Lectures, debates and robots: more than 20 events will be held on the first day of the Symposium "Inventing the Future"
On 7 – 8 October, the II International Symposium "Inventing the Future" will be held at the National Centre Russia. This event is the main platform for joint design of positive scenarios for the development of the future and their visualization. It will bring together participants from 85 countries and all regions of Russia. The Symposium is held under the auspices of the Decade of Science and Technology, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.
The programme of the first day of the Symposium, which will be officially opened by Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation, will feature more than 20 events, including panel discussions, lectures, a scenario workshop, master classes, and audience-voted debates. The organizers brought together the experts from all over the world. These professionals are ready to share their theses regarding the future and take part in the joint formation of forecasts. Based on these discussions, visualizations made with the help of modern artificial intelligence technologies will be prepared and presented to a wide audience.
The Symposium offers expert and open programmes. The rich expert programme is divided into three tracks — "Society", "Technology" and "Global Cooperation", which are focused on discussing the transformation of society, current technological innovations, and vectors of humanitarian interaction in a multipolar world.
The track "Society" is dedicated to society, its image and transformations in various fields. On 7 October, leading minds from different countries will: consider five scenarios for the future, each of which suggests its own answer to the question of the country's priorities; discuss the main trends in the development of the most important areas of life in both the Russian society and the world; address the settling system of the future, best practices for creating social innovations, foreign and Russian practices for creating visual code. Science fiction writers, futurologists, researchers and representatives of creative industries will gather at round tables in the scenario workshop to imagine the "world of tomorrow" together. As a result of the session, a bank of ideas with scenarios for the future will appear, which will become the basis for the further visualization.
Key applied innovations, which shape the future here and now, will be discussed within the framework of the "Technology" track. Among the topics scheduled for addressing on 7 October are artificial intelligence, which is becoming the infrastructure of the future world, and materials of the future, from self-healing coatings to graphene, which can make objects invisible.
The "Global Cooperation" track will focus on the presentation of initiatives and the search for new solutions in the field of humanitarian cooperation. As part of this track, a panel discussion "Russia and Africa in 2063" will be held on 7 October. In an equal dialogue, the parties will be able to express their vision, and jointly form an image of the future reflecting the ideals and interests of both sides.
The open educational programme on 7 October will include discussions and lectures on the use of technology in the art objects creation, technological trends of the future, and the revival of the values of a creative society. At the round table "Through the Eyes of the South: The Trajectory of Creative Cooperation", Russian and foreign experts are planning to work out a roadmap for the cooperation development with the help of the creative industries as a space where new meanings, trust and sustainable partnerships are created. During the "Protocol or Creative?" debate, diplomatic corps representatives with different experiences will discuss topical issues of world politics, share their views and arguments, and the winner will be determined by the audience via open vote.
The central event of the educational programme will be an open lecture hall featuring famous Russian and foreign visionaries, scientists, designers and representatives of creative industries. Among them are: James Lowe, architect, founder and CEO of James Law Cybertecture; Vladimir Pirozhkov, industrial designer, futurist, director of the "Sber" Design Laboratory; Arseniy Popov, theatre and film actor, TV presenter, improviser; Rodrigo Andres Quevedo Silva, chairman of the Chilean Robotics Association. The experts will describe one day of the man of the future, and offer their vision of what housing, transport, leisure, food, and much more, may be. The format assumes that each of the experts will present their own point of view on one of these topics. Listeners will be able to vote for the idea they like the most.
Registration for the open programme events is available on the website.
Special formats related to the topic of the future will be a bright part of the Symposium. On 7 October, a section "Media of the Future" was included into the programme. There, the panelists will discuss business models and the economics of media, education for journalists and new training formats, futuristic scenarios, and much more. Another bright event, the All-Russian quiz "History of the Future: Science Fiction Technologies", will be held for schoolchildren and students. At the end of the Symposium's first day, the Award Ceremony will be held for the winners of the All-Russian Science Fiction Literary Prize. It will be conducted by Natalia Virtuozova, Director General of the National Centre RUSSIA; Nikolai Ivanov, Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the Board of the All-Russian Public Organization "Union of Writers of Russia"; Karen Shakhnazarov, film director, screenwriter, film producer, and Roberto Quaglia, science fiction writer from Italy.
A showcase of robotics will be open at the site throughout the day. The guests will see a robot artist who brings the ever-evolving vision of the future on paper, and tricks performed by a robo-dog and a robo-cat, and will have a chance to talk with a humanoid robot Ardi, as well as play drone basketball and drone football.
Dmitry Kondrashin, gastronomic enthusiast, specialist in food fermentation, brand chef of a chain of gastrobars in Moscow, and Vitaly Zhinko, bartender, mixologist with rich professional experience and many achievements in the hospitality industry, will hold a master class in the Gastronomic Rows area. They will cook dishes and drinks that supplement them, thus showing current gastronomic pairs of tastes, and will talk about the food of the future, ancient recipes, and unique products that can only be found in Russia Also, they will touch upon combining bold fantasies and technological progress. Robot waiters will serve and offer dishes and drinks to the guests.
The International Symposium "Inventing the Future" is organized on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin under the auspices of the Decade of Science and Technology, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. The analytical partner is the VTsIOM Analytical Centre. The literary partner is Eksmo-AST Publishing Group.
