Media, sports, culture and arts stars to speak at the III International Symposium "Inventing the Future"

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On 12–13 November, the National Centre RUSSIA will become a place where new meanings take shape as it hosts the III International Symposium "Inventing the Future". The event will bring together more than 7,000 people from 107 countries. Its speakers will include renowned musicians, writers, bloggers, athletes and designers. Two days, dozens of different formats and an opportunity to hear in person from people whose names are familiar to audiences around the world. Register at future.russia.ru and join us in helping shape the future alongside these outstanding figures.

The Symposium programme will feature the National Centre RUSSIA's own Open Lecture Hall project, which was first held on 7 February 2026. The project aims to bring together leading experts from Russia and around the world to develop positive scenarios for the future and foster dialogue among professionals from different fields. The theme of the Open Lecture Hall during the Symposium will be "The Boldness to Create: What Drives a Person towards a Dream?" Participants will share how they have worked towards their goals and where they have found inspiration.

The Open Lecture Hall will feature business speaker, life coach and author Irina Khakamada. In a discussion entitled "Finding Your Own Path: The Courage to Be Yourself", she will offer advice on how to turn shortcomings into unique strengths, mistakes into opportunities for growth, and vulnerability into a powerful tool of influence. The conversation will explore how a sense of inner freedom can open the way to a happier future.

Another Lecture Hall speaker will be Chinese couturier Guo Pei, founder of Rose Studio and the Guo Pei haute couture fashion house. She will share her vision of art and invite audiences to look at everyday life from a different perspective. According to her, it is the ordinary experiences and things that often serve as gateways to creativity and inspiration.

The theme of art in the digital age will be explored by theatre and film actor, Golden Eagle and Kinotavr award winner Pavel Derevyanko, and writer, screenwriter, columnist and strategic communications expert Alexander Tsypkin. Their discussion will be of interest to anyone wondering how, in an age of short attention spans, to create projects that will not disappear into the digital noise but instead make people cry, laugh and empathise. Together with the speakers, participants will consider which values will come to the fore in the future and what creators of media content should take into account today.

The Open Lecture Hall will also offer audiences the chance to meet renowned athletes: three-time Olympic champion in synchronised swimming, Head of the Russian Theatre on Water and member of the Moscow City Duma Maria Kiseleva, and African record holder and champion in sprint, two-time Diamond League winner and the fastest man in history Ferdinand Omanyala from Kenya. The champions will discuss how the demands placed on athletes' reaction times, endurance and cognitive abilities are changing in the digital age, what new sports may emerge in the near future, and what humanity needs to do today to meet the future healthy and full of energy.

The Open Lecture Hall will conclude with a session entitled "The Courage to Remember: How Traditions Become the Language of the Future", featuring AY YOLA, a musical trio from Bashkortostan. The band works in the ethno music genre and draws inspiration from the ancient epic Ural-Batyr, bringing thousand-year-old motifs to life in songs that sound as though they were written today. The discussion, based on the intersection of the old and new, will explore why it is important to remember our roots in an era of globalisation and how cultural legacy can become a source of ideas for the future.

A host of well-known personalities will come together for the family talk show "Trust Without a Password", which will form part of the "People and Values" track. Celebrity families are always in the public eye, and their experiences can serve as inspiration, a cautionary example or a source of useful insights. At the talk show, prominent figures of different ages and professions will share personal experiences, stories about their relationships, mistakes they have made and what has helped them achieve emotional maturity.

The discussion about the family of the future will feature the entrepreneur, creator of the "Sveta Around the World" programme and founder of the "Action!" charity foundation Svetlana Bondarchuk; director, composer and executive producer of "Sveta Around the World" Sergei Kharchenko; composer, blogger, singer and lyricist, member of the NANSI & SIDOROV musical duo and host of the "Po Kaverоchku" podcast Anastasia Belyavskaya; singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist, music producer and blogger, member of the NANSI & SIDOROV duo and co-host of the "Po Kaverоchку" podcast Oleg Sidorov; Malaysia's first cosmonaut, who took part in the Soyuz TMA-11 mission to the International Space Station, orthopaedic surgeon and member of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, together with his sons Sheikh Adam and Sheikh Noah. The discussion will be moderated by journalist, interviewer, media executive and blogger Laura Dzhugelia.

Audience members will also be invited to join the conversation: they will be able to ask questions, express their views and become co-creators of our shared future.