Results of The Open Innovations Forum 2020

MOSCOW, Oct. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The ninth International Open Innovations Forum for innovational development is the main Russian event in the field of technological entrepreneurship. For three days there were 107 sessions with 448 speakers from 33 countries and people from 130 countries joined the livestreams.

The theme of the Forum 2020 was "New Digital Normal. Are we ready for the changed world?". The speakers discussed the impact of social and economic isolation during the pandemic on technology development in the post-COVID world. The main plenary session started with a video message by Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin. He noted that COVID-19 has hit everyone, and each country has chosen its own way of restoring the affected economy. But, he stated, the consequences would have been more severe if not for the program of mass digitalization in Russia. Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev said that the state should expand support for IT business and institutions. Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea Chung Sye-kyun said that the Korean response to the current crisis was the update of the National Development Strategy — the so-called "New Digital Policy", which includes the transformation of all spheres of life and solving the problem of digital inequality. The Chairman of the Board of Directors of Skolkovo Foundation Victor Vekselberg said that in the post-pandemic world digital technologies will take a leading role — not only in educational or social spheres, but also in our everyday life.  

Speakers who have already become market leaders and experts have also noted the importance of IT development. Vice-President of Google Meir Brand talked about the importance of supporting small and medium businesses to survive in the changed world. Claire Vishik, GMT CTO at Intel, spoked about artificial intelligence. She said that it won't replace the human brain and that it should exist in the concept of cooperation, not confrontation. General Manager at Spotify Russia and CIS Ilia Alekseev forecasted the growing popularity of audio as a form of communication. According to Jayshree Seth, 3M corporate scientist, today's science and its ability to deal with challenges is coming to the fore: "More and more people believe in science; there are fewer skeptics. 92% of those surveyed said that it is necessary to use all the achievements of science to defeat the pandemic." Michael Kremer, professor at University of Chicago and Nobel Laureate 2019, said that the pandemic did not stop globalization, on the contrary, people began to feel the benefits of unity and solidarity even more: "We have created a global digital communication network. Crises have historically helped to grow rapidly. Yes, their consequences are negative, but technology always takes a step forward."

All speech recordings can be found on the website: openinnovations.ru/en.  

SOURCE Skolkovo Foundation

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https://openinnovations.ru/en/