Questions/Answers

While startups and SMEs are highly dynamic and produce the most innovative solutions, they experience serious difficulties in passing the complicated public procurement system, and in accessing large customers. The Moscow Innovation Pilot Program is a unique market entry tool for small and medium-sized technology companies from all over the world that enables them to test their innovative solutions in Moscow at more than 90 urban and commercial facilities with a wide range of potential users. The Program is the first in the world of such scale and ease of access. The key goals of the Program are: 1. To improve the quality of life, especially of citizens with special needs, by introduction of cutting-edge innovative solutions. 2. To connect large business and startups in order to test important hypotheses and to customize products according to business needs. 3. To help tech startups and SMEs receive feedback from potential customers and place their products onto the market. 4. To foster citizen engagement in innovative development by involving people of all gender, ethnicity, class and age in testing innovations, and to make city innovation policy more transparent. 5. To provide other cities with an easily replicable tool of innovative development. The Program allows innovators to display the product, verify its declared characteristics and test it in practice, and to assess and improve its potential for application and scaling, based on feedback from citizens and recommendations of the top specialists. The Program is a unique easy entry point for smart city market and procurement of public and large private actors. It allows startups to drastically reduce the time between idea and the real market and swiftly pass the most critical stage of development, avoiding lobbying or spending time on communication with the city and corporations – who, in return, receive the cutting-edge products.

The Moscow Mayor’s motto is to make Moscow “a city for everyone”, and the city administration actively welcomes and promotes solutions that could improve the quality of life of disabled people, the elderly, youth, etc. The Moscow Innovation Pilot Program is an important tool for introduction of such innovations, as innovative products that received positive feedback during the pilot tests have a higher chance to be implemented in the city. Design of the Program is a result of multilateral dialogue conducted in working groups with representatives of the key stakeholders – citizens, startups, SMEs, city administration, large corporations, etc.

The Program supports SDGs 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12 and 17, especially 8.2, 8.3, 9.1 and 9.3, since it is aimed at helping innovative companies enter the market and implement their solutions in the city, making it more comfortable for all categories of citizens – who actively participate in testing the solution. For instance, the Goal 11.2: pilot tests were conducted to improve the quality of life of blind and visually impaired people: 1. “VoiCe vision”: allows blind people to “see” using their hearing. Prolonged use of the device turns its users from blind to visually impaired by activating the brain zones responsible for visual sensation. 3. "Talking City" system: a set of wearable devices and equipment (installed on public transport infrastructure) that receives and reproduces a message about the type of arriving transport, its route and direction. 4. “Ray” electronic cane: a small, portable and lightweight device (50 g) that uses ultrasound to recognize obstacles within 3 meters and notifies its owner by means of a sound signal or vibration.

The Program: is a PPP, connecting the key stakeholders interested in innovative development of the city and fostering engagement of people of all gender, ethnicity, class and age in testing innovations. It makes the city innovation policy more participative and transparent. uses a special methodology that considers specifics of the Russian innovation ecosystem and bridges gaps in its development, which makes it easily replicable in other cities. supports entrepreneurship (including women and minority-led) by helping innovative companies put their products on the market and encouraging entrepreneurship. improves citizens’ quality of life by implementing innovative solutions in various spheres – from healthcare to waste management.

The Program was developed to solve the following problems: Startups are rarely familiar with the real needs of the city administration; their solutions often do not meet these needs. Startups have trouble in proving economic viability of their products to potential customers due to the lack of ability to test their products in practice and receive professional feedback. Startups have trouble in passing the complicated public procurement system and in accessing large customers. Citizens rarely participate in testing innovations, which often results in their rejection or low level of trust. The Program provided startups and technological SMEs with a previously nonexistent tool to test their innovative solutions on the objects of urban infrastructure and to receive direct feedback from the representatives of city departments, corporations, and citizens. This helped startups and technological SMEs customize their products, find potential partners and investors and access the public procurement system. Participation of citizens in the Program contributed to the transparency of Moscow city innovation policy and peoples’ interest in innovations in general. Citizens who participated expressed further interest in innovations, which may inspire some of these people to work in this sphere and to establish their own businesses.

The Program supports innovative companies, many of which are led by women or have women employees, put their products on the market. This, in turn, encourages women innovators to establish their own businesses or work in the sphere of innovations, helping them build up their career. By engaging citizens in the process of testing innovative products, the Program helps women find new solutions that can improve their everyday life and the life of their families. Many products tested in framework of the Program help disabled and visually impaired women improve their quality of life.

The key target groups are: citizens of Moscow that are in need of products and solutions that would improve their quality of life; startups and technological SMEs that need to get access to the market and receive professional feedback on their innovative products; city administration and large corporations that look for new innovative solutions that can be implemented in the city. All these stakeholders benefited from the Program, which received over 550 applications to run pilots from technological startups and SMEs. 90 pilot test sites are available for Program participants. As of November 2020, 43 pilot tests have been conducted, and 42% of all piloted innovations were subsequently rolled out on a larger scale. The volume of contracts following pilot tests in 2019-2020 is over 60 million rubles. Therefore, the Program has direct impact on introducing the most successful innovations in the Moscow city. About 5.000 citizens took part in the process of testing innovative products. A considerable proportion of them are youth, the elderly, and people with disabilities, since most of the piloted innovations are aimed at improving quality of life of these groups. We received very positive feedback from them, which encourages us to continue with the Program and extend it further.

The Program is run by the Moscow Agency of Innovations, agency of the Moscow City municipality. In 2016-2019, the Program was run in a test regime based on the “open calls” system: the Moscow city departments formulated tasks relevant for the city, and startups submitted their solutions for the contest. Depending on the type of solution, the Moscow Agency of Innovations partnered with a corresponding organization (i.e., hospital) to test the solution in practice. During this period, the Moscow Agency of Innovations conducted analysis of the Moscow innovation ecosystem, studied international experience and worked with the key stakeholders to develop optimal organizational design, conducting round tables, expert discussions and conferences. As a result, unique methodology was developed for all stages of the Program, from assessing applications and conducting expertise of innovative products to the analysis of the collected data. When the Program design was complete, it was launched on the full scale on the basis of Decree of the Government of Moscow "On pilot testing of innovative solutions in the city of Moscow" No. 631-PP dated 05/27/2020. The cycle of piloting innovative solution takes up to 6 months, averaging 3-4 months, and includes 5 stages: 1. Submission of the application form by innovative company. 2. Analysis of the technology, search for the matching demand from a public or private partner that could act as a pilot test site, development of piloting methodology. 3. Adoption of the piloting methodology, terms and timeline; signing of tripartite treaty by the startup / SME, pilot testing site and the Moscow Agency of Innovations. 4. Conduction of pilot test with a permanent monitoring of its results, collection of citizens’ feedbacks. 5. Evaluation of the pilot test project, preparation of analytical report and recommendations on further development / implementation of the product.

Due to the novelty of the Program, is took time and effort to work out the necessary normative and organizational framework, to engage partners, prepare pilot testing sites and develop the methodology for assessment of innovations by experts and citizens. This was accomplished by conducting multilateral dialogue in working groups which involved representatives of all above mentioned actors. Startups and SMEs also articulated their view of the Program design during special sessions that took place at the Digital Business Hub – the multifunctional venue in Moscow focused on the advancement of tech entrepreneurship (Moscow, Pokrovka street, 47).

The Program: is the first in the world of such scale (90+ pilot testing sites, open for entrepreneurs from the whole world) and ease of access. is an organizational innovation that substantially changes the way the Moscow city collaborates with citizens, technological startups and SMEs. is the first of its kind in Russia and is unique due to its design, methodology that considers specifics of the Russian innovation ecosystem, and wide citizen participation in testing innovations. is gratuitous for all participants and includes a variety of special services, such as professional technology scouting, expertise and PR support.

The Program was inspired by the global trend for establishing urban sites for testing and implementing innovations, such as NYCX Co-Labs, Torino Living Lab, Amsterdam Innovation Area, and the 22@ Barcelona project.

Due to its nature – testing innovations – the Program has already supported products based on such technologies as AR, VR, AI, Big Data, Blockchain, IoT, wearables, and robotics.

The Program has received great interest from other Russian regions, with many heads of them expressing readiness to replicate it.

The Program design makes it easily replicable in other cities, especially in Russia, since it is tailored to the specifics of Russian innovation ecosystem, normative, institutional and organizational framework. The results of the Program prove it to be an effective tool for urban innovative development, especially for creating new opportunities for tech startups and SMEs and engaging citizens in urban innovation development. The Moscow Agency of Innovations is willing to share its experience by conducting roundtables, workshops and “deep dives” on particular aspects of the Program.

Human resources and financial support of the Moscow Government, which covers all expenses regarding pilot testing project management, document workflow, solution expertise, PR support and networking. Infrastructure: pilot testing sites provided by public and private entities. Institutional support: preparation and organization of pilots; networking with potential customers and the key players in the Moscow innovation ecosystem. Expert knowledge: scouting of innovations; development of the methodology of piloting; assessment of innovative product and recommendations on its improvement; consultations on entering Russian and international markets. Citizen feedback: evaluation of innovations by citizens that visit pilot testing sites.

The Program has proved itself as a strong tool of innovative development that benefits all the key stakeholders, which is a solid basis for it to become a long-term instrument of Moscow innovation policy. The Program is constantly developing: it is joined by new pilot testing sites, startups and SMEs. After piloting, the city administration continues to support innovative companies by providing them with expert support, financial support (subsidies and grants), information and PR support.

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The Program is implemented on the basis of the Moscow strategic program “Moscow – Smart City 2030”, which is aimed at making the city more resilient and innovative. The Program is run by the Moscow Agency of Innovations, the one-stop shop of the Moscow innovation ecosystem, a subsidiary organization of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development of Moscow City. Each pilot test is thoroughly supervised by the thematically corresponding department of the city administration, that is also the key potential customer. Therefore, the Program is a mechanism that involves multiple government actors.

The Program design was developed on the basis of multilateral dialogue in working groups which involved representatives of all the key stakeholders – citizens, startups, SMEs, city administration departments, large corporations, investors, etc. The dialogue during round tables, expert sessions, conferences and other formats was mostly conducted at the Digital Business Hub – the multifunctional venue in Moscow focused on the advancement of tech entrepreneurship (Moscow, Pokrovka street, 47), as well as at other innovation venues in Moscow. Another important factor was international dialogue with administrations of foreign cities that have great experience in developing innovation ecosystems, partners of the Moscow Agency of Innovations.

The Program played the key role in keeping up the pace of Moscow innovative development: the city now ranks top-10 by conditions for startups in the fDi Tech Cities of the Future and Startup Blink Global Startup Ecosystem rankings. Therefore, it proved to be a useful tool for innovative development. The next step is a digital transformation of the Program in order to offer even more responsive and rapid services for the participants. We also plan to engage more international start-ups, and to increase the number of participants and pilot testing sites. The Program will be extended to other Russian cities and, as we hope worldwide. Our key priority is the quality of life of citizens, so we also plan to develop tools that would help more precisely determine what innovations are in most demand and should be tested first.