Prospects of production automation and digitization in view of economic sanctions

Earlier Russian market of components and solutions for production automation was dominated by foreign-made products. Russian companies were offering a limited spectrum of automated equipment mainly for specific types of production and automated systems, e.g. water or gas supply systems. Also Russian companies relied heavily on software used to control individual automated production processes and specialized software packages and platforms used to control the operation of whole enterprise developed and supported by companies from EU, US and Japan. The share of foreign software is especially large in hi-tech production and Russian subsidiaries and operations of US and EU-based corporations. Following the imposition of sanctions Russian businesses started switching to domestic-made components and software. Sharp increase in demand for Russian-produced components and software requires development of currently unavailable components and specialized software, which are to be similar to those by foreign producers to preserve already existing automated facilities. Accelerated development rates and solutions for substitution of earlier-imported components necessitate establishing favorable investment environment, most urgently, for IT developers. The role of the government is to develop a strategy to support growth in the sectors of hi-tech production and IT for stronger and more sustainable national economy.