The Role of Universities in the Development of “Smart Cities”: Foreign and Russian Experience

The “Smart city” concept was introduced in 1994 and since then has been actively implemented in city management, including in the Russian Federation. Despite the fact that a large part of researchers reduces a smart city to the modernization of aging infrastructure through digitalization, practice shows that technology in itself is rarely a solution to urban problems; it is necessary to develop, first of all, the social aspects of management simultaneously with the introduction of appropriate technological solutions. The development of a sociocentric dimension of management of urban systems involves the involvement of various actors in the development and implementation of initiatives of public authorities, including universities. The purpose of this study is based on the study of foreign and domestic cases, to highlight the forms of interaction between universities and local governments and determine the role of universities in the formation and development of smart cities.The work used the method of analysis and synthesis, comparison and synthesis of information, the method of induction and deduction. The information base for the study was the materials of the Urban Digitalization Index “IQ of Cities”, regulations aimed at the development of smart cities in the Russian Federation, and the authors’ own research.Based on the data, the role of universities in the formation and development of smart cities in Russia and foreign countries was determined, the main forms of cooperation between universities and other actors in the process of developing smart cities were identified, recommendations were developed for the development of cooperation between universities and public authorities in the implementation of the departmental project “Smart City”.The experience of Russian and foreign cities shows the existence of a relationship between the degree of involvement of universities in the implementation of the smart city project and the results of intellectualization and digitalization of the urban economy. The critical role of universities is to promote socially oriented management, as opposed to the chaotic digitalization of individual processes of urban management and data collection, without further analysis. To expand the practice of involving universities in the development of Smart Cities, a number of recommendations are proposed.