Environment for innovation

Organizer: the city of Innopolis

Venue: the city of Kazan, IEC KAZAN EXPO, Hall 12

Time: May 18, 14:00–15:20.

Moderator: Mikhail Vanyushin, international English-speaking moderator

Speakers:

Ruslan Rinatovich Shagaleev, the city of Innopolis Mayor;

Baharesh Bagherian, Founder of URB, Smart City with Zero Emissions Master Plans developer;

Adnan Al Noorani, Founder of the Future Innovation Summit Forum, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Leo Investment and D1 Technologies;

Zubarik Yulia Leonidovna, urban expert, master plans and development strategies developer, founder of the urban planning bureau Master's Plan.

The transition to an innovative development path today is one of the highest strategic priorities in the developing countries of the world. The experience of establishing territories and conditions for the development of innovations was discussed during the session. Ruslan Shagaleev, the Mayor of the city of Innopolis presented the experience of Innopolis as a city with 3 components: technological development, creative industry and urban space. Today, every third resident of the city is an IT specialist or a scientist, 68% of the city residents have arrived from other regions of the country or from abroad. The city infrastructure is designed so that the city is constantly evolving and encouraging its residents to create new products and activities. Recently, a special type of city has been developed, the so called Zoom town, which means a small city in a picturesque place with not much traffic, and where it is convenient to work remotely. Innopolis is a real model of such city.

The experts discussed how to create sustainable cities and how to rethink and optimize the existing ones in terms of developing their sustainability.

Baharesh Bagherian, the founder of URB, believes that the sustainability of cities is inextricably linked to their natural environment. City planning should first of all start from the landscape of the city, and the entire urban infrastructure should be optimized taking this into account. Consideration of natural factors can significantly reduce energy consumption, pollution level; increase the availability of fresh water and food security.

The issues of modern education and urban development were also discussed. Currently, due to the transition to the third industrial revolution, cities are formed according to the polycentric principle. Innopolis is a vivid example of such a city. At the same time, many cities are being implemented at the expense of one investor. The current trend suggests that future investors will compete with each other for urban development and human capital.

Urban expert Yulia Zubarik said that a new city, Ecopolis, the first carbon-neutral city in Russia, would be established on the Sakhalin Island. There would be a logistics hub on the Northern Sea Route, as well as an educational campus, formed in the city.