The future is now
The forum agenda resembles time travelling. The thoughts of its participants are aimed at the future, but before they are able to discuss the opportunities of space tourism, they will assess the present state of the country and try to predict the future which can be built on such foundation. Oddly enough, it seems that organizers of the forum believe that only Russia has its today and tomorrow, not saying a word about other countries.
The general optimistic mood of the meeting is set by the initial message declaring that the most severe phase of the world crisis is now in the past and all that awaits us in the future is if not recovery then at least rise amid the experienced fall. In these conditions, the world markets players who are ready to bid on the rise of economics, first of all want to know economic sector in which it will happen faster. That is why the day before the official forum opening is traditionally dedicated to clarification of foreign partners' position and formulation of the common agreement on the general cooperation issues.
ENERGETIC RELATIONS
The subject of electric power industry is successfully integrated in the round tables the purpose of which is to discuss the features of relations of Russia with the EU, India, the CIS and the USA. The heads of the largest power companies from around the world will get together to discuss the possibilities our country gets with application of modern technologies in electric power industry. Taking into consideration the specifics of technological findings that are being implemented or currently tested all over the world, we can easily assert that great deal of attention in the discussion of energetic efficacy of consumption, production and reduction of losses during energy transfer is paid to potential buyer of the power saved. As the president Dmitry Medvedev said, the country is able to increase energy efficacy by 40% by using already existing technologies. This figure however is no big enough if we take into account that this index in Russia is 6 times lower than in Japan, 2 times lower than in the USA and 1.4 times lower than in India or China.
The main international economic meeting in Russia surely cannot miss the opportunity to discuss the subject of energy resources and shale gas in particular which is the issue No.1 for the country that appears to be the largest exporter of hydrocarbon. And although there is still a lot of controversy regarding extraction technology and its potential usage, this remains the most serious claim that is targeted at the energy market. The market of gas and new technologies perspectives will be discussed behind closed doors by the industry leaders and right after that Dmitry Medvedev, the president of Russia, will bestow the international Global Energy award. The forum participants will be able to leave aside the topic of traditional fuel recourses only during the discussion of the power energy future: they will evaluate the influence of such factors as new technologies, utilization of nuclear waste and CO2 emission quotas on the development of the energy sector.
GLOBAL MONEY
Lots of attention will be paid to financial issues (the forum is still economic, isn't it?) and most of them are of a global scale. The financial architecture will be discussed again and that will allow lobbyists to clarify the stand of the government on this issue once more. Taking into account the complex mixture of interests and a large number of parties involved on different levels, the solution will not be found any time soon, and the issue of whether the financial branch is regulated well enough will remain the permanent part of agenda for meetings not only on a higher level but on the level of the dialogue between business community and authorities. World reserve currency is another topic to be discussed by the forum participants not for the first time. Bold statements that rouble would be perfect currency for this role are not spoken out loud now but unsteady position of euro provide the reason good enough for discussion. While the main rival of the US dollar considers whether it will be able to hold the position of the common European currency - the legitimacy of which arouses many doubts as of today - the share of other currencies in international settlement may increase. However, central bank's first deputy chairman Alexei Ulyukayev is sure that "position of euro is stable for years to come because it is supported by the massive European economy, big GDP and already existing community of the euro region". Nevertheless, one or two of traditional international settlement leaders will have to step aside in order for new contenders to come. The choice of currencies that should be used in settlement of transactions is in many respects a political one and that is why the whole separate session of the forum will be dedicated to development of a common stand for BRIC countries regarding this subject. Currency market will also be a matter discussed among the topics associated with national debt regulation. The growing budget deficits, inflation, low interest rates in the USA - these are the main problems which governments of the countries encountered with while trying to manage the record debt levels. The current state of things makes many counties to seek help from foreign loans which increases the risk of supply redundance at the market of state debt obligations. The forum participants will try to find out if the time to "gather stones" is already here or is it possible to continue flooding the market with debt obligations and postpone the day of reckoning by taking loans. And although the question of when the countries will start to reduce their deficits is surely to arise, it is doubtful that the answer will be given this time.
KNOWLEDGE MODERNIZATION
Attention will also be paid to the conflict which emerged in the education sphere as a result of economy modernization. Education system did not have enough time to modify itself and thus is not able to fight new challenges. The need in highly qualified experts who are ready to create competitive product for global economy already exists and it appeared not today. In order to satisfy this need, the government is planning to import foreign experts and thus participate in the international competition to obtain these valuable assets. It is obvious that expensive specialists who work in the bordering fields of bio-, info-, nano and cognitive technologies will rise their price further as a result of increasing demand. Russian education system cannot increase the specialists supply at the pace requested for now and it is not able to produce experts with knowledge and skills high enough to meet international standards. The conclusion is that education should be one of the first spheres to be modernized and this fact is well known. While universities try to catch up and find the ways of producing valuable experts in order to meet the growing demand, the forum participants suggest solving this problem by sending lots of Russian specialists to study abroad. Murad Sofizade, the president of Harvard Club of Russia, suggests sponsoring wide-scale training of Russian citizens in the leading foreign universities by means of the state budget, including public loans taken for this purposes. He wants to stop so-called "brain drain" by creating the mechanism of paying an educational credit which would stimulate people who got their education abroad to work in Russia - not only in business sector, but also for the state itself. Those who will work for their country will be freed from paying the part or the whole debt, however, not at once but gradually.
The problem of making the best specialists stay in the country will be discussed at the session which is held with the support of Russian Venture Company. The need in foreign specialists is undeniable and therefore special attention will be paid to the sectors which may profit most of all from engaging experts with international experience. "Home-made" specialists themselves are not the easiest solution of the problem either - their price (taking into account the price of their education) will be comparable to the price of foreign experts (why should they be paid less if the quality of their services is the same?).
Those who will take part in the discussion of the application of scientific labor fruits are hoping to gain valuable experience from the opportunities that appear with deciphering of the human genome. It is always not easy to find the way from fundamental science to practical application. And the Russian science which inherited the habit of searching for "pure" knowledge should learn to commercialize the achievements of intellectual work in order to gain opportunities to continue the scientific work at the very least. In this sense, the study of genome is a story of success. The opportunities of its application are so great that potential achievements in diagnostics and treatment of diseases draws attention of first-rate investors. If commercial interest is not so high, it is time for the state to get involved. The role of the state in the process of transferring scientific achievements to the market will also be considered - Russian science is slowly learning to live without budget funds. The opportunity of partnership of private sector and the state as well as the role of "big brother" in development of innovative economy will be discussed within MITEF session. The main idea is that the risks taken by companies may be shared with the state. This kind of support may be given in the form of financial assistance (grants, subsidies, bonuses) or by the way of regulation aimed to protect and stimulate innovative activities.
CITY AS A SPACE FOR INNOVATION
Subjects associated with construction will also be an important part of the forum's agenda. One can think that the main motif here will be energy performance of buildings, but the other important issue to be discussed is the ability of a city to develop - that is the ability to manage given space as a structure for effective economic life with social needs of its residents taken into account. The forum participants will discuss the ways of combining infrastructure, design and culture in order for image integrity, economic profit and social needs to be merged in one. It is also important that innovations implemented are able not only to create manufacture based on modern technologies but to change the city image as well. Special attention will be paid to the process of creation of so-called "innograds" which will serve as centers of knowledge and technologies concentration that will have infrastructure developed enough to create products of knowledge economy.
But nonetheless, the most interesting event for both builders and potential buyers of residential property will be briefing dedicated to facilitation of building approval procedures. This part of housing net cost is said to be the most unpredictable due to abuse of power by officials. More liberal approach should help improving of housing availability because the fall of real estate prices during the difficult economic period could not salve this problem. Moreover, even "easy" ways of solving the housing problem, such as mortgage loans, appeared to be unclaimed because of high rates and uncertain future of loaners - absence of certainty that you won't lose your job or your salary will be stable is certainly not the best motivation for the rise in demand for housing credit. New approaches to creation of transport, energetic and commercial infrastructure, as well as plans of housing modernization will be presented to the meeting's participants.
Development of technologies allows automating almost all the main functions - energy, water and heating supply - but one: telecommunication. Taking into account that house actually becomes an end point in the consumption process and the fact that supply of lots of services is associated with the work of information network systems, the stress load on communication network is constantly increasing. That is why the future of telecommunication sector becomes another subject of the forum.
Rough competition in this sector badly affects companies - technological race demands constant renovation of equipment and financial encouraging of scientific research. That is why nowadays investors pay less attention to communication companies despite their potential. However, innovations in the sphere of mobile communication, development of new technologies such as cloud computing and increase in the use of high-tech services by developing markets allow to hope that some companies will be able to overcome this recession.
NOT SO MODERN FUTURE
Fascination of the forum participants with the future make them discuss very different topics - from movies to space. Even football is on agenda. However, all these topics belong to the near future so there won't be any far-fetched predictions.
And although all these subjects are presented as ultramodern, such events as space tourism or 3D format in movies are already in the past. Only future of football championship is vague and uncertain. But the smoke will clear in December when they announce the voting results of FIFA Executive Committee.