Best essayists of the II Open Dialogue announced

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On 28 April, at the National Centre RUSSIA, within the framework of the II Open Dialogue "The Future of the World. A New Platform for Global Growth", the best essayists were announced. They have presented ideas on key directions for global economic development and new formats for global cooperation. Their proposals cover a wide range of topics — from human capital development to digital sovereignty, technology, and a sustainable environment — forming a cohesive vision of the future of the world amidst global changes.

The second day of the II Open Dialogue "The Future of the World. A New Platform for Global Growth" was intense and vibrant. During the official opening, the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, addressed the participants.

"The contest for essays and creative works saw participation from experts, business leaders, and scientists from 120 countries, including Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Australia, North and South America. All the authors and researchers, with their varied backgrounds and views, were united by a strong and bold idea: to form a common understanding of the future — the future of a world that has entered an era of profound, structural changes <...> It is obvious: no country can develop alone — at the expense of other states or to their detriment. Furthermore, modern global challenges require a joint response and united efforts. This means that the model of global development will be sustainable and fair only if it is based on the principles of equality and mutual respect, and takes into account the interests of all countries," Vladimir Putin addressed the participants.

According to the Russian leader, a complex, multipolar architecture of global development is forming before our eyes. An increasingly important role is played by states that truly understand and value the importance of national sovereignty in the political, economic, cultural, and social spheres, and can determine their own development vector based on their own values, resources, priorities, identity, and sovereign worldview.

As part of the second day of the Open Dialogue, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office of the Russian Federation and Deputy Chairman of the National Centre RUSSIA Organising Committee, Maxim Oreshkin, spoke about the megatrends determining the future of the world. The first is related to the changing global geoeconomic picture. The second is demographics, and the third trend is technological.

"The world is changing, and this process is inevitable. The basis of these changes is the transformation of the global economic structure. We see how centres of not only economic growth but also economic activity have shifted to the BRICS countries. Technology, finance, trade — all of this will be more closely linked to the BRICS nations. The development of the BRICS economies, their connectivity, and the new technological solutions that will emerge within them — this is the face of the world of the future," said Maxim Oreshkin.

According to him, sovereignty is becoming a key factor in future development, and the world is transitioning to a multipolar system with an increased role for BRICS countries and a redistribution of economic growth centres. He also pointed to the rapid growth of investment in artificial intelligence, which is already being actively applied in management and healthcare, including early disease risk detection. According to him, the development of AI and digital platforms is leading to the formation of a new economic model — platformisation — where transaction costs are reduced and markets and institutions are transformed.

During the day, pitching sessions were held across four areas: "Investments in Human Capital", "Investments in Connectivity", "Investments in Technology", and "Investments in Environment". Four authors had been selected for each of these vectors the day before, and on 28 April, the best among them were determined.

Thus, in the "Investments in Human Capital" track, the winner was Lubinda Haabazoka, an economist and Director of the Graduate School of Business at the University of Zambia, who proposed viewing education as the key to real cooperation and human capital development within the BRICS format. Serving as an expert in this session was Dr Selina Neri, co-founder, Director General, and Dean of the Future Readiness Academy (UAE) and visiting professor at the SKOLKOVO School of Management. She noted that investments in people are impossible without investments in those who teach and guide others.

"Teachers, mentors, and professors change our lives. As a lecturer, I use AI myself, but I will never hand over the most important thing to it — live interaction and those moments that change the trajectory of my students. The future of labour and education must be created together — by teachers and students, employers and young specialists," said Dr Selina Neri.

The winner in the "Investments in Connectivity" category was Solomon Gardie, a postgraduate student at Addis Ababa University from Ethiopia. During his presentation, he called digital data "the gold of our time" and outlined a new challenge facing the countries of the Global South today. For instance, data generated on their territory is processed outside of it, and countries do not receive a fair share of this resource.

The economist at the TALAP Centre for Applied Research (Kazakhstan), Rakhim Oshakbayev, served as an expert and jury member for the "Investments in Connectivity" track. He admitted that many of his colleagues' essays were imbued with "starry-eyed optimism" and a belief in universal unity.

"When we invest in connectivity, we must first look at its resilience: whether it can withstand the blows that are undoubtedly already being dealt and will continue to be dealt. Therefore, the main rule of survival is the availability of an alternative, not efficiency. We must adhere to an 'armour architecture' that includes four main aspects: self-sufficiency of infrastructure connectivity, digital sovereignty, secure transactions, as well as redundancy and overcapacity," noted Rakhim Oshakbayev.

Aya Arfaoui, a student at Mohammed V University of Rabat from Morocco, was named the winner of the "Investments in Technology" track. She raised the issue of the digital sovereignty of developing countries. According to her, international institutions do not grant sufficient influence in regulating the digital space, while decisions are increasingly being made by algorithms.

Alexey Shpilman, Director of AI Technology Development at T-Technologies, who served as an expert in the session, spoke about how artificial intelligence and agent systems are capable of transforming business processes: they accelerate the implementation of ideas — from startups to large-scale corporate projects — and generally change the rules of the game in the field of technological innovation.

"To implement AI, many processes need to be restructured, and no one wants that. It is often treated as just another tool to be integrated into existing systems and managed in the same way as other tools. This slows down transformation, although the effect of full implementation can be immense: for example, a task that previously took three days is completed in 20 minutes," said Alexey Shpilman.

In the "Investments in Environment" category, Soumya Bhowmick, a researcher at the Observer Research Foundation from India, was chosen as the winner. He believes that for almost 100 years the world has been occupied with measuring GDP, which says nothing about the real wealth of nations. He compared the economy to a "wedding cake", in which GDP is merely the beautiful topping, beneath which human, natural, and physical capital are hidden. According to the speaker, it is long overdue to include these in the primary indicators of well-being and prosperity.

James Law (China), the founder and Director General of Cybertecture, served as the lead expert for the final pitchings dedicated to the living environment and its impact on human well-being and overall economic productivity. Summarising the "seventeen wonderful ideas" presented during the pitches, he figuratively noted that the environment plays the role of a canvas on which each of us can paint a picture of an amazing future.

On 29 April, within the framework of the II Open Dialogue at the National Centre RUSSIA, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office, Maxim Oreshkin, will hold a youth meeting titled OD Campfire, followed by the final epilogue.

The Open Dialogue "The Future of the World. A New Platform for Global Growth" is an international project where experts from around the world discuss the development of the global economy. The initiative is aimed at forming a new global growth model and brings together participants from various countries for an open exchange of ideas and the development of solutions. The Open Dialogue unites more than 3,000 authors and experts from over 120 countries.