PLENARY SESSION (in the discussion panel format)

Moderated by: Alexander Arkhangelsky, TV presenter, essay writer

Discussion agenda:

• Who creates demand for knowledge? The role of the state in managing the market of innovations. Major Russian companies as consumers of new technologies and new materials
• Science as the main driver of the technological progress. Reformatting the science management system for new objectives. Problems in the development of scientific organizations in regions
• Ways to create conditions for the fast and effective conversion of scientists’ ideas into production and specific products
• Intellectual property protection. Impact of the patent system on the production and use of knowledge
• Requirements of the real sector for highly skilled specialists. Ways to raise creative workers.
• Ways to bridge the gap between the skills acquired in the higher education system and the real requirements of today’s economy. Needs of producers and capabilities of educational institutions
• How can a region raise and keep talented specialists? Working conditions and salaries, housing, self-fulfillment opportunities – what can the region offer?
• Place of small businesses in a knowledge economy
• From a consumer society to a knowledge society. Social specifics of the transition.
• The knowledge economy is accompanied by structural unemployment. How can people with outdated skills adapt to the new reality? The artificial “social employment” as a means of supporting employees unable to adapt to new requirements
• The knowledge economy cannot exist without the cementing power of morality and ethics serving as a foundation. Development of a high moral character to ensure safety of a knowledge society. The role of mass media in the formation of a new personality.

Official welcome addresses:

Alexey Gordeev, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Central Federal District
Alexander Mikhailov, Governor of Kursk region
Sergey Katyrin, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation