Challenges and opportunities for the society of the future were discussed at the National Centre Russia

On June 26, the National Centre RUSSIA hosted a meeting of moderators of the track "Society", which is to be presented at the 2nd International Symposium "Inventing the Future", which will be held on October 7 to 8. The symposium will be a part of the large-scale work of the National Centre RUSSIA regarding design of the future; also, it will be a platform for practical implementation of strategic national priorities, as well as for showcasing the scientific and technical potential of our country.

The track "Society" of the Symposium will be devoted to the society of the future, its image and transformations in various spheres. It will be based on such topics as demography, intergenerational relations, social architecture and culture. In total, the program of the symposium "Inventing the Future" will include four tracks: "Technologies", "Content about the Future", "Society" and "Global Cooperation".

An important difference between the Symposium-2025, and the last year's first event will be a division of the program into an expert one, and an educational part for a wide audience, said Alexander Molchanov, Deputy Director General for Development and External Relations of the autonomous non-profit organization "Directorate of the Exposition of Achievements "Russia".

Photo: Press Office of the National Centre RUSSIA

One of the practical results of the international Symposium will be analytical materials which will combine the key forecasts of the experts and participants, said Valery Fedorov, a moderator of the meeting, Director General of VTsIOM.

"We are planning to make out of the results of the Symposium a rich content material with meaningful ideas about the future. We are in a big need of such materials. We have already sparked in people interest in the future, but now we need to understand what kind of future we want to see. Speaking of "Society" track, we want to focus on four important topics: "The Future of Cities," "Demography," "Social Architecture," and "Culture," said Valery Fedorov.

Photo: Press Office of the National Centre RUSSIA

The expert added that the upcoming Symposium should become a platform for both the presentation of projects, and their launch. A new, inter-domain, interdisciplinary approach to the work on inventing the future should play a separate role, due to which the challenges of one social sphere can be considered by experts from a completely opposite industry.

According to a research director of the “Sociosoft” project, fiction theorist and publicist Sergei Pereslegin, demography is the most interesting topic of the track "Society". The expert is sure that today demography is inextricably linked with artificial intelligence, when systems are already part of society and influence it, which means that the new generation, which grew up in the era of artificial intelligence, will be different.

As Igor Zadorin, a sociologist and head of “CIRCON” research group, added, intergenerational relations should also be looked at through the formation of a new bioethics and through the attitude to the possibilities of modifying the human body.

The meeting was also attended by: Alexander Panin, Director of Centre for Geodemography and Spatial Development of Lomonosov Moscow State University, head of "Cartfond" Research Centre, a economic geographer; Sergey Zhuravlev, Project Manager of Centre for Urban Studies of the business school "SKOLKOVO"; Evgeny Kuznetsov, a futurologist, a co-founder of the “Orbita” venture fund; Danila Medvedev, a futurologist, a public figure, popularizer of science, etc.

During the meeting, the future moderators of the track also discussed new formats of inventing the future - from panel discussions to an open dialogue with young people, which will find their embodiment in the program of Symposium-2025. The open part of the upcoming event will be available not only to representatives of the expert community, but also to active citizens interested in the future of Russia, as well as young people.