Moscow, May 24. Sessions on the innovation agenda are going to be held as part of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum’s business programme. During the session ‘Innovation in BRICS Countries: Main Directions and Prospects for Cooperation’, participants will review innovations as one of the most important drivers of economic development for BRICS countries. Sergey Katyrin, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, will be the session’s moderator. The discussion will be attended by: Bridgette Radebe, Executive Chairperson of Mmakau Mining Pty; Lirong Xu, Chairman of the Board of Directors of China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited; Vladimir Kazbekov, Vice President of the New Development Bank; Anna Nesterova, Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors at Global Rus Trade; Alexey Texler, Acting Governor of Chelyabinsk Region; Miron Tatsun, President of the Union of Timber Manufacturers and Exporters of Russia, and others. Participants will discuss the prospects for development of innovative cooperation between the association’s five countries, the possible ways to improve the tools of government support for innovation, and the participation of the BRICS Development Bank in funding joint investment projects and innovative research.

Another subject of the innovation economy will be the "smart specialization in the regions." In order to increase the efficiency of government support measures, promising economic specializations have been determined by the Spatial Development Strategy for all regions, based on their competitive advantages. "Smart specialization" may become one of the tools for "landing" the effective specializations and increasing the innovative activity of the regions. Alexander Ivlev, EY’s CIS Managing Partner and Deputy Regional Accounts Leader for Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe & Central Asia, will moderate the session called ‘An Innovation Economy: Opportunities for Smart Specialization in the Regions’. Participants of the meeting will include Pavel Grachev, Chief Executive Officer of Polyus; Aleksey Kozlov, Member of the Management Board and Managing Director of SIBUR; Mikhail Kotyukov, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation; Evgeniy Nikitin, Chief Executive Officer of the United Company RUSAL; Andrey Filatov, Chief Executive Officer of SAP CIS. Key topics for discussion at the session: What approach is used in Russia to provide state support for sectors of the economy? What methodology is used to select priorities for smart specialization and adapt it in Russia? What management system, mechanisms, tools and implementation procedures are needed at the federal level to implement smart specialization? Who should play the leading role in defining smart specializations – the state, regions or business? How should territorial support instruments correlate to the requirements of international organizations?

"Part of the transition to sustainable development is the implementation of plans in accordance with the strategy for Russia’s innovative development up to 2020. Introducing innovations in a timely fashion is a strategic task; our country’s competitiveness on the global arena in the near future depends on it," - notes EY’s CIS Managing Partner Alexander Ivlev.

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