Cisco Innovation Centre was opened at Higher Institute of Information Technologies and Information Systems of Kazan Federal University. The official opening ceremony took place the 7th of October 2014 with participation of Rustam Minnikhanov, the President of the Republic of Tatarstan.   

The long history of partnership between the Republic of Tatarstan and Cisco Systems Inc. has determined the decision of the company to open the center in Kazan. The memorandum of intent between regional government and this company is the begging of the launch of different projects, and the establishment of Cisco Innovation Centre at Kazan Federal University is the one of them.  It is the first project of such a level implemented in Russian higher education institution.    

The Innovation Center will provide the research platform meeting public and private needs in the national and international levels, involving different groups, among them university staff,  students and postgraduates in cooperation with Tatarstan enterprises.   The main research fields of the center are the following: communication and navigation systems' design, advanced antenna equipment, and many others.

"Cities are rapidly growing, and our life is changing, so we need new technologies for urban management and traffic administration. I believe, that Cisco Innovation Centre will be capable of covering these demands. We are planning to design the projects according to Cisco's demands in terms of providing strong connection between science and real market. That means that newly designed projects will be implemented in Kazan, Russia, or abroad", commented Ilshat Gafurov, KFU Rector.

Current projects of the Innovation Centre were presented to the attendees, as among them, Smart city and Smart bus implementations, such as intellectual housing and utility sector, complex navigation and diagnostic systems, wireless HD video surveillance optimization and others.

Two important documents became the result of this event.  The Republic of Tatarstan and Cisco Inc. cooperation roadmap and the Agrreament of intent were signed with Chris Dedicoat, president of Cisco Systems Inc. for Europe, Middle East and Africa.