NaPopravku, an online service for setting up an appointment with a doctor, raised $2.25 million. NaPopravku plans to use the received money for regional expansion and development of a mobile application.

 
 The Swedish investment company VNV Global invested in the project. It previously invested in Avito, Tinkoff, BlaBlaCar, Gett and Babylon. Another investor of the round is the founder of the Malaysian recruiting service JobStreet.com Mark Chang. The investment holding “Avenir”, which was the key external investor of “NaPopravku”, also participated in the round.

 
 In the application, the user can select a doctor based on reviews, compare prices and make an appointment in a private or public clinic without making a call. The startup plans to add the ability to store medical records. NaPopravku is integrated into the Tinkoff bank application, Yandex and 2GIS services.

<div class="incut-block incut-block-text-small-size">
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/napopravku/" target="_blank">NaPopravku</a> card on ICT.Moscow
 </div>
 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/servis-zapisi-patsientov-v-kliniki-napopravku-privlek-2-25-mln/" target="_blank">Original (in Russian)</a>

RB.ru

The service for making appointments in clinics NaPopravku raised $2.25 million

Azbuka Vkusa, Russian chain of high-end grocery stores, invested $443 thousand in Biolink.Tech, UK-registered developer of the Otri app, which provides nutritional advice based on the user's medical analyzes. Azbuka Vkusa became a minority shareholder of Biolink.Tech with a 4.49% share and has integrated grocery delivery from its stores into the Otri app.

 
 Biolink.Tech will use the funds raised from the retailer for marketing, product development and expansion of the technical team. The company also plans to further develop its app through an artificial intelligence-based product recognition tool. 

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/azbuka-vkusa-investirovala-okolo-33-2-mln-rub-v-startap-biolink-tech/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Azbuka Vkusa, Russian chain of high-end grocery stores, invested $443 thousand in Biolink.Tech

O2O, the joint venture of Mail.ru Group and Sberbank, acquired 84.7% of the express delivery service for ready meals Local Kitchen. The founders of the service will retain the remaining shares.

 
 The deal will be closed by the end of the fourth quarter of 2020. The deal value is not disclosed.

 
 The service will be integrated into the ecosystems of Mail.ru Group and Sberbank: users will be able to log in via VK Connect or Sberbank ID. The mini-application of Local Kitchen is already available for VKontakte users.

 
 Local Kitchen uses a proprietary IT system to manage company processes, accurately forecast demand, and plan product delivery. After the integration of Local Kitchen into the ecosystems of Mail.ru Group and Sberbank, the companies will be able to exchange technologies to improve all O2O products.

<hr />
 
 In May it was&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/kukhnia-na-raione-privlekla-investitsii-ot-sp-sberbanka-i-mail-ru-group/">reported</a> that a part of the shares of the co-founders of the service Oleg Kozyrev and Alexey Kolesnikov in the authorized capital of the company was pledged to the joint venture O2O. The terms for the return of the pledge are “complete performance of any obligations” of the legal entity of the service, Loсalkitchen LLC, to O2O under a loan agreement for an amount of up to 290 million rubles, as stated in the extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities dated May 12, 2020. At that time, 15% of the shares of each Kozyrev and Kolesnikov were in pledge.

 
 As of May 2020, Kozyrev and Kolesnikov each had 23.6% in Local Kitchen. The largest owner of the service with a 25.8% share was PIK-Investproekt.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/sp-mail-ru-group-i-sberbanka-poluchilo-kontrol-v-kukhne-na-raione/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Vedomosti

Joint venture of Mail.ru Group and Sberbank took control of Local Kitchen

Muzlab, a streaming audio service for business (also has an office in Moscow), attracted investments for product and IT development. The founder of the SysoevFM project, Alexander Sysoev, became the investor; the terms of the deal and the amount of funds invested are not disclosed by the parties.


 
 In the spring, Muzlab raised $ 1 million from investors and former CEO of Yandex.Chef Mikhail Peregudov, while Sysoev himself previously invested in a Moscow service for demand forecasting for restaurants Foodcast.ai and in a vertical farm startup iFarm.


 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/muzykalnyi-servis-muzlab-privlek-investitsii-na-razvitie-produkta/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Inc.

Streaming audio service Muzlab attracted investments for product and IT development

iFarm, a startup developing automated vertical farms
for growing greens, has raised $4 million in the seed round. The lead investor
is Gagarin Capital that invested $1 million in the project last year.
The company will use the attracted funds to develop iFarm Growtune IT platform
intended for managing vertical farms. Also a crowdinvesting platform will be
launched on the basis of the SaaS platform. With its help, the company will
attract funding from banks, leasing companies and individuals.

 
 Earlier the
company announced the commissioning of the first stage of a large vertical farm
in Moscow.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/ifarm-privlek-4-na-razvitie-it-platformy/">Original (in Russian)</a>

iFarm raises $4 million for development

Mail.ru Group and Sberbank invested 12 billion rubles (approximately $164 million) in their joint venture focused on transportation and food.

 
 The funds will be used to expand areas and scale the businesses that were not included into the perimeter at the moment of the deal closure in December 2019. Among them there are 2GIS mapping service and Samokat express food delivery (75.6% stake consolidated in May), as well as other assets. 

 
 Moreover, the parties explain that the management of the joint venture is confident about the prospects of not only food delivery from restaurants, but also e-grocery, dark kitchens and dark stores.

 
 Following the additional funding, Sberbank and Mail.ru Group will continue to have equal stakes in the joint venture (45.005% each).

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/o2o-predpriiatie-mail-ru-group-i-sberbanka-poluchilo-12-mlrd-rublei/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Mail.ru Group

O2O enterprise of Mail.ru Group and Sberbank receives $164 million

Inspector Cloud, developer of the system for goods recognition on store shelves, has raised $500 thousand. The investor is OKS Group Foundation, founded by Oleg Poliakov and Kirill Matveev. The funds will be used to enter the markets of Latin America and Europe.

 
 In 2017, the company raised $150 thousand, and a year after another $200 was raised to refine the product. According to the startup’s information, in 2019 Inspector Cloud’s revenue amounted to 33.87 million rubles. By the end of the first half of 2020, the revenue exceeded 37 million rubles.

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/razrabotchik-sistemy-raspoznavaniia-tovarov-na-polkakh-magazinov-privlek-500-tysiach/" target="_blank">Original (in Russian)</a>

Inspector Cloud, developer of the system for goods recognition in stores, raises $500 thousand to drive international expansion

Biotech startup Gero has
raised $2.2 million. The lead investor is Yury Melnichek’s Bulba Ventures
venture fund. Melnichek joined Gero’s Board of Directors. The other investors
are serial entrepreneurs in pharmaceuticals industry, IT and artificial
intelligence.<a></a>

 
 The total amount of investment
raised since Gero’s founding is $7.5 million. The company will use the
investment to develop its AI-based platform for analyzing clinical and genetic
data and to find treatments for chronic aging-related diseases, mental
illnesses and other diseases.<a></a>

 
 Gero.ai uses big data, machine learning and methods of physics to
develop new drugs and create algorithms for age risk assessment. Startup’s
platform is currently trying to identify potential therapies for COVID-19. <a></a>

 
 In May, AI Venture Labs&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=0LWyKq8YoEqQEMtp0Me5L28Ll1u1xJRJrDst9QcAzx1UOTNUUUxDM1BNQzRVNVpUOTdaTk5ENEIxSi4u&amp;fbclid=IwAR3qtu1bUoCHoMzLe-ABlitcizOzbZSi-lOF5Xfb9ycmhe7CzM1uKuhbiao">included</a> Gero in top 100 AI startups, the developments of which can be used to
fight COVID-19.<a></a>

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/gero/">Gero</a> card on ICT.Moscow<a></a>

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/biotekh-startap-gero-privlek-2-2-mln/">Original (in Russian)</a><a></a>

Tech in Asia

Russian biotech startup Gero has raised $2.2 million investment

Articles

Tech in Moscow

exclusive

analytics

Columns

Digest about AI in Russia

interview

ICT.Moscow  — Market in Brief

Experts on the peculiarities of the development and consumption of IT solutions in the field of culture and tourism

ICT.Moscow

Technologies in tourism and culture: prospects of the platforms and the impact of COVID-19

Analysis of the differences between the largest digital ecosystems in Russia based on their actions over the past six months

Specific features of Russian ecosystems

Experts - about the growth of the industry and the benefits of implementing VR / AR solutions, forecasts and new challenges


Main things about VR/AR today: new trends and different vision of established trends

At least 77% of Russian residents aged 18-65 are ready to use unmanned taxi, reports NTI Autonet (results of the survey <a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GMwOH0LSiBnKSqzGFovrBQQrnyJfMemCHtVMlQyT4pY/edit?usp=sharing">available</a> on ICT.Moscow). In one year this indicator has increased - in 2019 a similar survey showed that over 60% of residents were ready to use autonomous cars.

<div class="incut-block ">
 
 This survey confirms that the readiness for using new technologies in everyday life is directly connected with the their experience and interaction with technology. We are glad that the number of people ready to use unmanned cars grows together with the development of technologies.
 
 <div class="quote-owner">
 <div>
 
 NTI Autonet
 
 press service
 </div>
 </div>
</div>
 
 Moscow’s result was higher
than the average result in the country - 79%. The number of autonomous cars
tested in Moscow is the largest in the country.

<div>
 <img alt="" data-openpopup="0"
 src="https://ict.moscow/static/1200x/6d2ade39-cd03-5585-80ef-3301d8b298ad.png">
</div>

 
 Source: NTI Autonet, 2020 (data <a target="_blank" href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GMwOH0LSiBnKSqzGFovrBQQrnyJfMemCHtVMlQyT4pY/edit?usp=sharing">available</a> on ICT.Moscow)

 
 10.5 thousand people aged
18-65 took part in the survey. Younger residents aged 25-34 more positively
perceive autonomous taxi: 83.3% of them are ready to use such means of
transport. 73% of people over 45 also said they could use autonomous taxi, even
though this age group is considered to be more conservative. According to NTI
Autonet, such results indicate the possibility of self-driving taxi rapidly
becoming a part of everyday life.

<h2>
 Other evaluation of autonomous vehicles perception in Russia<a class="ce-block__copy-anchor-btn"></a>
</h2>

 
 Other surveys also show that
Russian residents are ready for using unmanned transport. For example, this
indicator was monitored by KPMG analysts while compiling the Global report
entitled “<a target="_blank" href="https://home.kpmg/xx/en/home/insights/2019/02/2019-autonomous-vehicles-readiness-index.html">Autonomous Vehicles Readiness Index 2019</a>”. To evaluate the readiness of customers to embrace the technology,
Branded Research company conducted a focus group survey in 25 countries. People
in India, Mexico, UAE and Russia reportedly have
the most optimistic perception of autonomous transport.

<div>
 <img alt="" data-openpopup="0"
 src="https://ict.moscow/static/1200x/964ea9b0-b73f-57cc-ab0f-977e654d9395.png">
</div>

 
 Source: <a target="_blank" href="https://home.kpmg/xx/en/home/insights/2019/02/2019-autonomous-vehicles-readiness-index.html">KPMG</a>, 2019

<div class="incut-block incut-block-text-small-size">
 In 2020 KPMG analysts haven’t conducted public opinion polls regarding unmanned transport perception. Instead, in the “<a target="_blank" href="https://home.kpmg/xx/en/home/insights/2020/06/autonomous-vehicles-readiness-index.html">Autonomous Vehicles Readiness Index 2020</a>” report other factors were taken into account, for example, the number of people living near autonomous vehicles testing areas. Nevertheless, this indicator cannot be considered objective for Russia, as KPMG took into consideration only the test sites <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.org/program/government-innovation/bloomberg-aspen-initiative-cities-autonomous-vehicles/">included</a> in the Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Aspen Institute project. Neither Moscow, nor Kazan are included there.
 </div>
<h3>
 USA
readiness for autonomous vehicles<a class="ce-block__copy-anchor-btn"></a>
</h3>

 
 Google’s project Waymo is the
leader in terms of the distance covered by autonomous vehicles. By the
beginning of the year, its cars drove 20 million miles (for comparison - Yandex
cars drove 4 million miles or 6.4 million km). Nevertheless, studies show that
Americans are not so enthusiastic about the technology.

 
 A survey conducted at the
beginning of 2020 in the USA by Partners
for Automated Vehicle Education<a target="_blank" href="https://pavecampaign.org/pave-poll-americans-wary-of-avs-but-say-education-and-experience-with-technology-can-build-trust/"> showed </a>that 48% of Americans “will never get” in an
autonomous taxi. Around three fourths of Americans say the unmanned transport
technology is not ready yet.

<div class="incut-block incut-block-text-small-size">
 <a target="_blank" href="https://pavecampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/PAVE-Poll_Fact-Sheet.pdf">Partners for Automated Vehicle Education poll (pdf)</a>
 </div>
 
 The respondents of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and World Economic Forum
(WEF) <a target="_blank" href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Press%20release.pdf">survey</a> also say that the technology is still immature. However, they say
that it is of primary importance to change the culture and the perception of
this means of transport.

<h3>
 Autonomous
vehicles testing<a class="ce-block__copy-anchor-btn"></a>
</h3>

 
 Currently, the testing of automated vehicles in
Russia is carried out in accordance with the Russian government decree No.1415 &nbsp;“On Conducting an Experiment in
Testing the Use of Highly Automated Vehicles on Public Roads”.
Unmanned vehicles can drive on public roads in 13 regions.

 
 The current version of the
decree does not imply the use of unmanned transport in commercial services and
also requires a driver in the car, NTI Autonet notes.

 
 The regulation in the field of
autonomous transport is currently being developed. It will allow to switch from
autonomous car testing to their full use in services. In May, the Ministry of
Economic Development supported the draft plan for staged implementation of
unmanned vehicles until 2023.

 
 In July, Yandex Self Driving Cars team (the company is involved in the
development of the document)&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/an-interview-with-yandex-self-driving-dars-on-the-prospects-of-driverless-future/">told</a> ICT.Moscow that the plan was being finalized
and by the end of August it would be presented to the Russian president.

An overview of various research studies on the perception of autonomous vehicles in Russia

Self-driving taxis are more expected in Russia than in the USA

At the end of July, IT company Yandex <a target="_blank" href="https://yandex.ru/company/researches/2020/ai-news">published</a> a research report titled “Artificial intelligence in news headlines”. It included all materials of Yandex.News since 2010 the headlines of which included such combinations of words such as “artificial intelligence”, “machine learning” and “neural network”, as well as “AI” acronym.

 
 The authors focused on the context where artificial intelligence (AI) was mentioned in the news: what it created, determined and forecast. After the study had been published in the media, the news with reference to Yandex PR team about the places that different cities took based on the number of AI mentions (Saint Petersburg - second place, Perm - fourth place, and Kazan entered top-7 cities) came out.

 
 ICT.Moscow requested data from Yandex and tried to figure out how the number of AI mentions has changed in the context about cities and in general over the past 10 years and what topics the media focused on.

<div class="incut-block incut-block-text-small-size">
 The initial data was provided by Yandex, around 61.5 thousand publications featured by Yandex.News were collected in total. Data analysis and interpretation were carried out by ICT.Moscow.
 </div>
<div class="wrapper">
 <img alt="" data-openpopup="1"
 data-originalsrc="https://ict.moscow/static/9b9859f0-092c-5788-9695-025844fba80c.jpg"
 src="https://ict.moscow/static/1200x/9b9859f0-092c-5788-9695-025844fba80c.jpeg">
 <button data-originalsrc="https://ict.moscow/static/9b9859f0-092c-5788-9695-025844fba80c.jpg"></button>
</div>

 
 Out of the 61.5 thousand materials, 84% are from 2017-2020. In 2017 the number of publications exceeded 11 thousand, and over the past three and a half years AI was mentioned in the headlines of 51.5 thousand pieces of news.

 
 Despite the fact that 2020 is not over yet, negative dynamics can be currently seen (for the first time since 2010). If the average number of publications per month is considered, the year 2020 is at the level of 2017 - about 950 materials per month. 

<div class="incut-block incut-block-text-small-size">
 In relation to the total number of publications in Yandex.News from 2010 through July 2020 (about 282 million), the number of news items mentioning AI in the headlines was 0.02%. This indicator has increased over nine years - from 0.0013% in 2010 to 0.0532% in 2019.
 </div>
 
 The technology was mentioned most often in 2019 (over 17.5 thousand times, 1.5 thousand times per month on average). It can be compared to the total number of AI references in media publications (not only in headlines, but in the texts also) which ICT.Moscow monitors within IT media trends monitoring. These dynamics also indicates a slight decline in the media’s interest in artificial intelligence compared to the previous year. 

 
 After Yandex’s data was processed, a ranking of top-20 cities which were most frequently mentioned in the AI news headlines was compiled.

<div class="wrapper">
 <img alt="" data-openpopup="1"
 data-originalsrc="https://ict.moscow/static/b1165b55-bc40-509e-848d-e2aaf4982c94.jpg"
 src="https://ict.moscow/static/1200x/b1165b55-bc40-509e-848d-e2aaf4982c94.jpeg">
 <button data-originalsrc="https://ict.moscow/static/b1165b55-bc40-509e-848d-e2aaf4982c94.jpg"></button>
</div>

 
 The ranking cannot be considered absolute, as the number of mentions can vary upon the counting methods.

<h2>
 Moscow is the leader of the ranking
</h2>

 
 Moscow is leading by a significant margin: over one thousand mentions about the capital were found. Over half of all references in the context of artificial intelligence over ten years are from 2020, which is not over yet. The sharp increase in the number of mentions of Moscow happened against the background of overall decline in the number of references of this technology in the headlines.

 
 The main newsworthy event was the launch of experimental legal regulation in the field of AI: in different variations it was mentioned over 200 times. The other relatively frequently mentioned topics were:

<ul>
 <li>fighting COVID-19, first of all - diagnostics using AI in Moscow medical facilities;</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.openculture.com/2020/03/watch-scenes-from-czarist-moscow-vividly-restored-with-artificial-intelligence-may-1896.html">video</a> of Moscow shot in 1896 and restored using a neural network</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>launch of a <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/projects/ai/">knowledge base</a> on artificial intelligence</li>
</ul>

<h2>
 Notable issues in other cities
</h2>

 
 Other Russian cities are less often but still quite frequently mentioned in the headlines of the news about AI. Saint Petersburg is the second most frequently mentioned city after Moscow, and over half of the mentions within the context of artificial intelligence are from 2019. The announcement about the opening of the national center for industrial artificial intelligence can be called the “news of the year” in the northern capital. The coffee shop where AI will be used to determine customer tastes was also mentioned quite often, as well as the establishment of Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

 
 The high position of Perm in the ranking was ensured by 2018 FIFA World Cup. When the event was being held, the news frequently featured predictions about the finalists and the winner of the competition. One of predictive AI models was developed in Perm University. As a result, the city was mentioned most frequently in the AI news headlines in 2018. However, a similar solution was presented by Perm scientists in 2013, in the lead-up to the Sochi Olympics (nevertheless, the city was not mentioned in the title of the publication). 

 
 Kazan, where digital technologies are being actively developed and implemented, was ranked 7th and was mentioned in several dozen more publications than Tyumen, which was ranked 8th. It should be noted that Innopolis which is located near Kazan was counted separately, it was also included in top-20 and was ranked 12th. Like in the case of Moscow, the largest number of Innopolis mentions occurred in 2020. The main newsbreaks were a web series about AI called “The last program” shot in Innopolis, and (also like in Moscow) - the development of neural networks for COVID-19 diagnostics.

 
 Skolkovo Innovation Center, which is not a city but can be considered an independent significant toponym, was mentioned 77 times over the past ten years. It was firstly mentioned in 2010, when it was founded. Then ABBYY received Skolkovo grant for development in the field of artificial intelligence. Since 2014, the Center was mentioned almost every year (except 2015), initially within the context about AI conferences, and later - in connection with the establishment of the Center for artificial intelligence development and other practical developments (for fighting cancer, for instance).

<h2>
 Perception of the technology
</h2>

 
 The study of the materials about artificial intelligence which was most often spoken about only in the last three-four years (see the graph with the total number of AI mentions in headlines by year) made it possible to assess how the perception of the technology has changed over time. In the beginning of 2010s, “artificial intelligence” was not perceived as an IT tool, but as a description of the behavior of computer game programmed characters. From 2014-2015 such interpretation became less common.

 
 In 2010, the media audiences were not used to seeing artificial intelligence as a standard IT tool. It is evident from the publications in the major media sources where AI self learning was interpreted as an evolution of artificial intelligence by analogy with living organisms. The concept of self-driving transport also was not formed: such developments (of Google, for example) were called “vehicles with artificial intelligence”. Nevertheless, already in 2010 Sergey Sobyanin, the Mayor of Moscow, spoke about the prospects of implementing intelligent systems in the urban environment. In particular, the Mayor proposed to implement them in the traffic management systems in order to reduce traffic jams.

 
 2013 can be called a turning point in the mass perception of artificial intelligence. In that year there was a more than two-fold increase in the number of publications about this technology. After that the dynamic of mentioning increased until 2018, when the growth decreased slightly.

 
 In 2013, artificial intelligence was practically no longer associated in the media with something fantastic, and was seen as a tool for fulfilling specific tasks, such as predicting the behavior of people at public events, recognition and processing of accounting documents, monitoring information from aircraft sensors, etc.

 
 Also, in 2013 people started talking about implementing AI in medicine: one of the most significant newsbreaks was the IBM Watson supercomputer, the artificial intelligence of which was used for treating cancer. At the same time, the publications about self-learning algorithms forecasting the emergence of dangerous strains which can cause a pandemic also appeared. 

<h2>
 Hype and corporations
</h2>

 
 Over the past 10 years, artificial intelligence technology has often been mentioned in the context of “hype” topics. It is well illustrated by the case of major sports events. The examples of neural networks developed in Perm were mentioned above in the text, but they are by no means the only ones. For example, during the 2018 World Cup, the artificial intelligence of Microsoft was also actively making forecasts.

 
 The AI references in headlines experienced the most rapid growth in 2016-2018, when the number of publications increased by 3-6 thousand per year (see graph). Just at this time, major players of the IT market were frequently mentioned in the news: Google (more than 600 publications in 2016 compared to around 250 in 2015), Sberbank (about 200 mentions in 2017), and Yandex itself (over 200 references in 2017).

 
 Thus, an increase in the number of references of the technology in news headlines is accompanied by an increase in the number of references of major IT players. Quite often the companies themselves created media hyping statements: a rock album recorded using a neural network for example, or the prospect of replacing thousands of Sberbank employees with artificial intelligence.

 
 By the way, the news about Sberbank dates back to 2016. In recent years, the company has recorded the fastest growth rate in terms of references in the context of artificial intelligence. In 2019, the bank overtook IT corporations on this indicator: it appeared in the headlines more than 500 times, whereas Google, which is usually leading, was mentioned only 350 times.

<hr />
 
 The analysis of news in the sphere of artificial intelligence over the past 10 years showed how much the perception of technology has changed during that time. Previously it was perceived as something fantastic, then it gradually became associated with an IT tool that can solve very specific tasks. And the understanding of AI as an analogue to the human mind started to be mentioned with the subscript “strong” (once in 2013 in a specialized IT publication, starting from 2016 - also in other sources).

 
 The dynamics convincingly demonstrates that various AI solutions in Russia have become firmly associated not only with hype topics, but also with cities. Most often - with Moscow, especially when it was announced that a legal experiment in the field of artificial intelligence was being launched locally. But other cities also make themselves known, regularly appearing in the headlines of the news about AI. It is not always about development: often about piloting, implementation, and practical use. The media usually covers these topics, meaning their target audience is interested in such issues.

An overview of AI mentions in news headlines in Russia since 2010.

Research: the most notable in AI news headlines in Russia over the past 10 years

Leadership of Russia according to Coursera and Mirosoft estimates,
commercial prospects of self-driving vehicles and other topics of the month - ICT.Moscow collected the most significant AI-related news of July in one digest.

<hr />
 
 Success of the Russian AI

 
 In July, Coursera <a target="_blank" href="https://www.coursera.org/gsi?ranMID=40328&amp;ranEAID=a1LgFw09t88&amp;ranSiteID=a1LgFw09t88-k7TyLSf8XEZbOeXVWZ9ZFA&amp;siteID=a1LgFw09t88-k7TyLSf8XEZbOeXVWZ9ZFA">published</a>&nbsp;a ranking of countries by the level of
training of IT specialists in different spheres. Russia was ranked first in two
out of three categories - “Technologies” and “Data Science”. Analysts named
Russia the country with the most highly-qualified specialists in software
development and working with data.

 
 As a part of the Global Pilots program for supporting
Russian startups, Microsoft Corporation has chosen the most notable artificial
intelligence projects. Their authors managed to reach an agreement on pilot
projects, establish contacts with international suppliers, start negotiations
with investment funds and receive grants.

<hr />
 
 High efficiency in medicine

 
 At the beginning of July it became known that
artificial intelligence algorithms had had<a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/over-150-thousand-radiology-images-were-processed-in-moscow-with-the-help-of-artificial-intelligence/"> processed</a> 150
thousand chest radiological scans in Moscow, mostly for diagnosing COVID-19. So
far, the technology has been available in 48
in-patient clinics and 193 polyclinics. At the beginning of the month it was announced that AI would process not only
CT scans, but also X-ray scans to diagnose other diseases. The service has been
connected to 17 Moscow medical facilities.

 
 Against this background, the level of trust to
the technology among patients is increasing. It is confirmed by studies
<a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/50-of-muscovites-positively-rate-the-use-of-ai-in-medicine/">conducted</a> by the Diagnostics and Telemedicine Center of the Moscow Healthcare
Department. The results are as follows:

<ul>
 <li>50% of Moscow residents positively assess the application of
AI in medicine</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>80% of them called the use of the technology reasonable</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>70%&nbsp; claimed that the
quality of medical health had improved.</li>
</ul>

<hr />
 
 AI is becoming more deeply-rooted in call centers

 
 Mango Telecom, Russian business telephony operator expanded the application
of artificial intelligence in call centers and launched a speech analytics
module to control the work of operators and to find out how actively they
promote goods or services.

 
 Neuro.net estimates that
63% of all center workers expect that AI will partially replace people in their
professional sphere. 13% of people are sure that AI will fully replace them.

<hr />
 
 Commercial prospects of self-driving vehicles

 
 At the beginning of July journalists of “RIA Novosti” filmed the
testing of Yandex.Rover, the company's autonomous delivery robot. ICT.Moscow
talked to the team of Yandex Self Driving Cars, and found out that the company uses Rovers in the streets of
Moscow on a regular basis to collect data and train machine learning
algorithms.

 
 In an interview
with ICT.Moscow, a representative of Yandex described where and under what
conditions the first commercial vehicles, both Rovers and
cars, would be introducted. The company noted that a phased plan for the introduction of the unmanned
vehicles in Russia would be further
developed. It will be submitted to the president in
August.

<div class="incut-block incut-block-text-small-size">
 &nbsp; You can read the interview&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/an-interview-with-yandex-self-driving-dars-on-the-prospects-of-driverless-future/">here</a>
 </div>
 
 Other Russian companies are also developing self-driving transport. In mid-July, the unmanned truck “Kamaz” was launched on
the territory of the Innopolis University. In northern Russia, the testing of unmanned trucks continues: the
government of Ugra has signed an agreement with one of the oil-producing
enterprises about another experiment in this field.

 
 Also in July it became known about the plans of
the Russian Ministry of Transport and “Russian Railways” to test computer
vision technologies for unmanned trains at a virtual test site.

Leadership of Russia according to Coursera and Microsoft, continued government support for AI, other topics of the month.

Digest about AI in Russia: top news in July

MINDSMITH experts about current blockchain trends