Currently, countries' competitiveness is determined by how internationally integrated their cities are. And if earlier the main channel connecting the city with the outside world was ships, trains and planes, today digital technologies help to overcome geographical barriers and allow cities that are remote from trade and human flows to assert themselves on the world map.

What is happening now?

There is an active transition of business and governing bodies to a digital model at the global level. Over the past 7 years, the average number of strategies published per year aimed specifically at the development of the digital city has increased from 3 to 42. The European Commission has launched a Digital City Challenge program aimed at digitalization of 41 cities. Cloud technologies, 5G, the IoT, and distributed ledger technologies are moving from “desired” to “necessary”.

Such a desire of cities to keep up with digital trends is justified not only in terms of comfort, but also in terms of economic benefits. Digitalization of processes leads to a reduction in transformational and transaction costs, increased innovation in the production of goods and services, opening up access to new markets and optimizing management models. According to Huawei estimates, by 2025, the share of sectors related to the digital economy will double to 23 trillion US dollars in global GDP. At the same time, the best-in-class sectors of digital transformation will be manufacturing, public and municipal services, but gradually the need for digitalization of activities will affect all other spheres.

What does this mean for us?

According to International Data Corporation research, Nur-Sultan is at the "conjuncture" stage of the digital transformation: there is repeated success in the implementation of digital projects and there is a gradual integration of digital solutions into the activities of individual structures. The Smart Astana Project is developing, local developers of digital solutions such as BTS Digital and BI Innovations are emerging, and technological development platforms such as Astana Hub and Seedspace are emerging.

Definitely, this is a good start and it will be a mistake to slow down. Missing the chance to "jump on the train" of digital transformation means paying a high price and giving up many ambitions, because the nearest cities to the capital, competing for the lead in the macroregion, also do not waste time. Tashkent is at the stage of launching the "Digital Tashkent" project together with the American EPAM IT company. In Urumqi, an Asian-European Big Data Center is being built and local government bodies are being digitalized. Russian million-plus population cities - Kazan and Novosibirsk - are engaged in digitalization of the industry and scientific sector, respectively.

In order to become attractive for qualified personnel and international companies, digitalization must necessarily become one of the main priorities for further development, not only for the capital, but also for other large cities in Kazakhstan. Both on paper and in reality.

The future, where everything is controlled by Artificial Intelligence, is much closer than you think. And our task is to become a part of this future.