"Russian Creative Week-2025": How creative industries are becoming the foundation of a value-based economy

In just three days, on 25 - 27 September, the Forum-festival "Russian Creative Week" will begin at the National Centre RUSSIA in Moscow. The "Russian Creative Week" is the main event for the creative economy of Russia. It is a visionary platform where laws are born, trends are formed, and strategies for the years ahead are written. Architects, town planners, designers, IT leaders rule here together with representatives of government and industry.

The creative economy encompasses 16 branches stipulated by law: IT, design, architecture, advertising, gastronomy, fashion, cinema, music, literature. They all have one feature in common: their product is not raw materials, but intelligence. These industries are growing four times faster. The goal set for them is that creativity should account for 6% of each region's GRP by 2030. This is a strategy that is being formed in the Government, approved by an order, and implemented locally.

This year, the "Russian Creative Week" has become even bigger. The Forum has expanded its geography — now it takes place in two capitals: first in Moscow, and then on 28 - 29 September — in St. Petersburg.

The main plenary session titled "The Visionary State: a New Philosophy of Intellectual and Creative Leadership in Russia" will be the central event of the Forum. The plenary session will shape the philosophy of the new Russian model: an economy in which the main capital is meanings, and the main resource is talent shown in all parts of the country. We will discuss how creativity becomes the foundation of sovereign development, and how the creative class becomes a partner of the state while building a future based on our values, our rules, and our territories.

This is not a trend, but a strategy for decades to come. More than 80 events and 550 speakers from 7 countries are all part of the impetus that is launching new trends and shaping strategies.

The programme is divided into three key blocks:

1. A value-based economy until the year 2035. It discusses not just business models, but a new philosophy of development. How to introduce creativity into the industry? How to make the city comfortable not only for living, but also for creativity? At the sessions, experts will discuss Russian industrial design, Integrated production for the regions, and the synergy of creative industries with the SCO. The main session "Integrated Production for the Regions: Value-Based Approaches in Regional Development Strategies" will be held in the course of the track. Speakers will discuss mechanisms for integrating creative industries into regional policy: from the analysis of the potential and strategy formation to the implementation of projects that increase the attractiveness of territories, the trust of citizens and the quality of life.

Special attention will be paid to the tools of interaction between government, business and the creative community as a key condition of sustainable and value-oriented growth in the regions of Russia.

2. Spatial development: from a megalopolis to a small town. Architecture, town planning, visual art — all this is becoming a tool for the transformation of territories.

Participants will discuss how to “reboot” rural areas with the help of creative industries, why small towns can become centres of attraction, and how high-speed transport arteries are becoming drivers of creative growth.

3. A creative person is the foundation of the economy of the future. It's about staff training, education in the age of AI, and new roles of a creative producer. What skills will be in demand in 2035? How does the symbiosis of tradition and technology create a new cultural code? These questions will be answered by the speakers atof the session.

The EXPO show is a centre of attraction, and is a conceptual space where the regions of Russia will show how creative industries are changing cities, economies and people's lives.

22 participants from 9 regions will present their achievements using more than 80 art objects: from author's nesting dolls to aluminum sculptures, a figure of a "creative leader" who transforms his city for the better, and an art object presenting an image of the industrial design.

In the centre of the EXPO there will be a four-meter high "Seed", a symbol of the Creative Industries National Award. This art object will become not just a decoration, but a living embodiment of the great path the creanomics have gone: from ideas to real changes. The "Seed" is a metaphor for growth, potential, and the beginning of a new stage of development.

One of the most important elements will be the situation centre, embodying a "pulse" of the "Russian Creative Week" — 12 screens, more than 250 analytical data sources, and the creative economy in figures and facts. It's not just statistics. This is a live map of creative Russia, where each figure is a story about people, projects and regions.

And finally, the Day of Creative Entrepreneurship will feature a special programme for those who want to start or develop their business in the creative field. The programme will include 5 sessions, 20 speakers, and a market for young entrepreneurs. It will be a place where beginning entrepreneurs can find investors and like-minded people.

The business programme of the "Russian Creative Week" will feature: Sergei Novikov, Chief of the Presidential Directorate for Social Projects; Tatiana Ilyushnikova, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation; Vasily Osmakov, First Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation; Olga Petrova, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation; Denis Kravchenko, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications; Natalia Popova, First Deputy Director General of the non-governmental Institute for the Development "Innopraktika"; Mikhail Kotyukov, Governor of the Krasnoyarsk region; Dmitry Milyaev, Governor of the Tula region; Artyom Zdunov, Head of the Republic of Mordovia; Alexei Goreslavsky, Director General of the Autonomous Non-Governmental Organization "Institute for the Development of the Internet (IRI)", Roman Karmanov, Director General of PFKI; Anita Tsoi, singer, Director of the Institute of Creative Industries at Don State Technical University (DSTU); Alexander Vaino, Director of the "Young Professionals" division at the Agency for Strategic Initiatives for the Promotion of New Projects (ASI); Yelena Druzhinina, Managing Director for Science and Business Cooperation at "Rostech" State Corporation; Alexander Kalinin, President of the All-Russian Public Organization of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises business "OPORA RUSSIA"; Konstantin Mayor, Director General of "MAER" Media Holding; Alexander Kim, Rector of the SKOLKOVO Moscow School of Management; Yegor Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky, film director; Sofia Ernst, actress; Pelageya, singer, educator; Tatiana Kurtukova, singer, actress; and other industry representatives.