"Russian Creative Week — 2025": visionaries design the economy of the future

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Today Russia needs high-quality industrial design more than ever. To replace imports, our products must be not only technologically advanced but also attractive to buyers. That is why industry leaders, such as the Rostec State Corporation, have actively taken up designing a wide range of products — from medical equipment and household appliances to furniture, cars and even spacecraft. At one of the key sessions of the Forum-Festival "Russian Creative Week" at the National Centre RUSSIA, participants discussed how creativity in design helps make products better for consumers and more competitive on the global market.

The plenary session "Russian Industrial Design as a New Philosophy of Success in the Manufacturing Sector" was opened by its moderator, Vitaly Stavitsky, President of the Union of Designers of Russia and academician of the National Academy of Design. He noted that Russia faces the challenge of protecting its sovereignty and that changes in the markets have created unprecedented opportunities to produce new domestic goods — competitive, high-tech, and contributing to strengthening national security of Russia.

Yelena Druzhinina, Managing Director for Science and Business Cooperation at the Rostec State Corporation, said: "Design is an integral part of research and development in manufacturing companies around the world. The role of industrial designers is to anticipate future trends, which is why building cooperation between the industrial sector and universities is essential. This will not only ensure the training of sought-after specialists but also improve project coordination, especially when working with interdisciplinary teams."

Yelena Ludis, Chief Designer of KAMAZ and member of the International Public Association "Union of Designers", also raised the issue of personnel. "The most important factor and the most important resource for us is people," she said.

According to her, design cannot exist without technology, and a team of engineers always works alongside the designer. At KAMAZ, they do not turn to design agencies for one reason — difficulties with copyright. Ludis explained that due to imperfect legislation it is hard to agree on intellectual property rights. Nevertheless, this does not prevent KAMAZ from carving out its own niches: from heavy engineering, including projects for Arctic exploration, to the production of electric buses and car-sharing vehicles for urban transport fleets.

State Duma Deputy, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, Denis Kravchenko, responded to Yelena Ludis’s request regarding copyright legislation.

"This is a very complex issue. Let us take a closer look and see what barriers we still face," the Deputy said to the car manufacturer’s representative.

"The adoption of the law on the creative industries is important in terms of the state recognising these crucial industries and sectors of economic activity, which we define as the ‘creative economy’. Our task now is to develop the regional track. So far, we have managed to secure this law’s adoption in about a third of the regions. I hope that in the end all regions will respond," said Denis Kravchenko. "The President of Russia directly emphasises the need to develop the creative industries, since they are based on added value and the results of intellectual activity. The next step should be to help shape the domestic market, and then to stimulate exports. And, of course, industrial design and other creative industries are the first candidates for export, as they allow a seamless transition and provide a way to circumvent sanctions, since they are the results of intellectual activity. Here it is important to find ways to support our market participants."

In the past, the prosperity of many regions depended mainly on the presence of large factories and natural resources. Now this model is changing. Modern creative people choose to live in comfortable cities that offer opportunities for self-fulfilment. Today, the key factor in territorial development is not the construction of new enterprises but the creation of an attractive, comfortable environment for human life — the so-called geographic magnet. The inflow of talent, in turn, revitalises the region’s economy. At the plenary session "New Scenarios for Territorial Development in the Era of the Creative Economy", experts in urban studies discussed the transformation of the urban environment and the creation of new public spaces — parks, coworking spaces and art centres to attract the creative class.

Yevgeny Grachev, Deputy Head of the Presidential Directorate for Domestic Policy of Russia, noted that Russian regions are actively engaging in this work, with regional and municipal authorities showing strong interest in developing the creative economy. At the same time, synergy between the authorities and representatives of the creative industries is crucial, so that growth is driven not only by creating new jobs, hosting various events and cultural programmes, but above all by rising wages.

"In my view, it is important to introduce elements related to the development of the creative economy into the training process for municipal leaders, because it is essential to focus their attention and show them the real benefits that can be gained from introducing and developing the creative economy in municipalities," said Yevgeny Grachev.

Marina Mongush, President of ANO "Creative Economy", Director of the forum-festival "Russian Creative Week" and of the National Award in the field of creative industries, said that for cities to develop in the era of the creative economy, everyone needs to become more creative — officials as well as managers.

"Because we must come up with unconventional solutions very quickly. But creativity alone is not enough. There is a second concept — the creative industries. At present, there are 16 of them under the law. These are the sectors in which the core is not raw materials but intellectual and creative property. There is also the concept of the creative economy. That is when all these 16 sectors generate revenue for our country, while also influencing traditional industries, tourism and agriculture, and generating their own creative wave. Right now, this accounts for around 4% of the country’s GDP," said Marina Mongush.

Yulia Talalaykina, Deputy Head of the Department of Strategic Projects of the Russian Ministry of Construction, pointed out that today everyone is talking about the impact of the environment on demography, on the creative class and on the formation of communities. According to her, before improving or comprehensively developing a territory, one must understand for whom and for what purpose this is being done — since the needs of society, both of residents and municipal leaders, have changed.

"People need different things now compared to the past; their demand for space has changed completely. There must be places where people can realise their potential. There must be venues for expositions, spaces where shows can be staged. This is a completely different demand. And this is the kind of awareness that a city mayor and his team must have," stressed Yulia Talalaykina.

Alexander Panin, Director of the Centre for Geodemography and Spatial Development of Lomonosov Moscow State University, is convinced that in such a vast country as Russia, space must be organised through the new economy.

"There is a single organism called the settlement system. And the new economy must also be considered in terms of its spatial distribution, as if it were a living organism," he said.

According to him, the main task is to develop the urban environment into local communities, as it was in Soviet times, while taking the best from the Soviet legacy.

"And I believe it is very important for us now to talk not only about the economy but also about how we will change the reputation of these localities and support this trend towards a new way of life, or, as we called it ten years ago, life between one home and another," stressed Alexander Panin.

Anton Finogenov, Vice-President of the "Russian Guild of Managers and Developers" and Deputy CEO of DOM.RF JSC, noted that a number of creative industries are primarily linked to manufacturing: from light industry to arms production. Therefore, as the share of creative industries grows, the very format of industry is changing.

"We need to think more deeply about the contours of a new state policy that will allow us to support the creative industries more effectively, given their huge potential and the demand from society. This is especially relevant for young people in small towns who are not ready to work in factories or in offices," said Anton Finogenov.

To foster innovation and develop domestic technologies, specialists are needed who can combine technical expertise with creative thinking — creative producers. They are the organisers of complex projects at the intersection of technology and creativity, such as video games, interactive services and media products. Their challenging task is to assemble and manage teams of specialists — programmers, designers, marketers — while also understanding how to use AI effectively and how to promote the finished product. How to train more engineers while also developing the creative sector, and how to quickly teach people the skills of creative producing, were the topics experts discussed at the session "Education for the Person of the AI Era: Potential for Developing the Creative Economy of the Future".

Alexander Zhuravsky, Deputy Head of the Presidential Directorate for Social Projects of the Russian Federation, stressed that innovation has always been and will always be part of our lives, and today AI is, for most young people, simply part of the learning process. At the same time, he warned against idealising artificial intelligence and trying to use it to replace value-based dimensions, personal interaction and mentorship.

"Existing inside a capsule-like social network of atomised presence, when you cannot see whom you are communicating with is a serious psychological problem. People have to be taught how to interact. Children do not know how to communicate, to express their views, they shift to quick insults, which in social networks have become the norm," he observed.

He also touched on the theme of values, saying that creative people build worlds, and it is important that constructive processes be guided by the right moral purpose.

Antony Shwindt, Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, reported that, on the instructions of the President of Russia, an education strategy is being developed, which addresses key challenges, including digital transformation and the accelerated introduction of artificial intelligence technologies.

"In this regard, we see risks for the development of thinking, including critical thinking in schools, and, of course, we see risks for personality formation as a whole," he stressed.

According to him, it is important in schools to assess not only final results — because cheating, copying answers from textbooks, or using AI as a prompter are all part of reality. What should be assessed is the process itself: observing how a pupil or student arrives at answers, monitoring the reasoning process. This makes it possible to understand whether certain skills have been formed.

Antony Shwindt also highlighted an interesting point: the study of the humanities stimulates leading abilities in those traditionally considered "techies".

"If we look at those we often cite as examples — Tupolev, Yakovlev and other inventors — they studied back in the Imperial School. And in the early 20th century, their education placed strong emphasis on the humanities and creative disciplines. This also played a major role in shaping these people as great designers," he emphasised.

According to the Deputy Head of the Secretariat, there is also a kind of reverse influence: today’s creative industries cannot exist without technical specialists, such as engineers. These professionals are just as essential for the creative sector.

Andrei Loginov, Rector of the Russian State University for the Humanities, said that he views creativity as a key competence and an essential component of any professional activity.

"In the medium term, the presence of a creative element will become a vital requirement. Otherwise, that specialist will be replaced by a robot or artificial intelligence," he noted, adding that the entire leitmotif of human progress has always been built on creativity.

The scientist also stressed that as the digital world advances rapidly, people must preserve their human essence.

Grigory Zaslavsky, Rector of the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS), highlighted the growing importance of the producer profession: "I once thought about what I have actually been doing at GITIS over the past few years — and it has been producing. And in fact, producing and the role of producer in theatre will, within the next three to five years, certainly become the leading activity and the key figure in both Russian and global theatre."

At the same time, he did not diminish the significance of acting and other theatrical professions and urged that, in the context of technological leadership and digital transformation, the classical elements of training — everything that makes Russian education strong — must be preserved.

Other participants in the dialogue supported the idea that the producer, as the central figure in managing creative industries, is of major importance.

The pressing issue of AI ethics and the transformation of many sectors under the influence of technology was also discussed at several events of the Russian Creative Week, including the panel discussion "Media Industry 2025–2035: A New Interface for Connecting with Reality" held the day before. Experts spoke about the increasingly blurred boundaries between the real and virtual worlds, the normalisation of personalised content, and neural networks adapting stories to each user’s preferences. These trends open up great opportunities for creativity, but at the same time they pose challenges.

Moderator of the discussion, Yulia Golubeva, Deputy CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding, summed up: "Having examined from many angles the trends and issues linked to competition for audience attention and time, the technological breakthroughs that are reshaping the media landscape, and the challenge of attracting and retaining young audiences, we identified the key factors that will shape the media industry over the next decade. These are multilingualism, changes in the demographic profile of audiences, and an ‘experts’ revolution’. I thank all participants in the discussion for their concern, openness, and the interesting thoughts and ideas that inspire me and that I will personally use in my work."

Modern technologies and the internet have also changed life beyond the cities. With the arrival of high-speed internet and good roads, creative people, IT specialists and entrepreneurs have begun to settle in the suburbs and rural areas. They bring with them new ideas and projects, building a new rural economy, advancing creative industries — design, media, tourism, digital projects — and thereby improving life. The theme of developing rural areas through creative industries was explored in depth at the session "Agrocreanomics. Rebooting Rural Areas and Agricultural Enterprises with the Tools of Creative Industries". Participants concluded that villages hold enormous potential, the realisation of which will help create an attractive environment for life and work.

Konstantin Abramov, CEO of the Public Opinion Research Support Foundation, noted that myths about rural areas — such as a lack of jobs, infrastructure or healthcare — are not always accurate and do not apply everywhere, and that such perceptions need to be dispelled. Today villages are being replenished by people who consciously choose to move there: some want to live away from the city and meditate, others have achieved good earnings and want to raise children in an environmentally friendly environment. All these categories of people, he said, must be taken into account when developing rural areas.

Acting Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Altai Republic, Irina Petrovskaya, began her speech by asking the audience what agrocreanomics means. In her view, using this term when seeing a village where unmanned robots herd cows and sheep, little machines deliver milk, take out rubbish or wash graffiti off the mountains left by tourists, is to act as a true trendsetter.

"The countryside feeds us. First and foremost, it is about the people who know rural areas and are able to use them to generate economic benefit. And the creative industries are the very tool that rural residents can use — by inventing new businesses, introducing technological and innovative solutions — to give the economy the chance to reach that very 6% of GDP," said Petrovskaya. She cited Altai as an example of a tourism-driven segment of the creative economy, where environmentally friendly products are created and there is a rich cultural legacy.

Daria Reshke, publisher of "Moskvichka" magazine and editor-in-chief of "Ogorod" magazine, explained how rural life has become fashionable. According to her, magazines about rural life are an example of the symbiosis between the agro-industrial complex and the creative industries. Thanks to fashion-inspired content — stylish pictures and trendy videos — young people are turning their attention to the countryside. This is the visual code that breaks down the very stereotypes mentioned by Konstantin Abramov.

Alexei Andreev, Managing Partner of Depot and Vice-President of the Association of Branding Companies of Russia (ABCR), who works on territorial and reputational branding, pointed out that it is especially difficult to develop territories that lack any historic or natural assets but have, for example, pastila or pine nuts from Siberian cedars. Gastronomic products are part of the cultural code. But they gain real value only when they become brands.

Entrepreneur and financier Natalia Voronkova, co-founder of the Ru.Location project, illustrated with the example of a museum created by locals based on Mikhail Sholokhov’s novel "And Quiet Flows the Don" that the same model — turning local assets into brands — also works for creating attractive locations.

"The main economic agents of agrocreanomics are not the state but the people," she concluded.

Alina Oblygina, Head of the Promote Abroad communications agency, gave examples of ways to attract people to rural areas: gastronomic, urban and music festivals, sports competitions, and an "agro-dictation" literacy challenge. "We use stereotypes, we play on the edge of these intersections, because that is exactly what draws people in," she noted.