Digitalisation meant for people: results of the "Digital Solutions" forum

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All high-tech sectors of the Russian economy were discussed at the venue of the National Centre RUSSIA from 12 to 15 November during the main IT forum titled "Digital Solutions". Over the four days, it was attended by more than fifteen thousand people, with nearly seven hundred speakers participating in more than one hundred sessions, and 110 hours of live streamed content were available to online viewers.

The business programme of the event was opened by the main plenary session with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. The Prime Minister emphasised the significant role of the IT industry in the development of Russia's economy: the contribution of accredited IT companies to the country's GDP is 6%, and the contribution of software development companies to Russia's GDP is 2.4%. Furthermore, according to Mikhail Mishustin, the industry's growth rate has almost doubled over the past five years. Additionally, the head of the Government spoke about the unprecedented support provided by the state to the high-tech sector, including preferential lending and a zero percent tax on profits from the sale of domestic software.

The first day of the forum also featured the official award ceremony for the "Digital Solutions" national award, which honoured the best IT products developed and implemented by domestic companies across various fields. Among the winning projects were advanced office software, high-precision AI for diagnosing pathologies in the brains of newborns, domestic communication base stations, a standard information security solution for working with biometrics, and much more. The awards were presented by Dmitry Grigorenko, Deputy Prime Minister overseeing digitalization, Chief of the Government Staff.

"The IT industry is growing rapidly, both in the number of employed specialists and in the number of services and amenities accessible to Russians in just a few clicks. To date, we possess our own national messenger and a global search engine, the largest online marketplaces, advanced software for office and industrial tasks, communication base stations, and information protection systems ensuring the data security for the state, businesses, and individual citizens. Our results confirm that digitalisation is valuable not in itself, but in how effectively it solves real problems and makes human life better and easier. This understanding is taken into account by us when developing and implementing IT products, both at the federal and regional levels," stated Dmitry Grigorenko.

Throughout all four days of the forum, active discussions took place, addressing the challenges and tasks for the IT industry, and regions leading in digital transformation were honoured with awards from the Russian Ministry of Digital Development. Thematic sessions covered eight key areas of the IT sphere, from Russian hardware and artificial intelligence to biometric services and public services, which can now be accessed even from space.

The key themes for Business Day on 13 November included the distribution of responsibility for the development and implementation of technologies between the IT industry and the state, the protection of user and corporate data in the era of artificial intelligence and big data, and the advisability of implementing AI in work and daily processes. During the Day's plenary session, Dmitry Grigorenko emphasised that the introduction of AI must be justified and have measurable results. He cited examples of the successful application of artificial intelligence in public administration. For instance, the Government Staff, will soon use the technology to optimise the processing of legal documents, and today AI already helps analyse the implementation of national goals, national projects and state programmes, predicting deviations in their execution. On 13 November, the business programme also touched upon the historical tension between IT and information security, the establishment of the domestic game development market, and the development of the platform economy with prospects for export.

The plenary session on 14 November focused on the digital transformation of regions. The discussion was moderated by Maksut Shadayev, Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation. Representatives of regional authorities emphasised that the active development and implementation of advanced solutions for each region is already underway across the country: from food delivery services using drones to professional development programmes in the field of AI for computer science teachers. Further directions for work were also outlined, including the creation of data processing centres in the regions, the digitalisation of housing and communal services and the construction industry, as well as the need to reduce reporting burdens and their transition to a digital format based on unified domestic systems. Concluding the plenary session, the head of the Russian Ministry of Digital Development awarded regions for the best digital practices. Certificates of honour were awarded to Tver and Ryazan regions, the Republics of Sakha (Yakutia) and Tatarstan, and Moscow.

On 15 November, the final day of the forum, the Day of User was held. Sessions and discussions addressed issues of increasing trust in artificial intelligence, the impact of the creative economy on innovation development and the formation of national identity, as well as the synergy between business and the state in combating cyber fraud.

For all four days, the forum hosted an exposition which showcased the best digital solutions from 29 leading IT companies of the country; the exposition area was more than two thousand square metres. Mikhail Mishustin, Dmitry Grigorenko, Maksut Shadayev and other visitors to the exposition examined the advanced developments in the field of cybersecurity, tested AI agents and the 5G internet standard based on a domestic cell site, and took a walk through the virtual streets of Moscow's digital twin.

The "Digital Solutions" forum is planned to become an annual event.