Moscow Launched Smart District, a Living Lab for Testing Technologies

Moscow government is launching a smart district that will become a living lab for piloting smart technologies in the city. The project is implemented in existing urban living area with around 8 000 citizens. It aims to evaluate how technologies adjust residents’ routine and what technologies are mostly used. Moscow authorities aim to adjust the city urban renewal plan based on the results once the pilot is completed.

In April 2018 authorities began implementing technologies in selected buildings situated in Maryino district on the southeast of Moscow. The district includes seven apartment buildings with different years of construction. Each residential building has different construction type that gives an advantage to pilot the technologies under various conditions. In total the complex accommodates 2 044 apartments with a square area of 350x300 meters.

Unlike common international practice, Maryino district was chosen to pilot the project for one simple reason: the technologies piloted in real-life environment are more likely to be more realistic and faster adaptable to the lives of modern citizens. Now authorities and developers receive immediate feedback from the citizens and can amend and consider residents’ requests in the real-time which guarantees avoidance of potential unmet expectations, disapproval or misunderstanding in the future.

Smart district residents can now access smart systems responsible for heating, lighting, waste collection and many others. In total selected residential buildings are equipped with twenty nine different smart technologies. Those aim to improve the quality of life, provide comfort and safety, and optimize expenditures of residents and city hall as well. Starting from now, Moscow is to evaluate the effectiveness of the implemented technologies.

The project is implemented in close cooperation with business stakeholders. Russian telecom operator Beeline has also launched a test site for developers of IoT solutions on the territory of the district. The trial will use Ericsson equipment on Beeline’s Narrow Band (NB) IoT network. The project is to examine the impact of IoT solutions implemented in the district. The trial enables connections of up to 10,000 devices per base station, and Ericsson has installed two stations in the one-kilometre trial zone.