Domestic achievements in the field of digitalization are presented at the exhibition of advanced digital projects within the framework of the annual Digital Almaty forum. Before the plenary session, it was visited by the heads of government of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Uzbekistan.

The exhibition presents digital projects of more than 300 Kazakhstani and international IT-companies, as well as government agencies in such areas of digitalization as GovTech, AgroTech, Industry 4.0, ESG, Smart City and others. 

Thus, the heads of government were presented with the Qaztech platform, which ensures compliance with uniform standards in the state information systems of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and the digital basis for regulating business activities "from scratch".

Along with this, the guests were shown digital services of the city of Almaty, as well as the results of the implementation of Industry 4.0 projects in the mining and metallurgical complex, industry and energy sector, including through the tools of state support. In particular, it concerns automation of production management processes, reduction of equipment wear and tear and reduction of unproductive costs. 

Deputy Minister of Industry and Construction Zhannat Dubirova spoke about the introduction of modern technologies at industrial enterprises of the republic.

"Industry 4.0 is a modern trend that allows industrial enterprises and subsoil users to reduce their costs and increase productivity through the introduction of digital technologies. At the exhibition, we are presenting several enterprises of the mining and metallurgical complex, which have already implemented a number of digital projects. The government is pursuing an active policy to promote Industry 4.0 by providing support measures. This includes reimbursement of business costs for the introduction of such technologies. To date, more than 183 million tenge has already been reimbursed, this work continues," she said. 

Also, at the exhibition was presented the Unified platform of subsoil users Minerals.gov.kz, which will facilitate and speed up the process of obtaining licenses for exploration and mining of minerals. Thanks to modern GIS-technologies, potential investors will be able to get a complete picture of the requested site, starting from infrastructure and ending with reports on geological study of the territory. It will also be possible to submit a corresponding application with the help of an EDS-key. 

Yandex representative Alexander Popovskiy told the heads of government that there are more than 10 services for people and businesses in Kazakhstan. 

"We strive to make our services available to everyone. In 2023 we made: Maps in Kazakh, Alice service in Kazakh in the mobile browser and app, video translation into Kazakh in Yandex Browser, and quick answers in search in Kazakh. All of this makes information more accessible and convenient for our Kazakh users and contributes to the spread of the state language," he said. 

In addition, the exhibition presented the activities of the first in Central Asia competence center for industrial robotization, launched in Kazakhstan. An international consortium of Kazakhstani and foreign universities and IT companies has been formed within its framework. The center's main tasks include conducting research and development in the field of robotics and supporting thematic startups in their acceleration and scaling.

Top Kazakhstani IT companies and startups also showed their projects at Digital Almaty. These included a biometrics system with a unique palm vein pattern authentication technology (Alaqan Technologies), an AI platform for verifying production data (Dereknet), an equipment operation and reliability management system (Equipmetry), a project to implement digitalization at industrial enterprises and an intelligent video surveillance platform (Omir Group), automated environmental monitoring systems (OST Engineering), and others.

For example, Rakhat Ospanov, a representative of the SmartView Innovations startup, said that heap leaching is one of the most popular and cost-effective methods of extracting mineral components. However, the main component wobblers (sprinklers), which irrigate the heap and extract the metal, break down very often. This results in large losses for the companies.

"Our solution: a drone makes periodic overflights of the heap leach field and records video. This video is then processed by computer vision and our specially trained artificial intelligence identifies all the breakages and their location on the field. Our solution has increased gold recovery by 4%, increased machine operator efficiency by 60% and reduced worker exposure to harsh chemicals by 80%," he said. 

Salamat Kabdulov, director of Dereknet, said that every day oil and gas fields generate a huge amount of data, which is often processed manually using simple computer programs. This increases the risks of making mistakes and taking wrong management decisions. 

"We offer a solution to this problem is a production data management platform, where various engineering modules are provided. As a result, calculations become transparent and errors are eliminated through automation. Also, thanks to the application of artificial intelligence, engineers receive forecasts that help increase production. The platform has proven its effectiveness at three operating fields in Kazakhstan. In 2024, we plan to enter the North Sea market, Norway," he said. 

One of the exhibitors, Vitaliy Ostapchuk, CEO of OST Engineering, also spoke about his project.

"We are engaged in the production of domestic automated environmental monitoring systems. Given the introduction of the new Environmental Code, large enterprises need to implement such systems so that the Government and the public can monitor the environmental situation in real time. We opened in 2020 and have already achieved quite a lot. We have systems for monitoring atmospheric air, emissions at pollution sources and water discharges. Our systems are not inferior to foreign analogs," he said. 

As noted by the chairman of the board of National Information Technologies JSC Rostislav Konyashkin, today in Kazakhstan digitized more than 90% of public services.

"There is a huge number of them, over 1000. They have been compiled into more than 150 life situations in which the relevant services may be required. For example, proactive registration of a child's birth, when the mother receives a notification or SMS. She fills in the child's first and last name, specifies the account to which payments will be made, and receives the birth certificate in the digital documents section on Egov. We also talk about the kindergarten waiting list service, which is unified for the whole country as of this year. This is a great achievement that increases the transparency and convenience of this process," the Chairman of NIT JSC said.

According to him, active interaction with banks has made it possible to bring some services, such as car re-registration, online. 

"Earlier, people used to go to a special Public Service Center to get this service. Now it can be done online literally in 5 minutes through the Internet," Rostislav Konyashkin emphasized.

He also added that Kazakhstan is actively moving forward in terms of exporting its digital products.

"We already have the first successful case: last year we conducted an export of e-government products to Tajikistan. We are confident that this year there will be at least three countries, now there is a negotiation process," Konshkin said the head of JSC "NIT".

#Alikhan Smailov #The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan #Digitalization