Representatives from almost 80 countries confirmed for the II International Symposium "Inventing the Future"

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Scientists, architects, designers and artists from nearly 80 countries will take part in the II International Symposium "Inventing the Future", which will be held on 7–8 October in Moscow at the National Centre RUSSIA. The event will bring together more than 7,000 participants and feature 200 Russian and international speakers. Experts from China, the United States, Italy, Latin American countries, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa will share their perspectives. The Symposium is held under the auspices of the Decade of Science and Technology in Russia with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.

The programme of the Symposium includes about 50 events: panel discussions, lectures, a strategic session, a project laboratory, a scenario workshop, masterclasses, debates with audience voting and more. Participants will discuss trends in the development of public spaces, visual codes and universal values that shape the outlines of the future, taking into account contemporary technological and humanitarian discoveries and concepts.

Confirmed participants include: Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office of Russia; Alexander Kharichev, Chief of the Presidential Directorate for Monitoring and Analysis of Social Processes; Artyom Metelev, Chair of the State Duma Committee on Youth Policy; Maria Zakharova, Director of the Information and Press Department and Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; Alexander Alimov, Director of the Department for Multilateral Humanitarian Cooperation and Cultural Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; Stepan Kalmykov, Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Sergei Kuznetsov, Chief Architect of Moscow; Valery Fedorov, Director General of the VCIOM Analytical Centr; Alexei Goreslavsky, Director General of ANO "Internet Development Institute"; Vladimir Tabak, Director General of ANO "Dialogue"; and others.

The international experts include: Pierre-Christian Brochet (France), collector and organiser of contemporary art expositions; Rasigan Maharajh (South Africa), Director General of Tshwane University of Technology and member of the Academy of Science of South Africa; Vicensia Shule (Tanzania), Senior Culture Officer at the Department of Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development of the African Union Commission and Officer at the African Academy of Languages (ACALAN); Joaquin Fargas (Argentina), artist-engineer, Director of the Latin American Bioart Laboratory (UAI), the Centre for Experimental Art and former Executive Director of the UNESCO Network; Roberto Quaglia (Italy), science fiction writer; James Law (China), architect, founder and CEO of James Law Cybertecture; and others.

The expert programme is structured into three tracks — Society, Technology and Global Cooperation — focusing on the transformation of society, current technological innovations, and directions of humanitarian cooperation in a multipolar world.

The Society track, co-organised by the VCIOM Analytical Centre, is devoted to society, its image and transformations in various spheres. Leading minds from different countries will discuss overcoming the global demographic crisis, the opportunities and challenges of urbanisation, the future of culture and the impact of social architecture on society, changes in the labour market, prospects for cooperation between cities and corporations, and both international and Russian practices of creating visual codes.

Key applied innovations shaping the future here and now will be discussed within the Technology track. Topics include the biotechnologies of the future — from organ printing to DNA editing, new materials of the future, the digital cosmos, and the introduction of artificial intelligence.

The Global Cooperation track will focus on presenting initiatives and seeking new solutions in the field of humanitarian cooperation. It will explore meanings and values capable of uniting humanity, the image of global cooperation, and the interaction of individual countries — in particular, Russia and Africa — as well as the vision of a shared future for Russia and the Global South through megaprojects and more.

Events of the open programme will also play a major role. Multidisciplinary lectures, debates, case studies and other formats are designed to bring together experts and the wider public in the process of shaping the future. Topics will include strategic foresight, design and art as tools for creating the environment. The programme will also address food, restaurants, cinema and other aspects of life in the context of the future.

The open programme will feature the discussion "Design Today — Future Tomorrow", where participants will explore the design code of the future. The round table "Through the Eyes of the South: The Trajectory of Creative Cooperation" will bring together Russian and international experts to develop a roadmap for advancing cooperation through the creative industries as a space for generating new meanings, trust and sustainable partnerships. A true battle of ideas will unfold during the session "Debates: Techno-optimism vs Techno-pessimism".

The central event will be an open lecture hall with well-known Russian and international visionaries, scientists, designers and representatives of the creative industries. Experts will describe a day in the life of a person of the future and suggest how housing, transport, leisure, food and more might look. The format assumes that each expert will present their own perspective on one of these topics, with the audience able to vote for the ideas they find most compelling.

Special formats related to the theme of the future will add a distinctive touch to the Symposium. The programme will include a hackathon for the "First Neurocontent Cup" project, where teams will compete in creating videos using neural networks on the theme "The Russia of the Future is…". The quest "Bridge to Tomorrow: The Voice of a Generation" will give young Artek participants a space to present their vision of the future. Another event will be the nationwide quiz "History of the Future: The Technologies of Science Fiction" for schoolchildren and students. The Symposium will also host the award ceremony for the winners of the Russian Science Fiction Literary Award.

The International Symposium "Inventing the Future" is organised at the instruction of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, under the auspices of the Decade of Science and Technology in Russia, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. The analytical partner is the Analytical Centre VCIOM. The literary partner is Eksmo-AST Publishing Group.