Over 100 Teams to Present Digital Services Projects for Arctic at the ArcTech Data Contest

Representatives of 110 IT teams who will present projects on such issues as urban studies, ecology, and tourism will take part in the ArcTech Data contest for the development of digital solutions for the Arctic. The prize money for the contest is RUB 3 million. ArcTech Data is part of the 2023 Arctic Technology Competition (ArcTech).

“The Arctic is a strategically important region for the country and accounts for 11% of national income and 22% of Russia’s total exports. However, the harsh climate hinders the development of the Arctic, where only 1% of the country’s population lives, and the region is experiencing a lack of skilled professionals. To optimize the supply of energy resources products to the region, Vostokgosplan has developed a digital twin of [the plan for delivering goods to northern Russia]. The system shortens supply chains and makes deliveries transparent, which reduces the ultimate cost of the products that are supplied for the Arctic population. With our own positive experience in developing IT solutions, we firmly believe that modern digital technologies can fundamentally change the lives of people in the Arctic. Optimizing the infrastructure of cities and the transport system along with interactive monitoring of the ecology and climate of the Far North based on big data will make the Arctic a more attractive region where not only the extractive sector is being developed, but also the service economy, which creates comfortable conditions for people to live and work,” Vostokgosplan Director Mikhail Kuznetsov said.

Digital service projects will be developed as part of three groups: ‘Arctic Urbanization’, ‘Ecology of the Arctic’, and ‘Arctic Tourism’. In the first group, developers will create solutions to optimize the siting of urban facilities taking into account transport accessibility or to identify settlements with limited access to medical care. The ‘Arctic Ecology’ group aims to develop IT solutions to analyse environmental problems and risks associated with mining, or services to optimize the location of pollution monitoring and waste collection facilities in the Arctic. As part of the ‘Arctic Tourism’ group, IT specialists will create tools to assess demand for tourism in the Arkhangelsk Region or an interactive visualization service for urban development based on the year or type of development, which helps plan its expansion and visually display changes. The final round of the ArcTech Data contest will take place on 11 August 2023 with the support of the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic as part of the plan of events of Russia’s chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2021–2023, which are managed by the Roscongress Foundation.

Students and young professionals account for the bulk of the contestants: 35.5% of participants are 18–22 years old, 24.6% are 28–35 years old, and 21.7% are 23–27 years old. Teams from regions of the Central Federal District represent 46% of the contestants, teams from the North-Western Federal District — 18%, from the Siberian Federal District — 9%, and from the Far East, Urals, and North Caucasus Federal Districts — 7% each.

The ArcTech contest aims to transform scientific and technological developments into digital ones and create engineering solutions to ensure comfortable living conditions for people in the Arctic and the successful operation of companies in the region. The contest programme includes three focuses: ArcTech Data, ArcTech Engineering, and ArcTech Science Pitch. Applications to take part in the ArcTech Engineering and ArcTech Science Pitch programmes will be accepted until 1 July 2023. The general sponsor of the competition is MegaFon, the technological partner is YandexCloud, and the data provider is Geointellect.