In Irkutsk, the Alley of Innovations project continues, an experimental site where new technologies in housing and utilities and urban improvement are tested in the city. Here you can already see energy saving lights, vandal resistant benches, unusual curbs, paving tiles, and even an intelligent bus stop with internet access. Authorities say the project helps improve the urban environment and create demand for innovations from the city and businesses.

Three more projects are currently being installed and will be completed this year. Work on the Alley began in 2011, and the project is designed for five years. The Alley is an experimental site for the practical testing of innovative companies in Irkutsk that offer new technologies in the housing and utilities sector and urban planning. Deputy Mayor and Chairman of the Committee for Economic Affairs of the Irkutsk City Administration Alexey Almukhamedov inspected the progress of work on the Alley of Innovations and the condition of the facilities the day before.
The Alley is an attempt to bring innovations out of laboratories and onto the city streets, where both potential customers and city residents can see them, the deputy mayor noted. “Today, new streetlights and advertising structures, sidewalk paving stones and fencing, benches and protective covers for street lighting poles have been installed and demonstrated here.”
The walk along Innovation Street began at the square near the bus station. Here, the company MasterBordyur-Irkutsk demonstrated a new technology for producing decorative curbs for flower beds, lawns, and pedestrian paths. As the head of the company, Anton Efimov, explained, the curbs are monolithic; moreover, the technology makes it possible to produce them in any shape, color, or pattern. This project was implemented by members of the city’s League of Young Entrepreneurs.
“This is a very interesting and useful project for our city. If the new curb adapts well to urban operating conditions, we will recommend it for use in the urban environment. At the moment, it is obvious that the technology needs refinement,” Alexey Almukhamedov commented.
The main part of the Alley’s facilities is located on Friedrich Engels Street. Last year, three facilities were completed: an outdoor interactive stand with touch control (the area of the House of Europe), road barriers on screw foundations (along Friedrich Engels Street), and the laying of polymer-sand sidewalk paving stones (opposite the House of Europe). All the projects demonstrate good quality. For example, the special feature of screw foundations is that barriers can be installed on them in any season with minimal labor costs.
This year, the installation of ten supports for energy-saving outdoor LED streetlights, as well as three park LED streetlights on their own supports, has been completed on the Alley. Colored bases have been installed on all street poles along Friedrich Engels Street. They not only beautify the city by covering the gray concrete poles at eye level, but also have a useful property: it is impossible to paste notices or advertisements on them.
As they say, “feel the difference”: at the same time, next to ordinary wooden benches, vandal-resistant wrought-iron benches were installed, made using the innovative material VINIZOL for the seats and backs. While the former have already lost their appearance, the latter are in excellent condition.
The inspection concluded at the intersection of Dekabrskikh Sobytiy and Friedrich Engels streets, where this year the first “intelligent bus stop complex” was installed, with solar-powered lighting, an illuminated display board, and Internet access. According to the head of LLC PSK Diser, Vyacheslav Lunin, the bus stop complex is operating in full mode, and a heating system for the bench inside the pavilion will be connected in the near future.
Commenting on the “Alley of Innovations” project, Alexey Almukhamedov noted:
“The city must become a customer of innovative materials, technologies, and facilities, the main driver of the city’s innovative life. The Alley of Innovations project will allow us to test new technologies to improve the urban environment and promote the development of the city’s economy.”
In total, the Alley makes it possible to showcase up to 15 innovations at the same time.
The projects are being implemented jointly with funds from the city budget (60% of the costs) and entrepreneurs (40% of the costs).
Based on materials from the press service of the Irkutsk City Administration