Microsoft has published the results of its annual digital culture study, which was conducted during the pandemic from April to May 2020. Based on the results, Digital Civility Index (DCI) countries ranking was compiled. According to the study, globally, the number of people facing internet risks dropped by 3% (from 70% to 67%), reversing the last year’s trend, when DCI scores were deteriorating globally.

At the end of the year, Russia ranked 31st in the DCI among 32 participating countries. The overall situation in the country remained practically unchanged, but the decline in the online culture has slowed down compared to last year: the number of people facing web threats has changed by one point, from 79% to 80%.

In 2019, the most common risks in Russia were behavioral risks, and in 2020 of all web threats users most often faced the risks of unwanted contact (71% of respondents). In particular, 54% of Russians met with fraud.

Microsoft

Microsoft has published the results of its annual digital culture study, which was conducted during the pandemic from April to May 2020. Based on the results, Digital Civility Index (DCI) countries ranking was compiled. According to the study, globally, the number of people facing internet risks dropped by 3% (from 70% to 67%), reversing the last year’s trend, when DCI scores were deteriorating globally.

 
 At the end of the year, Russia ranked 31st in the DCI among 32 participating countries. The overall situation in the country remained practically unchanged, but the decline in the online culture has slowed down compared to last year: the number of people facing web threats has changed by one point, from 79% to 80%. 

 
 In 2019, the most common risks in Russia were behavioral risks, and in 2020 of all web threats users most often faced the risks of unwanted contact (71% of respondents). In particular, 54% of Russians met with fraud.

Russia was ranked 31st in the Digital Civility Index at the end of 2020.

Digital Civility Index 2021

Rating

Softline agreed to purchase 95% of Indian cloud services provider Embee Software. The Russian company expects that the deal will allow it to strengthen its position in the Indian market, become the second largest Microsoft partner in this region in terms of sales, and actively promote its solutions. The investment amount has not been disclosed and is estimated at $20-35 million. 

 
 Softline already operates in 50 countries of the world, including the markets of Eastern Europe, America and Asia and is one of the top 5 IT companies in Russia. At the end of 2019, the company's turnover, according to its own data, exceeded $1.54 billion, growth in Russia was 65% in rubles.&nbsp;

 
 As reported in December, Softline agreed to purchase 63.38% in Softline AG, German IT consulting and support company of the same name for about €7.6 million. The deal should help Softline gain a foothold in Western Europe, and it is planned to close it by March 31. Softline AG is present in the markets of the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and Great Britain.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/softline-pokupaet-95-indiiskogo-postavshchika-oblachnykh-servisov-embee-software/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Kommersant

Softline acquires 95% of Indian cloud services provider Embee Software

Sberbank and Microsoft Research have developed&nbsp;an AI&nbsp;robot control system.&nbsp;It allows robots to be trained to interact with the physical world.

 
 The key goal of the research project was to develop a solution that can interact with people, freeing them from mechanically complex routine work and providing a high level of security. The system can be applied in various fields - from logistics to rescue operations. Work on the project was carried out at the Robotics Laboratory of Sberbank in Moscow and at Microsoft in Berkeley and Redmond in the USA and lasted from May 2019 to May 2020. The developers had to create a technology for unloading cash collector bags with coins weighing up to 6 kg using a robotic arm from mobile carts for their subsequent processing in calculating machines. Real-world tests of the system have shown that it can operate with an accuracy of 95%.

 
 Work on the project took place in three stages. The first stage involved the development of a simulation of a robotic installation and deformable bags of coins, taking into account their physical characteristics. The second stage involved integrating simulators with a machine learning framework and conducting experiments in a simulation environment. At the final third stage, the intelligent agent trained in simulators was transferred directly to a physical robot. <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/sberbank-i-microsoft-razrabotali-ii-sistemu-upravleniia-robotami/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Sberbank and Microsoft have developed an AI robot control system

Sberbank allocated $83 million for the purchase of Microsoft software and related services. This amount appears as the initial maximum contract price in the bank's topical tender. It was announced on September 28 in the format of an address request for quotations - that is, with a limited number of participants.<a></a><a></a><a></a>

 
 Only those companies that receive a personal invitation from the operator of the Sberbank trading platform will be able to claim the money of the state customer. The bank will receive applications from these organizations until the evening of October 6, 2020. Results to be announced on October 28.&nbsp;<a></a><a></a><a></a>

 
 Within the framework of this procedure, same Microsoft software, which is already used in industrial systems and at the bank's workplaces, is being purchased, requiring timely updates. “This is connected both with the need to ensure compatibility with software and equipment from other manufacturers, and with the tasks of information security,” the bank said. - In addition, the update of Microsoft software, which was purchased by the bank earlier, is also being purchased. The agreement is valid for three years." Information about the technical requirements is classified. It is only known that work is being carried out in the field of creating artificial intelligence using 80 cloud services. Robots capable of autonomously working with large databases will be used.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a></a><a></a><a></a>

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/sber-vedet-krupnuiu-zakupku-po-microsoft/">Original (in Russian)</a><a></a><a></a><a></a>

CNews

Sberbank carries out a large purchase of Microsoft software in the field of creating artificial intelligence

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

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

digital-civility-index-2021

RAEC

RAEC together with the National Research University Higher School of Economics and Microsoft conducted a study of the impact of the events of spring 2020 - the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences such as mass self-isolation, changes in interaction formats and consumption patterns - on the Russian business.

<ul>
	<li>54% of Russian enterprises and companies that took part in the survey switched to full or partially remote. Before the spring of 2020 less than 1% of them worked remotely.</li>
	<li>47% of respondents believe that remote work will become one of the generally accepted forms of employment. At the same time, there will be an increase in the use of electronic document management with clients and counterparties (41%), the interaction with clients will be switched to a partially remote format (33%), digital signatures and biometrics for remote confirmation of actions (26%) will be used more often.</li>
	<li>&nbsp;In the spring of 2020 25% of Russian enterprises and companies started using video conferencing tools; 20% started using tools for online communication (instant messengers, corporate chats); 15% have implemented tools for remote monitoring of equipment.</li>
	<li>Survey respondents believe that in the future there will be high demand for such technologies as business process automation systems (29%), cloud technologies (25%), and voice technologies (16%). The digital tools that are expected to be in-demand include e-mail (53%), tools for online communication (44%); video conferencing tools (36%) and electronic document management systems (29%).</li>
</ul>

54% of Russian enterprises and companies that took part in the survey switched to full or partially remote. Before the spring of 2020 less than 1% of them worked remotely.

Digital Civility Index 2021

New accents of digital transformation: how spring 2020 will affect Russian business