New Economic Growth Drivers: How Digital Platforms Are Reshaping Areas of Life Around the World

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Digital platforms are transforming the global economy and changing all aspects of life. Russian and foreign experts discussed this topic in all its bearings during the Open Dialogue expert session "Digital Platforms as Drivers of New Economic Development". The event was hosted by the National Centre RUSSIA as part of Platform Economy Day on 11 November. The entrants presented the most successful strategies and shared experiences in enhancing platform model potential across the World Majority countries.

Session moderator Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office of Russia, emphasised that platform-based business models are emerging across all sectors. Besides that, he stated that platformisation represents the foundation of an economic revolution and a new stage in automating economic processes.

"Humanity in its development progressively follows the path of automation. Previous economic stages turned the human-nature interactions into production automation — by introducing machinery, equipment, and assembly lines that gradually enabled human transition from primary and secondary economic sectors. Platformisation automates not production processes but institutional processes — on the level of human-to-human interactions. Economic transactions through platforms become faster and more efficient, creating a new class of socio-economic organisers — digital platforms," Maxim Oreshkin explained.

Moscow, as one of the global digitalisation leaders, has been successfully implementing platform solutions in healthcare and education for several years. Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Social Development Anastasia Rakova spoke about Moscow's large-scale platformisation of social services and unified citizen service ecosystem. She identified three major platforms of a single digital system as key elements: healthcare, education, and social services. Anastasia Rakova stressed that digitalisation and platforms won't give the best result if the rules set for the platform do not correspond to actual practice.

"The crucial aspect here is that platform digitalisation must be accompanied by fundamental rethinking of traditional analog approaches to business processes. A good example is Moscow's Unified Radiology Centre, which receives real-time medical images from all city hospitals. We didn't just digitise images — we completely redesigned the workflow. This tripled result delivery speed from 24 hours to two hours, while the competence centre became a platform for AI development. Effective digital implementation would be impossible without such foundational restructuring," Rakova said.

Tatyana Kim, founder of Wildberries and head of the Wildberries and Russ united company, highlighted that marketplaces not only improve citizens' lives but also serve as unique elevators for entrepreneurs. She noted that they provide a rapid startup and easy scaling while providing direct access to multimillion audiences nationwide, and windows to international markets.

"Digital platforms' imput into economy is becoming increasingly substantial and structural. This trend is evident not only in Russia but across all countries with local marketplaces. Local cases are shifting international agendas and moving in unison. Another global trend is simplified access to international markets. Through marketplaces, companies can avoid complex market entry processes, as platforms provide ready-made sales infrastructure including payment processing, logistics, and marketing," Kim stated.

Africa CDC Chief Digital Advisor Jean-Philbert Nsengimana (Rwanda) shared Africa's digital health experience: "We represent 17% of global population at the same time having only 3% of healthcare workers, averaging one doctor per 5,000 people. Digital platforms aren't just optional — they're essential for maximum coverage. Their implementation has made African healthcare services more accessible. While healthcare remains heavily regulated, as it was stated here by our colleagues, so its development cannot proceed too rapidly, digitalisation accelerates and simplifies many processes. I'd like to mention Rwanda's decade-long innovation using drones for urgent medical deliveries, significantly reducing mortality in rural regions of Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya and others."

China Unicom's Chief Big Data Scientist Fan Jian spoke about China's digital platform infrastructure development and industrial platform solutions. He emphasized to the Open Dialogue participants that their development and stable operation require further continuous communication infrastructure development: "Since the digital economy emerged, we've been talking about the internet's crucial role — which means that we also have been talking about the need in reliable, scalable infrastructure which supports business models and prevents their failures. For telecom operators, this means networks ensuring connectivity and mobility: from 5G and fiber optics to data centres processing massive data. This includes software, data processing systems, and devices from phones and PCs to headsets and drones, including UAVs and Internet-connected vehicles. "It is precisely this infrastructure that forms the foundation of the digital economy, enabling the creation and development of business platforms for all industries — from primary production to processing," explained Fan Jian.

Using India as an example, former Director of Innovation for the government of Telangana State, Shanta Thoutam, shared her perspective on what state policy should entail. The objective is not only to ensure the efficient operation of major platforms but also to stimulate the emergence of new market players with high-quality innovative solutions.

"India's path of digital transformation is built on innovation, collaboration, and the advancement of digital technologies. Today, approximately one billion residents are already connected to the digital identification system. Over the past seven years, each of them has received a unique identification number, and now all transactions are conducted cashlessly and without paper. On the initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a digital mission was launched, aimed at inclusive development, expanding financial accessibility, and improving access to healthcare and education services <...> Local authorities created their own digital platforms, while the central government supported them, forming an ecosystem in which these services could operate securely with data and provide necessary services. This created additional opportunities: guarantees of data protection, secure work with data centres, and access to the digital interfaces necessary for their development," shared Shanta Thoutam.

Platform Economy Day was held in our country for the first time. Participants discussed how digital platforms and their ecosystems are becoming a new, effective tool in the global economy. The organisers of Platform Economy Day are the Presidential Executive Office of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, the National Centre RUSSIA, and the VEB.RF Corporation.