FOCUS: Russia to put accent on IT progress, digital economy creation till 2030

By Yekaterina Yezhova

MOSCOW, May 22 (PRIME) -- The Russian government has promised a breakneck speed of the IT industry evolution in a 2030 information society development strategy, and analysts say the document, with quite better wording as compared to previous drafts, focuses on digitalization, but underestimates the cross-border factor.

“To ensure conditions for formation in the Russian Federation of a society of knowledge, I order to approve the enclosed Information Society Development Strategy for 2017–2030,” says the document signed by President Vladimir Putin earlier in May. The president also asked the government to approve a list of indicators for the strategy’s fulfillment and its roadmap by October 1.

The 29-page document “sets aims, targets, and measures to apply the internal and external policies of the Russian Federation in implementation of information and communications technologies to develop the information society, form the national digital economy, secure national interests, and fulfil strategic national priorities.”

The Russian Association for Electronic Communications (RAEC) said the document introduces the notions of the Internet of Things, big data, and other components of the digital economy, as an activity whose key factor is the use of results of data processing, which improve the effectiveness of various types of production, sales of goods, and provision of services.

“An important part of the strategy is devoted to the creation of national technological platforms, including in education, medicine, electronic government, and electronic libraries,” the association said in a statement.

“The strategy fairly says that development of the digital economy will lead to new challenges, because of transformation of the services environment, employment principles, the economy of private and state companies, public entities, households, and which, in particular, will demand alterations in the model of state guarantees.”

A plan for the digital economy, as one of the mainstays of the information society, should be elaborated and approved by the government by June 1, as Putin earlier ordered. Deputy Communications Minister Alexei Kozyrev said in April the ministry will unveil the document at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, held on June 1–3.

The association said the 2017–2030 strategy is based on a conservative economic development scenario and is more likely aimed at cementing and enhancing the existing state of affairs and does not take into account chances of a more dramatic changes triggered by the evolution of IT.

“On the one hand, the document fairly mentions that efforts of many states are aimed at the development of the national information infrastructure to the detriment of formation and distribution of knowledge, which is not quite in line with the targets of the World Summit on the Information Society held in Geneva 2003. On the other hand, this direction is of high priority in the strategy,” RAEC said.

The experts said that the project’s aim is rather not to advance development of Russia, but to raise the digitalization level by 2030 to the current level of developed countries.

“At that, many experts said that the strategy underestimates a cross-border character of the digital economy and intertwining of information society of different countries,” RAEC said, adding that the strategy has been significantly improved as compared to previous drafts.

The strategy also pays special attention to cybersecurity, from the point of view of infrastructure, including promotion of local protection standards, and the security of households and personal data.

The document stipulates “the development of information and communications infrastructure of the Russian Federation; the creation and implementation of local information and communications technologies, provision of their competitiveness on the international level…securing of national interests in the digital economy industry.”

Among the proposed measures to safeguard data in the country, the strategy offers to improve laws and regulations, and process data on local servers via entities residing on the country’s territory via networks of Russian operators. State authorities and government-participated companies should use local information and communications technologies.

Under the priority scenario of the information society development, “the state creates favorable conditions for the use of information and communications technologies…Russian organizations design and improve advanced information and communications technologies. Their interests are protected by the government. The technologies manufactured in Russia are in demand abroad.”

The government will invest in some projects and engage private money, but the document does not contain any figures so far.

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