World Monitor Mag WM_June 2018 web | Page 26

DESTINATION europe Digital Kazakhstan implementation strategy Germany is a world leader in technology, engineering and innovation. The German Embassy to Kazakhstan and His Excellency Mr Ambassador shares about the activities and plans to be implemented in Kazakhstan in the field of digitalisation. Rolf Mafael, Ambassador of Germany to Kazakhstan Building on the strong impulse provided by the visit of President Steinmeier to EXPO and other high level German business delegations in 2017, German businesses are indeed quite active in Kazakhstan in promoting innovative technologies and digitalisation. One of the most outstanding examples is cooperation in modern production technologies and automatization, more broadly known as Industry 4.0. Germany and German business are ready to continue supporting the implementation of the strategy ‘Digital Kazakhstan’. They are already involved in a number of activities in this regard in Kazakhstan. Let me mention the following as flagship examples. The renowned Fraunhofer Institute for Automatization, IFF, in Magdeburg has already carried out some projects in the area of digitalisation in the fields like logistics. They are now also cooperating with the Institute for Industrial Development KIDI, which belongs to the Ministry of Industry and Development, in the strategic pilot project ‘Model Digital Factories’. Beyond its immediate impact in digitalisation of production processes, this project is also important in developing Kazakhstan’s SME strategy and represents another necessary step to strengthen the cooperation between companies, universities and research institutions. Siemens is a leader in digitalisation with its state of art technology and software that demonstrate its broad digitalisation portfolio 24 world monitor worldwide. Digital transformation is also necessary for Kazakhstan, and Siemens digital solutions are applicable in all economic spheres, including Oil & Gas, Mining, Manufacturing, Energy and Healthcare. As a matter of fact, just last year, together with its partners, Siemens completed implementation of a Smart City concept for Almaty street lighting. SCADA and WinCC software was used in this modernization project. It allows measuring, analyzing and reducing energy consumption. The energy and exploitation costs were reduced by 30 to 50% allowing for resources to be used in the most efficient way. Siemens also integrated the Smart Grid solution at the EXPO 2017 site. The solution is used to manage and ensure uninterrupted energy supply of the EXPO site in Astana. In May Siemens Kazakhstan held Digitalisation Days in Astana and Almaty to create a platform for discussing digital transformation and how digital innovative solutions can bring value to the business and society. Since opening its local office in 1997, Germany-based international company SAP has more than 160 client organizations using SAP technologies, including the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan, JSC NC KTZ, National Company KazMunaiGas, JSC Kazpost, JSC Kazakhtelecom, National Bank of Kazakhstan, Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) and many others. In 2015, SAP and the National Welfare Fund Samruk-