A discussion on the impact of science fiction on society’s technological expectations will be held at the National Centre RUSSIA

On May 21, the National Centre RUSSIA will launch the dialogues about the future, "Science Fiction as a Bridge between Science and Future‑making," a new project run jointly with the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.

These events will pave the way for the II International Symposium "Inventing the Future." The Symposium’s main theme is the synergy of science, technology and science fiction as a tool for collective future design. The dialogues on the future aim to keep the audience’s attention on the topic and enrich it with up‑to‑date meanings.

The project moderator will be Valery Fedorov, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Mass Communications at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation and Director General of VCIOM.

The first discussion will focus on how science fiction shapes society’s expectations of technology and stimulates scientific and technological initiatives. The audience will discover how writers, through stories and visual images, succeed in drafting positive scenarios for society’s development.

Speakers of the event:

— science‑fiction writer, member of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation and of the board of the Union of Writers of Russia, Sergei Lukyanenko;

— doctor of Physics and Mathematics, Head of the Nanobiotechnology Laboratory at MIPT, Head of the "Nanobiomedicine" programme at Sirius University and winner of the Presidential Prize of the Russian Federation in Science and Innovation for Young Scientists, Maxim Nikitin.

The meeting begins at 19:00. Full details are available on the National Centre RUSSIA website in the "Events" section.