More and more "smart" projects are being implemented in Almaty
Almaty has the highest level of digital and computer literacy among residents. More than 90% of services are provided in electronic format, which also demonstrates the city's commitment to the Smart City principles. Akim of the city Bakhytzhan Sagintayev spoke about this, as well as the development of creative and digital technologies at the site of the Central Communications Service.
According to the Head of the city, as a result of the assessment of international experts, IDC, the level of digital maturity of Almaty as a Smart City has grown from "opportunistic" to "recurring" from 1.7 points in 2017 to 2.7 points in 2021. The growth was driven by institutional strengthening and the introduction of infrastructure smart projects. Today, "smart" projects are being implemented in almost all spheres of the city's life.
Thus, the implementation of the "Sergek" project made it possible to reduce the number of accidents and deaths on the roads. Smart traffic lights will increase the average traffic speed by 15-20%. The use of Big Data analysis tools and artificial intelligence made it possible to monitor crowded places.
Data-driven management decisions are being applied. Channels of interaction with residents have been created, tools such as "Participation Budget" have been introduced, when city residents themselves determine projects for financing from the city budget.
At the same time, Alatau Creative Hub has been operating in the city since last year - a multifunctional coworking center of a new generation, created last year within the framework of the Almaty-2050 Strategy and the Creative Almaty sub-strategy.
Creative Almaty creative industries development program was developed in 2019 with the aim of structural maneuvering of the city's economy, based on 10 creative industries. Including cinema and animation, literature, fashion, new media and digital cultures, theater, opera and ballet, e-sports and game development, architecture and design, music, contemporary art, and the entertainment industry.
The creative hub was created in the Alatau district according to the principle of a "City without suburbs", where residents can work in a free coworking space, take part in master classes of famous professionals. There are 25 free extracurricular circles here. Among them are acting, discussion club, dombra, journalism, foreign languages.
An IT laboratory has been created on the second floor, which includes a space for startups and IT incubators, a programming school, an electronics center, and a robotics school. There is also a multimedia center for traditional music.
In general, the hub provides premises for creative projects of SMEs aimed at finding talents and developing the creative skills of people. The creation of such hubs is planned in every district of the city.
Labor productivity of creative industries is higher than traditional ones, which has a positive effect on the sustainability of the city's economy. Already today, creative industries occupy about 1.7% of the share of the Almaty economy. These are 17.8 thousand organizations and individual entrepreneurs (8.8% of all enterprises), which employ about 45 thousand people. The volume of services rendered is 402.8 billion tenge.
Projects-drivers in the field of digitalization and the creative industry:
Unified Data Warehouse - regional data warehouse based on the Citizen360 / Singapore model;
Common Communication Space - a platform that unites all universities, IT companies around IT talents;
Economic clustering of city districts - Map for tracking the dynamics of income / expenditure indicators of city residents with a focus on creative industries;
The Creative Class online platform is an educational platform that teaches how to make money on your talent, explore new directions and mixed professions.
The Almaty Creative Accelerator-2022 program is a practice-oriented program of startups in the creative economy, free acceleration, coverage of global trends in business organization in the field of creative industries
Almaty TikTok Fest is a project aimed at developing new digital media, increasing the recognition of tourist destinations in Kazakhstan, attracting world brands to the market;
Almaty Cyber Games is an event aimed at developing and popularizing the digital sports industry in Kazakhstan.
Festival MARCON is a content marketing conference for leading local and international digital market players.
Also in the city, a Creative Quarter is being created, where conditions will be created for the implementation of business ideas of creative entrepreneurs.