On the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum 2026, the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation announced the launch of a competitive selection process among Russian regions to participate in building a low-altitude economy. The Association of Innovative Regions of Russia (AIRR) will serve as the platform for collecting regional applications. The project is being implemented in line with the Russian President’s directives on the development of autonomous systems and aims to accelerate the deployment of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) across key sectors of the national economy. In the winning region, a digital platform for managing the low-altitude economy will be deployed based on the state information system “ERA-GLONASS,” and a master plan for unmanned aerial logistics will be developed. For the winning region, this means the opportunity—with federal expert support—to build a comprehensive model for the development of unmanned logistics: test routes, infrastructure, and organizational and legal solutions; bring together demand from major customers and the capabilities of Russian operators and UAV manufacturers within its territory. Following the pilot project, the region will gain practical data and validated solutions that can be used to further develop efficient logistics services locally. The initiative’s first-stage goal is to create a managed model for applying unmanned aerial logistics in specific territories, assess its economic efficiency, and refine mechanisms for interaction between the state and business. In the future, the project is expected to expand through integration with autonomous systems on land and water. “Today, we are moving to practical modeling of the low-altitude economy in territories that will be selected through the competition. It is important for us to see not just individual flights, transport operations, or isolated technology tests, but a comprehensive service built on real customer demand for autonomous logistics, infrastructure readiness, a digital framework, and a calculable economics of UAV use. We want solutions that can be replicated nationwide. The regional competition is the first step toward building this ecosystem. We are taking into account global best practices and combining the expertise of ERA-GLONASS, Russia’s largest digital IoT platform for transport, with that of the Shenzhen Urban Transport Planning and Design Institute,” said Andrey Nikitin, Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation. The competition is organized by Russia’s Ministry of Transport, which will send participation guidelines to every Russian region. Applications must be submitted by the region itself. In its application, a region may propose as a pilot territory either the entire region, a specific municipality, an urban district, or another area within its borders. A competition commission, involving leading experts, will evaluate applications against 16 criteria grouped into five key blocks: readiness of use cases and ground infrastructure; the region’s legal and organizational readiness; maturity of the regional environment and availability of support measures; operator readiness and level of process digitalization; and sustainability of airspace use. The Association of Innovative Regions of Russia, which unites regions with an established technological and infrastructure base in unmanned technologies and experience implementing experimental legal regimes for UAVs, will serve as the platform for collecting applications. As noted by the AIRR Director, the Association is building partnership links between Russian regions and the Shenzhen science and technology cluster, where the low-altitude economy is developing as an integrated ecosystem combining technologies, infrastructure, digital platforms, manufacturing, and practical use cases. The winner will be the region that scores the highest and presents at least one scenario with a confirmed legal mechanism for launch, a ready operator, and an implementable route. If grounds provided by the rules exist, the competition commission may select one additional winner, allowing the pilot project to be implemented simultaneously in two Russian regions if necessary.