime, the applications for the main voting were already being accepted, and this process did not stop even during the test voting period.

 
 As in 2019, we announced a 2 million rubles prize (equivalent to $26.4 thousand) for hacking the system (during the testing, not on the voting days). But nobody managed to do it again.

<h2>
 Voting and interpretation of results
</h2>

 
 Then the remote electronic online voting was completed on June 30 at 20:00 Moscow time, the data on voters who registered for electronic voting, but did not vote in electronic form, were transferred to the “Vybory” state automated system. They were added to the voter lists at district election committees at their place of registration, and were provided with an opportunity to vote offline on voting day, July 1. All this time, before the decryption started, the system had been closed for accepting ballots, but all monitoring tools were operating, so it was possible to make sure that there were no manipulations, and the blockchain generated zero transaction blocks.

<h2>
 Participation of experts
</h2>

 
 From our experience in 2019 we knew that such projects require the involvement of a lot of industry professionals. Positive Technologies and Kaspersky Lab, as one of the most competent and influential players in the Russian information security market, were engaged to audit the system.

 
 The technical working group included critical IT professionals, with the new members who became part of the group in 2020. For example, representatives of the Party Of Direct Democracy, which is a competitor, since its agenda includes the development of its own electronic voting. However, this is the case when joint participation in such projects strengthens and enriches each of the parties.

 
 Due to the pandemic, almost all meetings were held online, and the broadcast of the meetings was recorded. To ensure quick communication between the members of the technical working group, a Telegram chat was created. It includes representatives of the IT Department of&nbsp; Moscow Government from different areas who answer questions. By the way, they are still doing it, even after the project is completed, and the chat is constantly active.

 
 As for Pierrick Gaudry, who in 2019 provided valuable comments regarding the mechanism for encrypting votes and the operation of the system, this time he refused to participate in the audit of the system due to the lack of documentation for the system in English.

 
 The decryption of the votes was launched after the end of the voting (after 20:00 Moscow time, July 1). It took about 10 minutes. The results of electronic voting in two constituent entities of the Russian Federation - Moscow and the Nizhniy Novgorod Region - were publicly presented upon completion of the decryption, and were also transferred to the “Vybory” state automated system for summing up the voting results in the country.

<h2>
 The work will be continued
</h2>

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://habr.com/ru/">Habr</a> can become a platform for working out the organizational and technical aspects of the project, and if you have questions about the code and suggestions for improving the system, we suggest using <a target="_blank" href="https://github.com/moscow-technologies/blockchain-voting">GitHub</a>.

 
 To become part of the technical working group, please send us your full name and contact information by e-mail (<a target="_blank" href="http://support-vybory@mos.ru">support-vybory@mos.ru</a>), and also briefly describe your competencies and why you are interested in joining the group.

<hr />
 
 

 
 Other blockchain-related materials on ICT.Moscow:

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/?tags=blockchain">News on blockchain on ICT.Moscow</a>

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/mindsmith-column-blockchain-trends/">Column on the main trends in blockchain in 2020</a>

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/cards/?tags=blockchain">Blockchain cards on ICT.Moscow</a>

Expert column by Kirill Polyakov, Head of Distributed Registry Technology department at the IT Department of Moscow Government

ICT.Moscow

How Moscow organized voting on blockchain in 2020

The weekly observer of Moscow's tech stories

<hr />
<h2>
 MARKET IN BRIEF
</h2>

 
 main news about Moscow's projects, developers and technologies

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 Source: <a href="https://digital.ac.gov.ru/news/848/" target="_blank">https://digital.ac.gov.ru/news/848/</a>
 

<ul>
 <li>Rostec <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/rostec-creates-a-consortium-of-5g-equipment-developers/" target="_blank">creates</a> a consortium of 5G equipment developers</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>Mail.ru Cloud Solutions <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/mail-ru-cloud-solutions-has-launched-a-data-center-in-amsterdam/" target="_blank">has launched</a> a data center in Amsterdam (Cards of <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/cards/?tags=MCS" target="_blank">Mail.ru Cloud Solutions</a>)</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>Care Mentor AI service <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/care-mentor-ai-service-entered-the-sbermed-ai-digital-ecosystem/" target="_blank">entered</a> the SBERmed.AI digital ecosystem (Card of <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/care-mentor-ai/" target="_blank">Care Mentor AI</a>)</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>Shvabe holding and AI developer iPavlov <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/shvabe-holding-and-ai-developer-ipavlov-signed-a-partnership-agreement/" target="_blank">signed</a> a partnership agreement on joint digitalisation of healthcare and modernisation of cities  (Card of <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/ipavlov/" target="_blank">iPavlov</a>)</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>The Moscow Scientific and Technical Center "Module" <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/the-moscow-scientific-and-technical-center-module-has-developed-a-neural-network-for-viral-pneumonia-detection/" target="_blank">has developed</a> a neural network for viral pneumonia detection</li>
</ul>

<div class="incut-block incut-block-text-small-size">
 GOV AGENDA
 The Ministry of Digital Development <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/the-ministry-of-digital-development-proposed-not-to-consider-the-geolocation-of-subscribers-a-secrecy-of-communication/" target="_blank">proposed</a> not to consider the geolocation of subscribers a secrecy of communication
 </div>
 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/">More news →</a>

<hr />
<h2>
 INVESTMENT DEALS
</h2>

<ul>
 <li>Russian Direct Investment Fund <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/russian-direct-investment-fund-bought-out-a-stake-in-russian-aliexpress-from-alibaba/" target="_blank">bought out</a> a stake in Russian AliExpress from Alibaba</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>Yandex <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/yandex-purchases-part-of-the-assets-of-the-vezet-taxi-company-for-178-million/" target="_blank">purchases</a> part of the assets of the Vezet taxi company for $178 million</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>Developer of AI image recognition systems NVI Solutions <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/developer-of-ai-systems-for-image-recognition-nvi-solutions-attracted-investment-for-development/" target="_blank">attracted</a> investment for development  (Cards of <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/cards/?tags=NVI_Solutions" target="_blank">NVI Solutions</a>)</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>The developer of IoT solutions Sodis Lab <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/the-developer-of-iot-solutions-sodis-lab-attracted-investments-from-rostec/" target="_blank">attracted</a> investments from Rostec (Cards of <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/sodis-building-m/" target="_blank">Sodis Lab</a>)</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>Rusonyx hosting provider <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/rusonyx-hosting-provider-acquires-infobox-for-1-1-million/" target="_blank">acquires</a> Infobox for $1.1 million</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>Moscow-based company PIM solutions <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/moscow-based-company-pim-solutions-raised-1-3-million-for-project-scaling/" target="_blank">raised</a> $1.3 million for project scaling (Сard of <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/pimpay/" target="_blank">PIM Solutions</a>)</li>
</ul>

<hr />
<h2>
 ANALYTICS AND INSIGHTS
</h2>

 
 researches, monitorings, reports and other analytics of Moscow and Russian IT market

<ul>
 <li><a href="https://ict.moscow/en/research/global-connectivity-index-2020/" target="_blank">Huawei</a>: Russia is included in the Adopters cluster and ranked 42nd in the Global Connectivity Index →</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li><a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/pwc-and-abbyy-most-companies-in-russia-do-not-use-100-of-the-opportunities-of-technology-and-innovation/" target="_blank">PwC and ABBYY:</a> most companies in Russia do not use 100% of the opportunities of technology and innovation →</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li><a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/beeline-every-third-subscriber-makes-voice-calls-to-volte-in-moscow/" target="_blank">Beeline:</a> every third subscriber makes voice calls to VoLTE in Moscow    →</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li><a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/vciom-whatsapp-is-the-most-popular-messenger-among-russians/" target="_blank">VCIOM:</a> WhatsApp is the most popular messenger among Russians  →</li>
</ul>

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/research/" target="_blank">More analytics →</a>

<hr />
<h2>
 LONGREAD 
</h2>

 <div>
 <a class="image_link" target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/how-moscow-organized-voting-on-blockchain-in-2020/">
 <img alt="" data-openpopup="0"
 src="https://ict.moscow/static/1200x/adc89aa4-503f-5316-9757-e5dd4156114d.jpeg">
 </a>
 </div>
 
 
 

 
 Expert column by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/fotokir" target="_blank">Kirill Polyakov</a>, Head of Distributed Registry Technology department at the IT Department of Moscow Government.

 
 For the first time, remote electronic voting was conducted as an experiment during the elections of deputies to the Moscow City Duma on September 8, 2019 in three voting districts. The solution was created from scratch and tested by the IT Department of Moscow Government in less than one year. Most of the key participants and customers claim that the experience was successful, the system passed all the tests and proved its resistance to hacking.

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/how-moscow-organized-voting-on-blockchain-in-2020/" style="" target="_blank">Read full article →</a>

<hr />
<h2>
 DIGITAL SOLUTIONS FROM MOSCOW
</h2>

 
 a showcase of some blockchain solutions

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/masterchain/" target="_blank">Masterchain</a>

 
 Russian national blockchain network

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/waves-enterprise/" target="_blank">Waves Enterprise</a>

 
 Blockchain platform

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/skychain/" target="_blank">Skychain</a>

 
 Platform for artificial intelligence application in medicine

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/search/?searchText=blockchain&category=card" target="_blank">More solutions →</a>

<hr />
<h2>
 KEY ACTORS IN IT
</h2>

 
 discover people who stand behind the innovative companies and projects in Moscow

 
 Kirill Polyakov, Head of Distributed Registry Technology department at the IT Department of Moscow Government | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/fotokir" target="_blank">Facebook</a>

 
 Pavel Roytberg, Co-Founder of Care Mentor AI | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pavel.roytberg" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="https://ru.linkedin.com/in/pavel-roytberg-1713789a" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>

 
 Ilya Letunov, Head of the Mail.ru Cloud Solutions platform | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001910675911" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="https://ru.linkedin.com/in/ilya-letunov-99809451" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>

 
 Loran Akopyan, CEO of iPavlov | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/loran.v.jacobs" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="https://ru.linkedin.com/in/loranjacobs/ru-ru" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>

 
 Gleb Baron, Development director of Sodis Lab | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001793805306" target="_blank">Facebook</a>

 
 Philipp Belyaev, CEO of NVI Solutions | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/philipp.belyaev" target="_blank">Facebook</a>

<hr />
 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/?filterCategory=Tech-in-Moscow">Previous Tech in Moscow newsletters</a>

Tech in Moscow #22 (1 - 7 February 2021)

 Moscow ranked third among cities in the world for innovations against COVID-19

Aivarix

Aivarix service received a patent for a system for automatic diagnosis of vascular pathologies

PIM Solutions (until September 2020 - <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/pimpay/">PimPay</a>) raised 100 million rubles (equivalent to&nbsp;$1.3 million) for project scaling.

 
 Entrepreneur Dmitry Zobnin became the investor and received a minority stake of 5.13% in the company. The total cost of PIM Solutions is estimated at 2 billion rubles (equivalent to $26.4 million.

 
 PIM Solutions is a Moscow-based IT and fintech startup that develops services for online stores to optimize finance and logistics. The company automates interactions with delivery services and helps fundraising for online stores.

 
 Contacts: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/evgeny.chernov.792">Evgeny Chernov</a>, Founder and Managing Partner of PIM Solutions

Skolkovo

Moscow-based company PIM Solutions raised $1.3 million for project scaling

Over the past two to three months, Russians have most often used the WhatsApp messenger. This is evidenced by the survey data of the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM).

 
 According to the study, 73% of respondents used this messenger during the specified period. The second most popular messenger was VKontakte, which was in demand among 38% of Russians. Another 26% of respondents answered that they prefer to use the Viber messenger, the remaining 18% - Telegram. Moreover, the latter is more popular among men than among women (22% and 15%, respectively), as well as among young people aged 18 to 24 years.

 
 For video calls, Russians most often choose WhatsApp (70%), Viber (20%) and Skype (13%). The least popular are video calls on Facebook, Microsoft Teams (1% each, respectively). In addition, the study authors asked the respondents what methods of communication they prefer. 69% of working Russians communicate with colleagues by mobile phone, in person - 66%. A third called online correspondence a frequent way of communication (30%); among young people from 18 to 24 years old, every second said this.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/research/populiarnost-messendzherov-sredi-rossiian/">Research: "The popularity of instant messengers among Russians" (in Russian)</a>

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/vtsiom-samym-populiarnym-messendzherom-u-rossiian-iavliaetsia-whatsapp/">Original (in Russian)</a>

VCIOM (Russian Public Opinion Research Center)

VCIOM: WhatsApp is the most popular messenger among Russians

The Ministry of Digital Development has developed amendments to the law "On Communications", according to which information about the location of a mobile device, as well as information about the volume and cost of services provided will be removed from the protection of the secrecy of communications. This is reported by RBC with reference to the draft document.

 
 It is expected that after the amendments are made, the state agencies conducting operational-search activities will be able to obtain this data upon request without a court decision. The document was sent for consideration to the interested federal authorities, then it is planned to submit it for public discussion.

 
 According to the deputy head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Oleg Ivanov, now the coordinates of subscriber devices are secret and operators are obliged to ensure its observance. At the same time, operators can provide service information, including the coordinates of missing citizens. However, today the coordinates can not always be promptly transferred to the bodies that are engaged in operational-search activities, and in the case of the search for missing people, "the account goes to hours," the deputy minister said. He added that tens of thousands of people are lost in the country every year. They are looked for with the help of the resources of the federal bodies carrying out operational-search activities, as well as with the help of search public organisations and telecom operators.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/mintsifry-predlozhilo-ne-schitat-geolokatsiiu-telefona-tainoi-sviazi/">Original (in Russian)</a>

The Ministry of Digital Development proposed not to consider the geolocation of subscribers a secrecy of communication

Module.ru

The Moscow Scientific and Technical Center "Module" has developed a neural network for viral pneumonia detection

Lanit sold a 25% stake in Dashboard Systems, the creator of <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/boardmaps/" target="_blank">BoardMaps</a>. The assets were acquired by the software developer iDeals.

 
 The deal took place in accordance with the investment strategy, according to which Lanit develops startups. The parties did not disclose the cost of the agreement.

 
 BoardMaps is a software solution for automating the activities of collective management bodies of large companies and holdings. Following the transaction, the product plans to expand the iDeals corporate governance portfolio and will be able to strengthen its position in the international market.

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/lanit-prodal-aktsii-razrabotchika-boardmaps/" target="_blank">Original (in Russian)</a>

Lanit sold shares of the Dashboard Systems, the creator of BoardMaps

New Industry Venture Fund has invested in the developer of AI image recognition systems NVI Solutions.

 
 The investments of the fund, owned by Gazprombank, Gazprom Neft, RVC and VEB Ventures, will go to the development of the <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/cyclops/">Cyclops</a> automated software complex. The AI ​​system is designed to detect safety violations and monitor technological operations in production.

 
 The prototype of the complex has already passed industrial tests in pilot projects at the facilities of Russian energy companies. The system is planned to be finalised by 2022 and introduced into production processes of several industrial customers. It is also planned to conclude agreements with Russian IT integrators to replicate the product both in Russia and abroad. 

 
 Contacts:

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/philipp.belyaev">Philip Belyaev</a>, CEO of NVI Solutions

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/razrabotchik-ii-sistem-dlia-raspoznavaniia-obrazov-nvi-solutions-privlek-investitsii-na-razvitie/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Market in Brief