February 14
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Evolution of High-Profile Investment Project Finance: In Search of Balance In partnership with Gazprombank. By personal invitation only Medium-term national economy development plans are unprecedented due to their scale. Hundreds of projects will be implemented in accordance with those plans, and their financing would depend upon the ability to strike a balance between the interes...08:30–10:00
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Medium-term national economy development plans are unprecedented due to their scale. Hundreds of projects will be implemented in accordance with those plans, and their financing would depend upon the ability to strike a balance between the interests of investors, lenders and state institutions. What are the ways to balance interests of all stakeholders? How could due quality of investment projects preparation be ensured? Could mega-projects slow down fast-paced developers’ business? Do the banks have the required expertise and ability to lower their requirements to investors and projects?
- National Champions Pitch Session Russia is currently home to a group of a few hundred competitive, fast-growing, highly innovative private companies with a strong entrepreneurial base. Many of them are ready to expand their businesses and become leaders on the national or even gl...
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Russia is currently home to a group of a few hundred competitive, fast-growing, highly innovative private companies with a strong entrepreneurial base. Many of them are ready to expand their businesses and become leaders on the national or even global market. Since 2016, a number of these companies have applied and been accepted onto the Ministry of Economic Development’s priority project, ‘Supporting Leading Private High-Tech Companies’ (also known as ‘National Champions’). As things stand, 62 companies have been accepted onto the scheme. Participating companies receive comprehensive support from the Ministry in their dealings with government authorities, development institutions, and companies in which the state is a shareholder. How can we help companies communicate with banks and investment firms and obtain loans and investment? What achievements and future projects can the companies taking part in the National Champions scheme share with us?
Award Ceremony for New Contestants in the National Champions Project
- The Role of the Regions in Popularizing Entrepreneurship One of the areas of concern of the Small and Medium-sized Business and Supporting Individual Entrepreneurial Initiatives National Project is popularizing entrepreneurship. In today’s Russia, people tend not to take a great deal of interest in entr...
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One of the areas of concern of the Small and Medium-sized Business and Supporting Individual Entrepreneurial Initiatives National Project is popularizing entrepreneurship. In today’s Russia, people tend not to take a great deal of interest in entrepreneurship. According to data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, only 5% of respondents expressed a desire to start a business. However, there is considerable potential for growth in the SME sector by encouraging entrepreneurial activity and promoting entrepreneurship. Russia’s regions have a major role to play in tackling these challenges. Which tools are most effective? Are there universal recipes for success? How can mistakes be avoided? Which tools for popularizing entrepreneurship would businesses suggest?
- Exporting Agricultural Output: The Regional Agenda Russia’s ambitions to export products on the global food market directly depend on the effectiveness of regional agricultural policies and agendas. Different regional agendas approach the challenges around modernizing agriculture and reassessing t...
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Russia’s ambitions to export products on the global food market directly depend on the effectiveness of regional agricultural policies and agendas. Different regional agendas approach the challenges around modernizing agriculture and reassessing the direction it should take quite differently. Various regions are seeing export potential in their own regional products and drumming up foreign consumer interest in them. How might we effectively create a portfolio of regional products for export? What development strategies for export are regions choosing? What international experience might we take into account when formulating effective regional export strategies?
- The Competitiveness of the Regions through the Prism of Increasing Labour Productivity: How to Engage, Manage, and Motivate Increasing labour productivity is one of the key tasks set out in the Russian President’s May Decree and in the Labour Productivity and Supporting Employment National Project. In the majority of Russia’s non-commodity sectors, productivity could b...
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Increasing labour productivity is one of the key tasks set out in the Russian President’s May Decree and in the Labour Productivity and Supporting Employment National Project. In the majority of Russia’s non-commodity sectors, productivity could be increased by 50–100%; there is also huge potential to expand exports, as well as significant opportunities in the domestic market. What systemic measures is the government putting in place to help companies increase labour productivity? What needs to improve in terms of the way the authorities and business cooperate in order to achieve the targets set out in the national project? How can the experience gained in raising productivity be scaled up in practice? What practical advantages can participants enjoy in terms of improved productivity and success in new markets?
- Digital Transformation and Quality of Life from a Regional Perspective Sberbank Panel Session All countries are committed to digital transformation. Business models are changing. People’s behaviour is changing. The pace of transformation is staggering. New technologies disrupt the way we live and produce, manage, and make decisions in virt...
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All countries are committed to digital transformation. Business models are changing. People’s behaviour is changing. The pace of transformation is staggering. New technologies disrupt the way we live and produce, manage, and make decisions in virtually all areas. Digital transformation manifests itself in many global trends, such as big data, AI, IoT, etc. Data is the new oil. Leading digital nations come top in the quality of life rating. The Russian Digital Economy programme is shaping federal and regional agendas. Some Russian regions have already started to implement best digitization practices. Does digital transformation affect quality of life? What needs to be done to become a global leader in digital transformation and quality of life?
- Reform of Regulation and Oversight: New Directions Despite the early termination of the similarly named priority project on 1 January 2019, reform of regulation and oversight will continue. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has already announced that as part of the reforms, there will be a ‘r...
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Despite the early termination of the similarly named priority project on 1 January 2019, reform of regulation and oversight will continue. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has already announced that as part of the reforms, there will be a ‘regulatory guillotine’ – a comprehensive review of mandatory requirements in which all are at risk of being declared no longer fit for purpose. In parallel, the Russian Government is developing an entirely new draft federal law on regulation. This will be a single, systematizing legal act covering each step of the government’s monitoring procedures in detail.
How exactly will the ‘regulatory guillotine’ mechanism be implemented? What will the new mandatory requirements look like? How can we ensure a balance between the interests of business and government during checks?
- Resources for Growth and Investment Prospects: An Analysis of Asset Realization Practices in Russia’s Regions In partnership with the Deposit Insurance Agency The assets of financial institutions which have gone out of business are one factor in investment opportunities. The book value of assets for sale under the management of the Deposit Insurance Agency currently stands at around RUB 4.5 trillion. Re...
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The assets of financial institutions which have gone out of business are one factor in investment opportunities. The book value of assets for sale under the management of the Deposit Insurance Agency currently stands at around RUB 4.5 trillion. Returning these assets to the country’s economy is an important step in improving the investment attractiveness of Russia’s regions, creating new jobs, and increasing regional tax revenues. What investment prospects and new opportunities are available for regional business development, including business projects implemented using assets acquired from liquidated financial organizations? What asset realization practices are being used in the regions? How can the investment potential of liquidated financial organizations’ assets be realized? What are the benefits and advantages to investors of participating in asset auctions?
- Regional Policy in the Context of Russia’s Spatial Development Through an open public debate which has taken place at a variety of expert forums and in the media, a diverse vision of individual aspects of Russia’s spatial development has been formed. At the same time, the main actors when it comes to implemen...
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Through an open public debate which has taken place at a variety of expert forums and in the media, a diverse vision of individual aspects of Russia’s spatial development has been formed. At the same time, the main actors when it comes to implementing the future spatial development strategy will be Russia’s regions, and this is having a definite impact on regional policy as a specific focus of the Russian Government. Regional authorities are talking about the need to improve the transparency of decisions that directly affect the regions and for them to be widely discussed in advance. The most critical issues on the regional agenda concern the cooperation between the federal authorities and the regions in the Russian Federation, as well as the way in which powers are redistributed among them, financial support to Russia’s regions, attracting private funding, the growth of metropolitan areas, regional development support tools, single-industry towns, the urban environment, and housing and utilities, among other questions. All of these areas require the fine-tuning of existing mechanisms, the development of new approaches, and their targeted incorporation into the national projects, with mandatory feedback needed from the regions.
- Faith-Based Business Associations: Places of Trust In the face of the ever-changing economic realities of the modern world, new horizons for cooperation based on traditional religious faiths are springing up. One of the features of recent years has been the increasing number of clubs and all manne...
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In the face of the ever-changing economic realities of the modern world, new horizons for cooperation based on traditional religious faiths are springing up. One of the features of recent years has been the increasing number of clubs and all manner of other business associations with a basis in faith. These are intended to play an important role in supporting social harmony and diversity, but as business organizations, they also encourage increased business activity and provide support in the search for new sources of capital for business development. This increases levels of business activity both among members of particular faith communities and in society as a whole. Modern cooperative organizations like these can help to attract investment, develop entrepreneurial skills, encourage social mobility, and foster a high degree of independence in the lives of traditional communities. Moreover, associations like these open up new opportunities for interfaith dialogue, which can lay the ground for new horizons for cooperation to emerge within both the state and society. They can also reveal new ways of increasing corporate social responsibility. Are there any success stories concerning cooperation between faiths and business? Can businesses based on the values of traditional religious faiths increase trust in business as a whole and help to uncover new sources of capital? What are the long-term prospects and what needs to be done to make them a reality?
- The Economics of Hospitality, Today and Tomorrow The global hospitality industry is changing with every passing year. Beach holidays, skiing holidays, cultural and educational holidays, and health and wellbeing holidays are the mainstays of the contemporary tourism industry. Traditional types an...
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The global hospitality industry is changing with every passing year. Beach holidays, skiing holidays, cultural and educational holidays, and health and wellbeing holidays are the mainstays of the contemporary tourism industry. Traditional types and forms of holiday are losing ground, with shorter holidays now winning out over longer ones, and active breaks preferred to passive ones. Russia is currently in a position to develop attractive tourism products in line with these new market trends. For instance, over the period 2015–2018, the skiing and spa resorts of the North Caucasus have seen demand for tourism services in these areas grow apace, while sites of historical and cultural interest and nature reserves are seeing more visitors every year. However, the principal limiting factor in the development of the hospitality industry remains the insufficient capacity of the accommodation and other necessary infrastructure in areas popular with tourists across the majority of regions of the Russian Federation. How can we solve the problems inherent in attracting investment to build modern tourism infrastructure? What are the strategic priorities for developing tourism?
- Export Accelerator: Learning to Trade Globally In partnership with the Russian Export Center Acceleration is one of the main tools employed internationally to help companies gain a foothold on foreign markets and the most successful countries are already making use of it. Currently, less than 1% of all small and medium-sized companies in ...
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Acceleration is one of the main tools employed internationally to help companies gain a foothold on foreign markets and the most successful countries are already making use of it. Currently, less than 1% of all small and medium-sized companies in Russia are exporters. For comparison, this figure reaches 5–7% in Western countries and is considered inadequate. We face the challenge of creating a comprehensive set of tools and incentives to encourage large numbers of Russian companies to start exporting. The ability to export is an objective measure of a company’s competitiveness, and this is one reason why a company must, when joining an acceleration programme, undergo a full assessment of its export readiness in the following areas: competitiveness of its product, marketing, human resources, experience of exporting, and financial resources. Some pilot export accreditation schemes are already being trialled in Russia: these include the Export Growth Accelerator programme (Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Russian Export Center), the Practicum Global Shift programme (Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO), the acceleration of regional companies using professional trackers (Russian Export Center, Nizhny Novgorod Region), and the first online export accelerator (Russian Export Center, Sberbank). Do Russian goods and services face genuine limitations? What can be done to make exporting popular and fashionable? How can modern technology be leveraged for use in export acceleration? Can federal and regional development institutes work together to offer effective state support? What can be learned from the practices of existing accelerators, including international ones?
- ‘Rebooting’ Regional Development Tools In order to attract direct Russian and foreign investment in Russia’s regions, more than 430 individual sites are currently up and running, offering special conditions for doing business and access to various government support measures (special e...
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In order to attract direct Russian and foreign investment in Russia’s regions, more than 430 individual sites are currently up and running, offering special conditions for doing business and access to various government support measures (special economic zones, advanced special economic zones, industrial parks, and more). However, almost all of the existing tools have attracted criticism from regulators and the media. What must be done to ensure that expenditure (including state expenditure) on building infrastructure to attract business does not turn out to have been futile because of a lack of investors? How can we change the prevailing media narrative so that it favours the development of special zones? How can investors choose the best site for them and avoid confusion? Is it possible to create a single universal tool and apply it in every region to make it simpler and easier for investors to get businesses off the ground in Russia?
- How to Develop Tourism: Changing the Way Investment Decisions in the Sector are Made As a distinct sector of the economy, tourism has a unique feature: it tends to involve many other, related sectors too. This is explained in part by the need to devise complex approaches to developing tourism that would enable links to be establis...
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As a distinct sector of the economy, tourism has a unique feature: it tends to involve many other, related sectors too. This is explained in part by the need to devise complex approaches to developing tourism that would enable links to be established between opportunities in these sectors of the economy and development institutes, and help to pool the efforts of federal and regional authorities and market participants. To support this, a single model for managing the industry needs to be created, and a new kind of investment decision-making is required for tourism. How should the government change its approach to attracting investment in tourism? How can a new class of tourism assets be created in the economy? What is the right approach to assessing tourist destinations when making investment decisions?
- Innovative Science and Technology Centres: What Should They Look Like? Prevailing Russian legislation provides for the creation of innovative scientific and technological hubs, or so-called ‘tech valleys’. Regions across the Russian Federation are currently hard at work on bringing these valleys into existence, creat...
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Prevailing Russian legislation provides for the creation of innovative scientific and technological hubs, or so-called ‘tech valleys’. Regions across the Russian Federation are currently hard at work on bringing these valleys into existence, creating development plans for science and technology hubs focused on global trends and challenges and capable of competing at a high level in research and development on global markets. Now is the time to discuss experiences of organizing hubs like these, creating innovative infrastructure, attracting investors and participating companies, and overseeing technology transfer. What should our aims and goals be when creating tech valleys? How should we go about creating a high-quality system for managing tech valleys? Which best practices for creating and running world-class tech hubs should we look towards when establishing tech valleys in Russia? How can we attract investors in order to create the necessary infrastructure? How can we ensure technology transfer?
February 15
- How Can We Protect Privacy in the Internet of Things Era? In partnership with SKB Kontur Recent years have seen a breakthrough both in the quality of big data processing and in the sources collecting big data. Telecoms operators can determine where you live in real life, who your friends are, when you take your dog for a walk, and how...
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Recent years have seen a breakthrough both in the quality of big data processing and in the sources collecting big data. Telecoms operators can determine where you live in real life, who your friends are, when you take your dog for a walk, and how much money is coming into your accounts. Smart checkouts now know what you are buying, while banks know almost everything there is to know about how you earn and spend money. All these aspects of business are beginning to merge, so that, sooner or later, a single unified structure will be able to create a true digital double of each person, digitizing their life and habits. And more likely than not, this structure will not be an omnipotent arm of the state, but rather a powerful commercial operator. How can we protect our privacy? What restrictions should there be on data processing? What responsibilities should companies who process data bear?
- The Role of Financial Markets in the Investment Process Over the last four years, reduced investment has been causing problems for Russia’s economy. Despite a number of encouraging trends, we nonetheless have to admit that the situation on the market for financial resources remains extremely difficult....
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Over the last four years, reduced investment has been causing problems for Russia’s economy. Despite a number of encouraging trends, we nonetheless have to admit that the situation on the market for financial resources remains extremely difficult. In order to increase the pace of growth in the Russian economy and renew key funds, considerable sums must be directed towards investment in the real sector, and one source of the necessary resources should be the financial market. In established Russian practice, the key mechanism for attracting funding to develop the real sector of the economy is a classic one: bank lending. Investment lending is not as well-developed in Russia, constituting less than 8% of the market, according to experts. Among the factors holding investment lending back are banks’ increasingly strict requirements for potential borrowers, the lack of long-term passive investment opportunities, a lack of clarity regarding real project payback periods, and the current regulatory demands. What are the development prospects for investment lending in Russia? What changes need to be made to the legislative basis for regulation of the financial market? What are the development prospects for key sectors of the financial market?
- Russia’s Competitive Venture Investment Market In partnership with RVC Scientific and technological progress is a primary factor in creating a competitive national economy. In turn, the development of new technologies and products is driven by, among other things, an established venture investment market, which must ...
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Scientific and technological progress is a primary factor in creating a competitive national economy. In turn, the development of new technologies and products is driven by, among other things, an established venture investment market, which must facilitate economic growth in the Russian Federation: increasing technological independence; developing promising new high-tech sectors, including the promising markets set out in the National Technology Initiative programme; and expanding exports of competitive technologies. What institutional and infrastructure support measures should be offered to venture and direct investment market participants? Which initiatives help to remove existing barriers to the creation and growth of high-tech companies in traditional and new sectors of the economy, including on high-tech markets? What kinds of tax incentives should be introduced for venture capital market participants? What are the sources of funding for the venture market?
