Nikolai Nikiforov is the youngest government minister in the history of Russia. He was involved in implementing innovative developments in the government’s communications network and the education system, helped to develop a program to introduce e-government, and was a founder of the Kazan IT Park. He is an active supporter of Russia’s domestic software development industry.

Oleg Fomichev is a member of the Board of Directors of RVC and Rusnano, and a researcher with the International Research Laboratory for Institutional Analysis of Economic Reforms at the National Research University Higher School of Economics. He is a former Director of the Ministry’s Strategic Program Management and Budgeting Department and of the Center for Strategic Research Foundation. He currently serves as the Secretary of State and Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation. Oleg is one of the most in-demand analysts in the field of economic development and supporting entrepreneurship.

Andre Wegner is the co-founder and CEO of Authentise, a company working to expand the use of digital manufacturing, from API to 3D printing. The company provides a secure connection to equipment and remote process control. Andre is a regular public speaker on intellectual property issues in 3D printing.

Veronika Skvortsova is a neurologist, neurophysiologist, elected associate member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and professor. She is the author of more than 400 scientific papers. She has made a significant contribution to research into combatting strokes, and plays an active role in scientific education in the field of neurological research. Veronika is also a laureate of the Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University Prize.

Sergey Kiriyenko is a former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, and Chief Executive Officer of Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation. In 1997, he was the Minister of Fuel and Energy, dealing with crises in Primorye and the Kuznetsk Basin, and oversaw the repayment of oil company debts to the federal budget. Since 2001, he has acted as Chairman of the Russian State Commission on Chemical Disarmament. He made reforms to management in the coal industry and the fuel and energy sector.

Arkady Dvorkovich was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation in 2012. In 2009, he became a member of the Skolkovo Foundation Board of Trustees, having played a role in the founding of the innovation center. He is currently the Executive Secretary of the Commission for Modernization and Technological Development of Russia’s Economy. He oversees various sectors of the real economy, including civil engineering and manufacturing, fuel and energy, transport, communications, agriculture and natural resources. Arkady is also Head of the Supervisory Board of the Russian Chess Federation.

Yury Saprykin is a Russian journalist, the former Managing Editor of Afisha magazine and Managing Director of associated company Rambler-Afisha. He is also known for his work as a music critic and radio host.

Sergey Sobyanin is a Russian politician, currently serving as the Mayor of Moscow. He previously served as Governor of Tyumen Region, was Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office under Vladimir Putin and headed the Government Staff as Deputy Prime Minister. As Mayor, he conducted major reforms of the road transport system, improving Moscow’s city infrastructure. He carried out a project to expand the city’s territory and created a new system for small retailers within the city. He introduced a number of city information portals. His accomplishments led to success in the 2013 elections, after which he took up office as the elected Mayor of the capital. He is a member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and the Council for Countering Corruption.<br>

David Yan is the Founder and a member of the Board of the ABBYY group, one of the most internationally recognized Russian IT companies. He holds a PhD in physics and mathematics, and was a recipient of the Russian Federation Government Prize for Science and Technology. According to the industry press, Yan is one of the highest-ranking IT entrepreneurs in Russia.

Anatoly Karachinsky heads one of the largest consulting groups in Russia. He actively works to increase the potential of Russia’s IT market and is regarded as one of the most eminent entrepreneurs in the IT industry. Anatoly is a member of the Innovative Development subgroup of Russia’s Open Government working group.

Anatoly Karachinsky heads one of the largest consulting groups in Russia. He actively works to increase the potential of Russia’s IT market and is regarded as one of the most eminent entrepreneurs in the IT industry. Anatoly is a member of the Innovative Development subgroup of Russia’s Open Government working group.

Viktor Vekselberg is known for his work as an entrepreneur in the energy, IT, biomedicine, space and nuclear technology sectors. He plays a key role in modernizing the Russian economy. Viktor is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Link of Times cultural and historical foundation, which aims to restore cultural monuments and re-establish cultural and historical values.

Jeremy Rifkin is a prominent economist and futurologist, a theorist of postcapitalism and the third industrial revolution, as well as the author of several bestsellers. In his previous book, Rifkin brought into common use the notion of the ‘third industrial revolution’, something which has emerged as if unnoticed, but which is nonetheless irreversible. In his newest work, not yet translated into Russian, he predicts the imminent end of capitalism, as new production methods covering an enormous range of goods threaten to destroy the basis of all business – added value.

Nouriel Roubini, a practicing professor of economics, was previously Senior Economist for International Affairs at the White House Council of Economic Advisers and is primarily famous for his in-depth forecast of the 2008 global financial crisis. In 2005–2006, he described the possibility of a mortgage crisis in the USA in great detail, and surmised that such a crisis could bring the entire global economy down with it. His consultancy company RGE advises the heads of major banks and finance ministers throughout Europe and Asia. Roubini has spoken at the United States Congress, at the US Council on Foreign Relations, and at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Dmitry Livanov has held the post of Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation since 2012. In early 2015, the Ministry supported the launch of the National Platform for Open Education, intended to radically alter the way that higher education is provided. The project has become a unique example of cooperation between the government and top universities. Students at any higher education institution can now take courses offered by the best teachers in the country and receive credits toward their course studies. Before 2012, Dmitry Livanov was Rector of the National University of Science and Technology, one of the instigators of the platform. He holds a D.Sc. in Physics and Mathematics and has authored more than 50 papers in the field of Theoretical Physics. In 2011, he won the Russian Federation Government Prize in Education.

Heather Staker is the founder and president of Ready to Blend, a research initiative focused on helping educators and families use blended learning to improve the achievement and well-being of K-12 children. About this teaching practice, combining traditional and digital learning model, she regularly talks in articles and books, speaking on radio and television. Also, Heather is an adjunct fellow for the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation and co-founder of online quest Brain Chase, focused on the students.

Today’s conventional model of education, in which we batch students in classrooms and teach the same thing in the same way, is an ineffective way to ensure that each child succeeds. Too many students feel like failures or grow hopelessly bored. In both cases, they fall short of their potential. Schools can do better. It’s time to use modern tools to design a more compelling student experience. It’s time for schools to deepen learning and trigger curiosity. The days of passive, lecture-based learning are over. Schools can do better and the opportunity is now.

I trained in retinal electrophysiology and obtained my Ph.D. at SUNY Buffalo in 1990. After worked at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School as a junior faculty member, I joined Wayne State University in 1999. My major research focus is on the development of optogenetic approaches for the treatment of blindness caused by retinal degeneration. Optogenetics is one of the most innovative technologies that have emerged during the past decade. Supported by a NIH grant in 2004, my lab launched the project of expressing channelrhodopsin-2 in inner retinal neurons to impart retinal light sensitivity as a new strategy to treat blindness caused by the death of photoreceptor cells. We published our first work in 2006 and demonstrated the feasibility of this strategy in animal models. Our current studies are focusing on the issues that are important for moving this treatment strategy towards clinical applications and for improving restored vision outcomes. Specifically, these studies include improving the properties of optogenetic tools and virus-mediated gene delivery efficiency and tar-geting optogenetic tools to specific retinal neurons and/or subcellular compartments. In addition, my lab is also interested in the roles of membrane channels and receptors in retinal information processing. Our studies are combing various techniques, including molecular engineering, bioinformatics, rAAV vectors, transgenic mouse lines, immunostaining methods and electrophysiological recordings, and animal behavioral assays.

Optogenetics, a revolutionary new technology of conferring light sensitivity to cells, holds great promise as an effective therapy for the restoration of vision to the blind.

Jim Morris, President of Pixar Animation Studios, joined Pixar in 2005. Morris oversees the production of the studio’s features, shorts, DVD content and theme park activities. He additionally manages Pixar’s Studio Tools, Systems, Development and Human Resources departments. Morris produced Disney•Pixar’s Academy Award®-winning feature, “WALL•E,” for which he was also awarded Producer of the Year in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures fr om the Producer’s Guild of America. In addition to his many duties at Pixar, Morris also produced the live-action feature “John Carter” for Walt Disney Motion Pictures with director Andrew Stanton. Prior to joining Pixar, Morris held a range of key positions in various divisions of Lucasfilm Ltd. He served as President of Lucas Digital Ltd., and managed its two divisions, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Skywalker Sound. As ILM’s General Manager for more than ten years, he supervised a staff of over 1400 artists and technicians, and guided the largest visual effects facility in the entertainment industry. During Morris’ tenure, ILM created the groundbreaking, Academy Award®-winning visual effects in “Jurassic Park,” “Death Becomes Her,” and “Forrest Gump.” Other notable projects completed under his management include “Mission: Impossible,” “Twister,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “Star Wars: Episode I and II,” “The Perfect Storm,” “Pearl Harbor,” “Minority Report,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Master and Commander,” and three “Harry Potter” films. Morris joined ILM in 1987 as a producer of visual effects for films and commercials. He was subsequently promoted to ILM’s executive in charge of production, where he supervised all of the company’s production. “The Abyss,” which earned an Oscar® for Best Achievement in Visual Effects, and “Always,” are among Morris’s producing credits. Before joining ILM, Morris was executive producer at Arnold & Associates, where he oversaw the company’s three offices and produced national commercials for clients such as Atari and Chevron. Prior to that, Morris was executive producer at One Pass, wh ere he headed the commercial production department. He also served in the production departments at J. Walter Thompson, and Foote, Cone & Belding in San Francisco. Morris worked as a producer and director for PBS affiliate WCNY-TV, and began his career as a cameraman and editor at NBC affiliate WSYR-TV. Morris is the recipient of both the Producers Guild of America Digital 50 Award and the Visual Effects Society Board of Directors Award. Morris earned a Bachelor of Science degree in film and a Master of Science degree in television and radio from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University.

When we talk about technology in entertainment, I can’t help but see cinema as the most technological of the arts. It started as a silent melding of photochemical and photomechanical technologies 120 years ago. It then enjoyed a renaissance with the advent of sound. And then another with the advent of color. In the last 25 years we’ve seen another revolution, the digital revolution. This has been the most dramatic and sweeping change to the art form, as it has touched every aspect of how motion pictures are made and viewed. Image creation, sound, distribution and exhibition have all been transformed. The history of Pixar and the history of digital technology are intimately intertwined. 20 years ago, Pixar released TOY STORY — the movie that would start the digital age of cinema. And in the 20 years since, our storytellers have continued to push the technology to tell a wide spectrum of stories and create some of the world’s most beloved characters. This year sees the release of our 15th and 16th films. In INSIDE OUT, Pete Doctor created the five emotions in a young girl’s head, characters made of particles of light. In THE GOOD DINOSAUR, Peter Sohn has created a fierce and beautiful natural world, so compelling it almost inhabits our young dinosaur Arlo and his pet boy Spot. In both cases, technology has created imagery never seen before, technology that made these stories possible to tell. It is that marriage of our artists and our technologists that so inspires me, and provides the thrust for more and more wondrous storytelling. I am completely bullish on the future of filmmaking, and, like our audiences, am in awe of what we see, and will see, on the screen.

In 2014, Shawn Young founded Classcraft, an online platform that helps transform a lesson on any subject into a role-playing game. A professional in physics, education, gamification and web design, he enthusiastically follows the way how self-organizing school communities are sprouting up around his project and classes are becoming truly interesting. Shawn teaches physics to eleventh graders at a school in Quebec while actively utilizing modern teaching practices – “flipped classroom,” project-based education and games. From time to time, he works on web design for Chanel, The Future of Storytelling Summit and Carnaval de Sherbrooke, often teaming up with his brother Devin. At Classcraft, Shawn is responsible for product development as well as educational and game design. Classcraft is an online educational role-playing game that transforms classroom work. Gamification helps to engage students, who choose a character (magician, warrior or healer) and complete quests to level up. The platform was launched in 2014 and is now used by more than 200,000 students from 75 countries.

Using games, we can re-invent the experience of studying in class in order to better engage students and develop such important non-cognitive skills as collaboration, leadership and critical thinking.

Provost of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Wei Shyy is engaged in advanced developments in the field of aerodynamics. His track record includes work at the world's leading technology higher education institutions, five books, and numerous publications on research relating to air- and spacecraft. In addition, Shyy advises on international research projects, is General Editor of the Cambridge Aerospace Book Series and has supervised more than 45 PhD students in his field. He is currently a member of the Coursera Advisory Board.

Arman Gukasyan is the founder and CEO of Russian IT company VIZERRA which, in recent years, has transformed town planning and architecture by bringing to the global market its exclusive, simple 3D-visualization technology for any type of object, no matter how complex.

Sooner or later, we will have access to more than just virtual copies of individual buildings, districts and cities. In the very near future, technology will allow us to produce visual and highly detailed 3D models of our whole environment. At Open Innovations, I'd like to share my ideas on how this can change the way we manage our cities as complex systems.

Airat Bagautdinov founded the educational project ‘Moscow through the Eyes of an Engineer’, which examines the history of the city through the stories of its greatest civil engineering and construction projects.

‘Moscow through the Eyes of an Engineer’ studies the city’s history through the history of its greatest engineering achievements and buildings. Moscow has introduced many engineering innovations to the world, which were revolutionary for their time. We do a lot of work with young people and we believe it's important to foster an interest in the city as an engineering system, as a concentration of technology. At the Open Innovations Forum, we will introduce the young audience to the city’s fascinating engineering history.

Derek Breen leads the Instructional Design Group at the illustrious MIT Media Lab, which is researching ways to simplify our lives via radical technology projects. This is where Scratch was invented, the programming language which even young children can learn and use to create short cartoons and video games. Breen is the author of Scratch for Kids for Dummies, designs courses for school children at i2learning and plays an active role in the institute’s other educational projects.

There's no doubt that Scratch, an online platform for digital design, is fun. But Scratch also teaches children to think creatively, introduces them to computer programming and encourages them to work collaboratively, while providing a global stage for self-expression. These are all essential skills for life in the 21st century.

Aubrey de Grey is a British gerontologist and Chief Science Officer at SENS Research Foundation, a charity carrying out research into the battle against aging. He is the author of Ending Aging, a book which examines in detail the possibility of reversing aging by medical means in the next few decades. SENS research is supported by the Thiel Foundation.

The body is a machine that damages itself in the course of its normal operation, just like a car. Soon we will be able to repair all that damage and stop it from affecting the body’s function, and in that way we will extend our healthy lives far beyond the time we are built to live, just like cars that were designed to last 10 years can already be made to last 100 years.

Alexander Galitsky is one of the pioneers of Wi-Fi and the first VPN security technology for Windows, having founded legendary venture capital fund Almaz Capital, which went on to become the Russian market leader.

I believe that Open Innovations 2015 is being held at an opportune moment, because it will confirm Russia’s commitment to international integration, to open technological collaboration and to getting in step with global trends. It is particularly critical for the venture capital industry, which has no boundaries and can’t exist in isolation. That said, the Russian venture capital industry has its own unique features, and we should discuss these at the Forum.

Patrick Griffin, Head of the Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills (ATC21S) Global Research Project at the University of Melbourne, is looking into ways to close the gap between what traditional education has to offer and the requirements of today’s employers. He and his colleagues are developing new teaching and assessment methods for the 21st century skills essential to survival in the digital era. Griffin’s years of academic experience in the field of educational reform are reflected in his writing and his six-week online course on the Coursera platform. On the basis of the ATC21S research, the international PISA assessment framework was altered to include collaborative problem-solving tasks.

The kinds of skills that we will need in the future will be increasingly interpersonal skills: cultural understanding, creativity, critical and strategic thinking, knowledge of how to organize work in teams, and the ability to solve problems quickly through collaboration.

Garrett Martin Johnston, CEO and owner of Macroscope Consulting, has over 20 years’ experience in strategic consulting and marketing in such companies as PwC, Alcatel, MTS and X5 Retail Group.

The most remarkable asymmetric competitive advantage which Russia has is its enormous level of intellectual and technological human capital. If Russian technological macro-creativity is the bomb, then the industrial Internet of Things is the catalyst, the detonator, and at a lasting, global level in all the sectors and contexts represented.

Vladimir Kosteev is Chief Executive Officer of the Innovations and R&D Directors Club, Russia’s first professional community for senior managers responsible for innovation, technology and R&D at major companies.

I am expecting that directors of leading Russian companies responsible for R&D and innovation will come to the Open Innovations Forum to discuss current issues affecting the R&D community. We’d like to answer the key question: how can we ensure that innovators are the focus of our attention and how can we promote innovative modernization in Russia? The very survival of our manufacturing companies in a highly competitive world depends on successfully managing innovation.

Victor Lysenko founded one of the first and fastest developing mobile banks in Russia. Its mobile app gives customers access to all basic banking services. RocketBank has earned a reputation as one of the leading Russian companies in the financial technology field.

To sum it up in a few words, RocketBank is a direct bank, a bank without branch offices, where the emphasis is on mobility. The trend is clearly moving towards mobile phones becoming the main channel for communicating with clients, while branch offices only increase expenditure unnecessarily. As you learn the right way to interact with clients remotely, you take a step closer to the future. So we see ourselves as closer to the future than other banks.

Bertalan Mesko is a medical futurist and author of the bestsellers The Guide to The Future of Medicine and Social Media in Clinical Practice.

With the coming waves of technological changes, we need to use disruptive innovations to live a healthier life, improve healthcare and the human touch in medicine. Technology can make healthcare more patient centered.

Fedor Novikov is an urbanist and prominent publicist. He founded DOM Architectural Robotics.

By automating the assembly of modular constructions, the layout of a building can be dynamically adapted after construction. In the future, construction robots will fundamentally change the way buildings are conceived as more or less unchanging objects within our urban environments. There is no longer a need to pretend that buildings and cities are permanent structures. Uncertainty and change are inevitable aspects of city life. Technology can help us to make considered design decisions, by testing hypotheses before construction begins, and by supporting how people naturally use space.

Pekka Viljakainen is Advisor to the President of the Skolkovo Foundation and the founder of an IT startup, now part of Tieto which employs 20,000 people in over 26 countries. He also masterminded and heads Startup Village and the Russian Startup Tour and is a leading expert in Russian and European innovation.

The main aim of a start-up is to earn money. Some companies manage this owing to a unique service that they provide; others take advantage of cutting-edge scientific research. In both cases, we should strive to stay on top and help our companies to become competitive and profitable on the international market.

Sergei Selyanov, the founder and head of STV, is one of the leading Russian film producers, and has had a significant influence on modern Russian cinema. Selyanov’s films have won many awards at Russian and foreign film festivals, including two Oscar nominations.

The development of modern cinema technologies means that in 20 years’ time the acting profession may disappear altogether. Instead there will be digital actors, both new, completely computer-generated ones, and old faces such as Charlie Chaplin, Meryl Streep and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Alexey Komissarov, Director of the Industry Development Fund, was previously a successful entrepreneur and Head of the Department of Science, Industrial Policy and Entrepreneurship of the Moscow City Government.

The production industry can be the most conservative in how it responds to innovation, but this is a process which is critical for sparking efficiency and competitiveness. One of the key tasks of the Industry Development Fund is supporting modernization drives among Russian industrial companies. I hope that we will be able to make a real contribution to the revitalization of the sector, making sure that it is not left behind in the sweeping changes emerging from the new industrial revolution. At the Forum’s Productivity Day we will look at the technological trends shaping future production and assess the effectiveness of managing innovation and the success stories of industry leaders.

The urban environment has a direct impact on innovation as it is able to attract the kinds of people who contribute to this innovation. The city is a service provider and the residents are its clients: this is the direction in which the most successful cities in the world are moving today. This concerns infrastructure, developing the urban environment and organizing events in the city. Everything should be determined by the interests and demands of the city’s population.

Alessandra Orofino is the Executive Director and Co-founder of Meu Rio, an online platform which develops tools for civic engagement and participation in Brazil. Meu Rio organizes online petitions as well as campaigns and aims to make information on political processes accessible to a broader public.

Things that you and I might think of as global problems, such as climate change, the energy crisis or poverty, are really, in many ways, city problems. They will not be solved unless people who live in cities actually start doing a better job. This includes our citizens' willingness to engage with democratic institutions; cities' ability to really include all of their residents; and lastly, our own ability to live fulfilling and happy lives.

Ilya Chekh is the founder and CEO of Motorika and W.E.A.S. Robotics. He is a member of the first Mars Russia team and chief engineer for the Mars Desert Research Station program crew. He is also a project designer for the only Russian team participating in the first international Cybathlon in Z_rich on 8 October 2016, a championship for pilots with disabilities using advanced assistive devices.

It has been a long time since the advance of technology could be defined in terms of decades – or even years. IT and pharmaceuticals are two of the fastest moving sectors, which is why it is vital to move quickly here. We are already using technology to help avoid mistakes in research and to analyze data with the maximum possible precision. In fact, we have yet to uncover the full extent of the potential of IT as applied to the medical services sector. Today’s participants in this market are setting the rules that govern it as they go along. What these rules will be depends on us. It will be interesting to discuss this at the Open Innovations Forum.

Edward Crawley has headed the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology since 2011, following previous experience in managerial roles at both MIT and NASA. He is a leading world expert in aeronautics and astronautics, and is a member of three national academies of engineering.

The Open Innovations Forum is the central platform for the discussion of the latest innovation policies in our country. The fact that the scope of the Forum includes a broad agenda on education reflects the important role that education plays in the development of Russia’s innovative potential. Intellectual breakthroughs, bolstered by the necessary infrastructure, can form the basis for new growth.

Ben Nelson is the founder, chairman and CEO of the interdisciplinary Minerva Project, designed to revolutionize the concept of higher education. While still a student at the University of Pennsylvania, he became passionate about the idea of educational reform and wrote a draft for a new academic program for students in their first year of studies. Since then, Ben has managed more than one successful online project, and his educational ideals have led to the creation of his own experimental higher education institution. Minerva’s mission is to take an individual approach to every student and encourage dynamic thinking. The learning process forsakes the lecture hall for an experience based entirely on project work and intensive discussion in small groups. The level of engagement of each student is assessed with the help of innovative Minerva technology: an interactive platform that allows students to monitor their progress and receive immediate feedback. After an initial first year in San Francisco, every semester is spent in a new city, where students learn a new language, get to know the local culture, and forge business contacts.

Roberto Cingolani is an internationally renowned physicist and Scientific Director at the Italian Institute of Technology. By completely changing the way the university operates, Cingolani and his colleagues have succeeded in making a scientific career a genuinely attractive option. Scientists can present a project to an independent panel of experts and receive a substantial grant, with further funding depending on successful implementation.

Dmitry Sharov is President of OCT, which he founded 10 years ago. Dmitry has 15 years’ experience in the field of clinical research. OCT operates both in Russia and overseas, including in the US. The company was one of the first in the industry to focus on the deployment of electronic data collection systems andprocess automation, taking data management services to the next level. Dmitry is responsible for setting out the company’s corporate vision and business development strategy. To support innovation, Dmitry launched a new research and development company, Data Matrix, providing data services. Data Matrix successfully passed a Skolkovo Foundation assessment and is currently part of theFoundation’s ecosystem. Dmitry’s ability to be the first to spot trends and to pick the right time to diversify has enabled his company to become a leader on the local market, and for a number of years it has remained the fastest developing player in its sector. Dmitry holds a degree in HR Management from the St. Petersburg Institute of Finance and Economics.

It has been a long time since the advance of technology could be defined in terms of decades – or even years. IT and pharmaceuticals are two of the fastest moving sectors, which is why it is vital to move quickly here. We are already using technology to help avoid mistakes in research and to analyze data with maximum possible precision. In fact, we have yet to uncover the full extent of the potential of IT as applied to the medical services sector. Today’s participants in this market are setting the rules that govern it as they go along. What these rules will be depends on us. It will be interesting to discuss this at the Open Innovations Forum.

Alexei Sitnikov is Vice President of Institutional and Resource Development at Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech), having played an active role in its creation. At Skoltech, Alexei is responsible for developing partnerships, managing the long-term development of the campus, and attracting contributions to the Institute’s endowment fund.

Today, more than ever, it is vital that we continue in our efforts to integrate Russia in the process of global development. Science and education have always been and will remain important tools for international cooperation. The Open Innovations Forum will afford leaders in business and education the opportunity for discussion and the chance to set out a common agenda both for the immediate future and moving forward.

Dzhanik Fayziev, movie producer at CEO Central Partnership, is director of the films Turkish Gambit and August Eighth, and director and producer of the Russian Odyssey film for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014. He is producer of the films Ice Age, Russians in the City of Angels, Saboteur. End of the War, Admiral and High Security Vacation. He is a recipient of the state prize of the Russian Federation in educational activities for the TV program Formula of Power as well as the Golden Eagle, TEFI and George prizes. Fayziev is a member of the advisory board of the Federal Foundation for Social and Economic Support of Russian Cinematography and a member of the Public Council of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

Advanced technology in movie production is a natural offshoot of scientific and technological progress. For most people, computer graphics (such as visual effects) are something mystical and completely unfathomable. For me, they are an artistic tool no different from a piece of charcoal, a pencil or a brush, which has come into being as the result of the natural evolution of means of expression. I always find it difficult to understand people who bring to life some form of technology or other, especially household technology. And even more difficult are those who are not able to see past the boundary between the virtual and the real world.

Anatoly Levenchuk is President of consulting firm TechInvestLab.ru, Research Director at the Russian branch of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) and a member of the executive committee of the Russian branch of SEMAT. He has over twenty years’ experience in strategic and methodological consulting. His clients have included the Bank of Russia, the Federal Commission for the Securities Market, the Ministry for Economic Development, RAO UES Russia, OGK-1, OmskEnergo, DalEnergo, NP ATS, EnergoStroiInvest Holding, Rosenergoatom, VNIIAES, NIAEP, Sudoexport, VNIIHOLODMASH Holding and many other major organizations. He has taught courses on the theory of systems engineering at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, the Ural Federal University and the Rosatom Academy. Anatoly is a recognized expert in the field of advanced technologies, and is professionally involved in the methodology of systems and software engineering, and engineering and technology management. His areas of interest include deep neural networks, semantic technologies, corporate and engineering information technology, simulation and conceptual multimodeling, and standardization. He runs a blog titled Laboratory Journal.

This year has been incredible: not only are computers now programming on a large scale, they are also learning – deep neural networks, which three years ago very few people had heard of, are solving problems that have been out of the reach of programmers for many decades. Computers already recognize human faces and texts, and can distinguish between animals and even different breeds of dogs better than people can. The time has come for computers to be put to work on the things that people aren’t very good at, including understanding certain things about humans themselves, to help advance medicine.

Artur Shakalis has worked in the video game industry for about ten years. He has been involved both in games production and publishing as well as in games development. He has been with Odnoklassniki (Classmates) since April 2010, taking a sabbatical of a year-and-a-half to broaden his horizons by working at Creara and AmberGames.

Today we are seeing the rapid growth of mobile platforms. The average user accesses the Internet from multiple devices: work computer, mobile phone, and even the television. These days, if you focus only on the Web, you are effectively shooting yourself in the foot. This is why we plan to actively develop our mobile department.

Dmitry Voloshin is Director of University Relations, Research and Corporate Education at Mail.ru and founder of Technopark and Technosphere, collaborative educational projects between Mail.ru and leading Russian universities for the training of qualified web developers and system architects.

Henry Readhead is a Board Member of Summerhill School, professional DJ and sound engineer, and grandson of Alexander S. Neill, founder of the pioneering Summerhill School. Following in the family tradition, Henry teaches music and manages all music education at the school.

Social and emotional development is an integral part of our lives. A. S. Neill believed that, in education, it should come before all else. For the past 94 years, Summerhill School has proved that you can combine emotional and social development with academic success.

Yuri Nikolsky is an academic with a PhD in Molecular Genetics, and an entrepreneur in the field of genetics. He is Director of Science at the Skolkovo Foundation Biomedical Cluster. A graduate of Moscow State University, from 1993_1997, he worked as a researcher at the University of Chicago Oncology Faculty, undertaking various projects in the field of molecular genetics. In 1998, he co-founded and became Vice President of the company Integrated Genomics, specializing in comparative genomics, where he was responsible for business development. In 2004, he was appointed CEO of GeneGo, a position he held for six years. GeneGo was a pioneer of systems biology and personalized medicine. Under Yuri’s leadership the company grew from a small start-up with five employees to a profitable business and a leader in the systems biology market with a staff of 130. GeneGo was acquired by Thomson Reuters in 2010, and Yuri continued to work for the company as Vice President for R&D, founding a research group which conducted service projects with the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. With Yuri at the helm, the group’s sales grew more than five-fold over three years, doubling in 2013 alone. He joined the Skolkovo Foundation Biomedical Cluster team in 2014.

Today the terms ‘personalized’ and ‘precise’ medicine represent two of the most popular approaches to health. They encompass a wide range of issues and concepts, from the ‘orphaning’ of a disease through the development of medical treatment and individually targeted therapies based on molecular profiling in oncology, to ‘consumer genomics’. We will be bringing together scientists, practicing doctors and drug developers at a round table event in order to discuss the most pressing issues in this field.

Vasily Belov is Senior Vice-President of Innovations at the Skolkovo Foundation, heading its front office, whose key objective is to find and subsequently commercialize Russian technology companies. Before joining the Skolkovo Foundation, he was involved in strategic development and business development projects in such companies as IBS and RUSAL. He also worked as a consultant at McKinsey, specializing in strategic consulting projects in the iron and steel industry and the banking sector.

The change in external conditions has led to increased demand for innovations produced domestically, and small innovation companies already feel it. Today, many Russian corporations that used to rely on their internal R&D and purchased the required technologies from abroad are demonstrating increasing interest in solutions offered at home. Industry ministries and government agencies, both at the national and regional level, are becoming involved in promoting promising technologies. Naturally, we are only just beginning on this path. Reliable mechanisms of collaboration between large corporations and innovative SMEs are only just taking shape.

Alexander Chernov is a journalist and experienced leader of communications departments at many leading Russian and international companies, such as Coca-Cola, TNK, and others. Currently he is Senior Vice-President of External Communications and Advertising at the Skolkovo Foundation. He began his career as a reporter at ITAR-TASS, where he worked for nearly ten years, six of which he spent in Latin America heading the agency’s Panama press center. Alexander is keen sports enthusiast and has worked on several major sports projects over many years. These include nominating Moscow to host the junior and summer Olympics of 2010 and 2012, nominating Sochi to host the winter Olympics (Sochi 2014), and nominating Russia to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He was a member of the Russian Football Union Executive Committee and worked as a general manager for the Russian national team. He has received numerous professional awards in journalism, PR, and marketing.

It's hard to dispute the symbolism and appropriateness of hosting Open Innovations 2015 at VDNH. Where else would you go to look at new breakthrough developments by domestic technology companies? Indeed, these developments are proving that Russia has already embarked on the road to innovation growth and has achieved significant results. In addition, I expect that the upcoming discussion at the Forum on the role of the territorial development mega-projects will help us to further our understanding of how to improve the system of innovation institutions that exists in the country, and how to make sure that they interact effectively.

Eugeny Kuznetsov is a communications and PR campaign expert. He has worked as Director of the Department of Development and Communications at RVC since the end of 2009 and subsequently as a Director of the Department of Strategic Communications. Since April 2014, he has been Deputy CEO, Chief of Project Management Office, and member of the Board of Directors of RVC.

Timoure Shchoukine is an expert in functional systems theory, artificial intelligence, biological feedback, and neurointerfaces; he is a consultant for a number of hi-tech start-ups and science-art projects.

Andrey Zyuzin, Managing Director of VEB-Innovations Foundation, an investor in companies with innovative product lines aimed at the international market.

The thing which I value most about the Open Innovations events program is its interdisciplinary nature, giving participants the opportunity to find out about the best achievements and most interesting trends in the many and varied technology industries. As an investor, it’s important to understand how life is changing for people and society as a whole as a result of technology, since these changes will have a fundamental effect on the market, on demand and on the very fabric of the economy and society.

Architect Carlo Ratti is the Director of the SENSEable City Lab at MIT. He is well known for his research into the impact of technology on architecture and urban planning.

The increasing deployment of sensors and hand-held electronics in recent years is allowing a new approach to the study of the built environment. The way we describe and understand cities is being radically transformed _ alongside the tools we use to design them and affect their physical structure.

The world’s citizens are currently transitioning to the third paradigm of urban mobility over the last 350–400 years. With the use of IT tools, “Pascal’s mobility” has become fundamentally more individualized. There are all sorts of applications that provide the opportunity to create individual travel maps using the most appropriate routes or public transport as well as various sharing formats. At the same time, IT tools allow for making “Ford’s mobility” fundamentally more socialized. Above all this refers to such formats as “car-sharing” taking into account the new opportunities offered by the self-driving option: a vacant car will not remain where it was left by another driver, but will automatically go to where it is in demand. The third paradigm will fundamentally change the face and standards of public transport and also make the model of mass motorization – which at a certain point took cities hostage – into a thing of the past.

Andrey Perfiliev, an endocrinologist, is the co-founder and Chief of Medicine of Atlas Biomedical Holding. In 2007, he graduated from Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University before completing a clinical residency in endocrinology and graduate studies at Vladimirsky Moscow Regional Research Clinical Institute. He is the founder of “Doctor at Work,” the world’s largest Russian-language social network for physicians, and organized one of Russia’s first forums devoted to innovative medical technologies. Since 2011, Andrey’s scientific and professional interests have included personalized medicine as one of the most promising areas for the development of modern healthcare. Andrey is the founder and head of the educational project atlasmed.ru, one of the first online media outlets fully dedicated to personalized medicine, and also the free online lectures for physicians “Genomic and post-genomic technologies in medical practice.” Active scientific work, participation in conferences, continuous development and a commitment to introducing modern technological innovations in practical medicine are the key aspects to which Andrey adheres in his activities.

The world of medicine is changing very quickly: the last decades of scientific research into molecular and cell biology, genetics and physiology have brought us new knowledge that is capable of fundamentally changing the future of medicine and approaches to preserving one’s health. Each year Open Innovations provides a key impetus for developing high-tech industries in Russia.

Kirill Kaem, Vice President and Executive Director of Вiomedical Technologies Cluster of the Skolkovo Foundation. He is a seventh generation doctor, entrepreneur and top manager of major Russian and foreign corporations. He has over 20 years of experience in senior management roles, including 15 years as a CEO at branches of international corporations. From 2011 to 2013 he headed up a new business area at Alfa Group – the major nationwide chain of Alfa-Health Center clinics, where he managed to double revenue within a year and expanded the chain by more than a third. Since 2013, he has been a member of the Board of Directors and a co-founder of the international medical center Medcluster, which was set up at the initiative of Sberbank in partnership with Strategy Group Partners and with the potential involvement of Johns Hopkins Medicine International. He specializes in launching start-ups in new regions and countries as well as new business areas at major holdings.

Over the last century, humanity has progressed from the engineering feats of the industrial age to the IT technologies of the post-industrial age. Today we are on the verge of a new stage in development, based on innovations in the biological sciences. This will affect health care, as well as the modification of other living organisms. Innovations in this field will theoretically allow us, over time, to create a paradigm shift in the way society operates, both on a universal level, and in everyday life. Get involved in a discussion that’s going to define a new trend in research! Come to the Open Innovations day dedicated to Health, on October 30. It’s guaranteed to be interesting!

Alexey Moskalev, DSc; Head of the Laboratory of Molecular Radiobiology and Gerontology, Institute of Biology, Komi Science Center of the Ural Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Syktyvkar; Supervisor of the Laboratory of Genetics of Ageing and Longevity, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny; Head of the Department of Ecology, Syktyvkar State University; Senior research scientist, Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow; Affiliate professor, School of Systems Biology, College of Science, George Mason University, Virginia, USA Author of the popular science book 120 Years is Just the Beginning: How to Defeat Ageing (Eksmo, 2014) Currently studying the molecular and genetic processes regulating ageing, longevity and stress resistance. Researching the geroprotective capacities of age-related signaling pathway inhibitors (COX2, PI3K, TOR, NF-KB). Researching the genetic mechanisms governing ageing processes in mammals with exceptionally long life spans, such as the Brandt’s bat (Myotis brandtii) and the Gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus). Member of the development team for Digital Ageing Atlas, a database of human age-related changes. Founder of the online systems biology of ageing databases geroprotectors.org and agingchart.org. Member of the editorial board at various journals, including Aging (Impact Journals), Biogerontology (Springer), Frontiers in Genetics of Aging (Nature Publishing Group), Aging and Disease, Genes&Cells, SM Journal of Food and Nutritional Disorders (SM Journals). Co-chairman of the organizing committee for the Genetics of Aging and Longevity conference.

The developed world is about to be struck by a silver tsunami. The population of these countries is steadily ageing. The consequences of the coming demographic changes are hard to predict. The only sensible response to these creeping issues is to research the processes of ageing and create the conditions for people to stay healthy and active in later life. I am pleased to see that the 2015 Open Innovations Forum has paid serious attention to this task, putting it on the agenda for discussion with a wide audience, including the very people responsible for taking decisions on these issues.

Ilya Flaks - head of several companies and projects, including the game publisher IMMO GAMES, the FiDmark web studio and the project FiBrain –Advertising in Seconds by the company Fibrum, which is producing the first models of virtual reality helmets for smartphones. Some of his professional activities involve developing and promoting online games and various educational and business games. For several years he has also been a member of the organizing committee for the Limmud conference, an educational, cultural and entertainment event that provides the opportunity for intensive training.

Virtual reality (VR) is now a rapidly growing global trend. The VR market will be worth more than USD 10 billion in the next 4–5 years. Our company is one of the founders of the VR market and we are confident that it has great potential and will touch on all areas of the world economy, as well as playing an important social role. It won’t be long before virtual reality is available to everyone.

Grigory acted as a producer for dozens of games in the U.S., financed startups while working at venture funds, founded his own platform development company for cartoons upon becoming an investment banker, held IPOs for several IT companies in New York and returned to Russia, where he currently heads the Multimedia and Gaming Technologies division at the Skolkovo Foundation.

Thanks to modern technologies, games have become such a part of our life that when contemplating the games of the future we shouldn’t talk about graphics and platforms, but about what impact the games have on our lives.

Sergey Orlovsky was still in the eighth grade when he began to develop games and once out of school, he founded his own company, called Nival. The company’s first title, an RPG with RTS elements called Rage of Mages, was unanimously recognized as Russia's first world-class game. Rage of Mages was followed by such legends as Blitzkrieg, Etherlords and the legendary Heroes of Might and Magic V. Today, Nival is a group of companies producing both offline and online games for PC and social networks, as well as for tablets and smartphones.

Games can be much more than entertainment. It’s the best and most engaging educational media and with the emergence of virtual reality it also offers the highest level of immersion.

Graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of Lomonosov Moscow State University. Worked in creative departments of the agencies The Point, Brandnew and Ogilvy, and others, founded the digital agencies Adwizard and Unikcom, developed and promoted Sape, one of the largest link exchange markets in the Runet, established the first Russian affiliate of the CPAnetwork platform and took part in establishing the Expertsender mailing service. Promoter of RTB technologies and the idea of programmatic buying in Russia. Currently heads the company HubRus DSP, the first independent demand side platform whose flagship products include the popular service Retargeter and the automated trading desk CPA Exchange.

Did you know that you, or more specifically your online profiles, are constantly being bought and sold? This process takes seconds or milliseconds. Powerful networking algorithms record all of your activities – your searches, the websites you visit, the ads you view, the time you spend on particular content – and then assign you to a particular group with common attributes in real time and sell advertisers the opportunity to show you an ad. The lucky winner of this opportunity is the one who is willing to pay more for it.

Alexey Petrukhin has produced more than 15 films, including “Cut the Bait,” “Male Season. Velvet Revolution,” “The Last Seeker,” “To Be or Not to Be,” “Viy” 3D, “The Teacher” and “Trip to China” 3D, among others. He is a candidate of legal sciences. Since 2000, he has headed the Russian representative office of the International Organization of Law Enforcement Agency Employees ROSPO. He has numerous government awards and letters of gratitude. In 2014, Petrukhin was awarded the national prize “Producer of the Year” while his film “Viy” 3D was named the “Highest Grossing Film of the Year”. Petrukhin will speak at Open Innovations as part of the “Modern Cinema Technologies” showcase about which markets will be promising for Russia in the future.

It would be premature for us to speak about victory. We essentially haven’t done anything yet – we built scenery, selected some costumes and brought in props. That is, everything was organized for us and we were provided with everything. Of course, in China the industry is extremely developed. Some 20,000 episodes of TV series are filmed a year there and 684 full-length feature films were made last year. That’s two movies a day! And 20–30 episodes! It’s impressive. I visited all the studios, took part in filming, spoke with Jackie Chan’s team, spent an entire night filming with them on set, witnessed how they shot fights, and I have to say there was nothing about which we would have exclaimed, “Wow, what wonders of technology they have!” They had the same hoisting cranes, they also tie cables to trees by hand, they also run around. It’s another matter that their hard work, diligence and fear of losing their job are unreal. In this regard, we could probably learn something from them. At the same time, we are very similar to the Chinese to a certain degree. Not outwardly, of course. But there’s something similar on the inside… They are extremely cautious. And they have developed a strong sense of patriotism, of course. Even if they don’t have sincere patriotism, they simply fall into line with it and observe the law of patriotism, so to speak. Therefore, it’s everything for one’s own country and self.

CEO of the Main Road Post Visual Effects Studio and visual effects supervisor Worked on the films: “72 Meters,” “Turkish Gambit,” “The Mongolian,” “Admiral,” “Wanted,” “The Inhabited Island,” “August Eighth,” “Metro,” “Stalingrad” and “The Ghost Writer”, and others.

There is no ceiling and I hope there never will be. It’s like growing up: the older you get, the more you realize that you don’t know anything. It’s the same thing here – the more we can do, the more areas that we know nothing about open up. This is how we are moving forward, always jumping headlong into the unknown.

Yulia Anfilova, a marketing manager at YouTube in Russia, joined Google soon after it opened an office in Moscow, in 2007, and for six years handled the promotion of Google, Gmail, Google Maps and B2B AdWords marketing. Her most prominent projects include: the first advertising campaigns of Google and YouTube in Russia as well as creating and holding VideoPeople, the first video blogger festival in Russia. Since 2013, she has been responsible for YouTube’s marketing in Russia. Prior to joining Google, she worked at the advertising agency Leo Burnett and then at the Moscow office of Microsoft.

The emergence of new communication channels that are comparable in terms of their scope to traditional media and platforms and provide everyone an opportunity to find their audience and become known has led to a role reversal between the traditional media and certain authors. The personalities around which the audience is growing take center stage. In the past, you could become famous thanks to the media, while today the media is interested in having famous people who have become popular outside of the media interact with the audience using their platforms. Today’s video bloggers are the media brands of the future.

Co-founder and CEO of smartBPM, analyst and project manager in the medicine+IT area at IVS. In 2013 she was invited to the ARGUS project – a system that uses video recordings of faces for instant diagnosis of a stroke risk. Another project grew out of ARGUS later on – smartBPM, a smart blood pressure meter which enables peripheral and central hemodynamics to be monitored round the clock. Currently (all documents will be finalized in October), smartBPM is a member of the Skolkovo Innovation Center. Commercial operations are set for April. In addition, she is a PR manager and Marketing expert of the e-Aesculapius projects, which is a comprehensive system for diagnosing cardio-vascular diseases on the basis of artificial intelligence and bioimpedance analysis technolgies; FlexiScan, which enables the identification of biomechanical errors that lead to postural disorders and locomotor system diseases, and generates individual corrective exercises; as well as a software package project for non-invasive morphometry of internal organs. She was the national winner of the 2014 and 2015 Imagine Cup, winner of the 2015 Russian Startup Tour in Ekaterinburg, and is a member of the Skolkovo Open University.

The things and approaches we are accustomed to become obsolete with each passing year, and are replaced by newer, better ones. You need your entire life to stay abreast of what is out there, what is just appearing now, and what we'll be seeing the very near future; that and the Open Innovations Forum. To learn more about the Longevity Elixir, you should visit the Health Day on October 30. As part of the program that day, we will discuss with the experts how IT looks in the medical services market, and just how much you have to bustle to survive there.

Nikolay Grachev possesses the huge know-how base in such fields as oil processing, commerce of petroleum and oil products, retail sale of oil products. In the field of power industry he is an expert in generation and power transmission segments. Before entering the Skolkovo Foundation Nikolay worked in the consulting firm Roland Berger Strategy Consultants (Russia). Since 2005 he had been its partner and Head of the sector-specialized centre "Energy and oil and gas industry" in Russia and CIS.

Urbanization is one of the 21st century’s defining global trends. Megalopolises don’t just dictate our life environment and our quality of life – they are also a huge driver of economic growth. This is why the concept of ‘smart cities’, as well as seeking out and supporting innovative technologies for the urban environment is a key priority for Skolkovo. Open Innovations presents an excellent opportunity to discuss new technologies, trends and the challenges of implementing them in everyday human life, a sphere which will be covered on the Forum’s Habitat day. I hope to meet interesting new startups working in this area, as well as potential partners to help make their technologies commercially successful.

Natalia Salamova has been working in the health care and pharmaceutical industry since 2010. She spent a six-month placement with the Federal Government of Germany at the Bundestag in Berlin as a deputy research assistant. In autumn 2010 she joined the team of an international contract research organization, where she progressed from assistant in the development department to business development director. She joined the BioEq team at the beginning of 2014.

With a growing number of young and ambitious companies, creating innovative medical products for preventing and treating various human illnesses, in an environment of growing demand for research and development aimed at creating new drugs, as well as amidst a general restructuring tendency in the local market, the appearance of such a groundbreaking addition to the infrastructure as specialized centers for clinical research has proven to be an ideal solution to market demands. Our company is excited to participate in the Open Innovations Forum, a platform offering further opportunities for dialogue between industry figures.

Andrey Lisitsa, Doctor of Biological Sciences and Correspondent Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Head of the Bioinformatics Technologies Lab at the Orekhovich Research Institute of Biomedical Chemistry. In 2007, he defended his doctoral thesis on Bioinformatics. In 2011, he was elected a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences for his work in medical proteomics. He is the co-author of 53 articles, including 19 articles written by himself and published in respected journals. Since 2014, he has been a member of the Council for Science and Education under the President of the Russian Federation and has taken part in resolving problems involving scientific support for improving the quality of life. His professional specialization entails using information and communications technologies to address fundamental problems in life sciences.

The Open Innovations Forum offers an excellent platform for looking at problems that seem ordinary and mundane from a new angle.

Andrey Sidenko is a Computer Science teacher at the Municipal Budgetary Educational Institution General Secondary School No. 29, who regularly receives awards at teaching excellence competitions. He was named 2012 Teacher of the Year for the Greater Moscow Area and 2013 Teacher of the Year for Russia. In addition, Andrey is a Microsoft expert in educational innovations, and last year won a nationwide competition to improve the school graduation exam procedure in Russia. According to the Connective Learning Today (USA) website, he is one of the most quoted teachers in the world.

Devin Young is a co-founder and creative director of Classcraft, a platform that helps teachers manage, motivate and engage their students by transforming their classroom into a role-playing game. Since it’s launch in August 2014, Classcraft has gained incredible traction with educators worldwide. Based in NYC and with an extensive background in creative strategy, branding, graphic, UX and UI design, he has worked with a diverse array of global brands and startups including Chanel, Intel, Microsoft, The Future of Storytelling Summit, The Feast Social Innovation Conference, and See.me. On a day to day basis, he leads the development of the Classcraft game experience, from building out the universe in which the game lives with a team of video game industry illustrators, down to the designs of the interfaces and tools.

Motivation and engagement are the main stimulus for learning, now more so than ever. Games are capable of transforming the learning experience.

At RVC Aleksey is in charge of the service responsible for analysis of development of innovation ecosystems in the Russian regions (Project Management Office). The Project Management Office at RVC works closely with the Ministry of Economic Development to coordinate innovation support programs (territorial clusters, engineering centers, technological platforms).

In 2002, Ancha Baranova took up post as Associate Professor in the Molecular and Microbiology Department, now part of the School of Systems Biology, at George Mason University (GMU), earning tenure in 2007. She currently also heads the Center for Study of Chronic Metabolic Diseases at the College of Science, GMU. In Russia, Baranova works alongside a large number of scientific teams carrying out research in the fields of functional genomics and bioinformatics, as well as searching for and validating biomarkers for chronic diseases. Some of the groups include those based at the Research Center of Medical Genetics of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, the Vavilov Institute of General Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) and the Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine at the Siberian Branch of RAS. In March 2014, Baranova joined Atlas Biomedical Holding as Scientific Director. She is a member of the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG), the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) and the Virginia Academy of Science. Professor Baranova is the author of two books and more than 80 peer-reviewed scientific works published in leading international journals. She also worked on several chapters of the National Guidelines on Genetic Disorders

It is well known that ideas are to be found up in the air. The Open Innovations Forum is the ideal place for us to catch those ideas with a butterfly net.

Alexander Gorokhov is General Producer at CGF visual effects studio, and has worked on all of Russia’s biggest cinema releases of the past few years. His r_sum_ includes such films and television series as Night Watch, Day Watch, Hipsters, 12, Wanted, Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan, Kandahar, Yolki 1–3, Yolki 1914, Metro, Ladoga, Chagall-Malevich, Ottepel, White Tiger and The Horde.

Cinema attracts a young audience like no other art form, expanding their perceptions of the world around them, and so the process of making films also provides an impetus for science, technology and innovation.

1987–1996 Work at the Computing Center of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (later the Russian Academy of Sciences). 1996–2000 Director of the Moscow representative office of Carana Corporation. 2000–2002 CEO of Carana LLC (successor to the Moscow representative office of Carana Corporation). 2002–2003 Head of the Corporate Strategy department at UES of Russia. 2004 Head of the Department for Electricity Sector Reform at UES of Russia. March 2004 Member of the Executive Board, Head of the Department for Electricity Sector Reform at UES of Russia. 2004–2008 Member of the Executive Board, Head of the Reform Management Center at UES of Russia. 2009 Director for Innovative Development and member of the Executive Board of Nanotechnologies State Corporation. From March 2011 till June 2012 Director for Innovative Development and member of the Executive Board of RUSNANO. From June 2012 till February 2014 Director for Innovative Development and Head of the Analytical Division of OJSC RUSNANO. Member of the Executive Board of OJSC RUSNANO. Member of the Executive Board of the Fund for Infrastructure and Educational Programs. February 2014 Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of RUSNANO Management Company LLC. Head of the Venture Capital Investment Division of RUSNANO Management Company LLC. Member of the Executive Board of RUSNANO Management Company LLC. Member of the Executive Board of the Fund for Infrastructure and Educational Programs.

Since taking over as CEO of T-Platforms Group in 2002, Mr. Opanasenko has led the company to recognition as one of the fastest growing and most widely respected companies in the global HPC industry. T-Platforms is recognized internationally for its positions on theTOP50 and TOP500 listings of the world's most powerful supercomputers. Mr. Opanasenko leads the company's business strategy and operations, and is the key spokesperson for T-Platforms Group with customers, partners, and investors. Mr. Opanasenko also serves as Chairman of the Board of T-Platforms Group and its subsidiary companies. Previously he held the position of Director of Russian affiliate with Merl Management Corp. Mr. Opanasenko graduated from Moscow State Aviation Technological University with a BS degree in Planning Engineering

Holds a master's degree in "Molecular Biology and Biophysics" from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Has experience of managing projects in the biotechnology industry at various stages, from pre-seed to large venture deals. A qualified specialist in risk assessment, packaging, investment in biotechnology projects, administration of spin-off projects, fine-tuning of business processes and successful withdrawal strategies.

Founder and CEO of Human Stem Cell Institute OJSC (HSCI, www.eng.hsci.ru; MOEX: ISKJ). Founder of Gemabank – the largest private cord blood stem cell bank in Russia. Founder and publisher of the scientific and analytical journal Genes & Cells (before 2014 known as "Cell Transplantology and Tissue Engineering"). Member of the Board of Directors of Xenetic Biosciences Inc, a biopharmaceutical company (MA, USA; OTC/BB: XBIO). Winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 Award in hi-tech in Russia conducted by Ernst & Young. Artur Isaev holds MD from Rostov State Medical University (1994) and MBA from Moscow International Business School MIRBIS (1998). From 1994 to 1999 Artur Isaev headed an investment-brokerage company, from 1999 to 2003 he was a CEO of Mauer-Audit & Partners auditing and consulting group. Among other things, he was a co-investor in SMI-link project on the base of which Yandex.Traffic Jams internet service was created in Russia. In 2003 Artur Isaev founded Human Stem Cells Institute – a Russian biotech company, and in 2004 HSCI opened Gemabank – one of Russia’s first cord blood banks. HSCI became the first Russian biotech to go public – in 2009 Artur Isaev conducted HSCI's IPO on the MICEX – now MOEX (Moscow Exchange), and then turned HSCI into multifaceted biotech company with a wide range of products and services. As of today, HSCI is engaged in drug discovery, R&D and marketing of innovative proprietary products and services in the field of regenerative medicine, bio-insurance, medical genetics, including reproductive genetics, gene therapy and biopharmaceutics. Under Mr. Isaev’s leadership, in 2011 HSCI obtained marketing authorization and in 2012 launched in Russia Neovasculgen®, the first-in-class gene-therapy drug for the treatment of Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD), including Critical Limb Ischemia (CLI). The drug’s action mechanism – therapeutic angiogenesis – introduces a new approach to treating ischemia. In 2011 HSCI also brought to the market SPRS-therapy – the innovative cell technology which entails the use of autologous dermal fibroblasts to repair skin damage due to aging and other structural changes. In 2011 HSCI initiated and became a co-investor in SynBio – a long-term multilateral project to create new unique medicines (first-in-class and BioBetters). The SynBio project unites Russian and international biopharm companies, including Pharmsynthez and Xenetic Biosciences, and is supported by an investment from RUSNANO (a Russian state-owned fund for supporting nanotechnologies). In 2013 HSCI launched Reprobank – a reproductive cell and tissue bank (personal storage, donation). Currently, HSCI is implementing a socially significant project to create its own Russia-wide network of Genetico medical centers & testing lab to provide a range of genetic diagnostic and consulting services with the aim of early identification, prediction and prophylactic treatment of genetic disorders (incl. PGD and NIPT among others). Starting 2013, DNA testing services have been provided using the facilities of HSCI’s new laboratory and production complex opened in Moscow. As a part of its activities to support innovations, Artur Isaev is a co-founder of IPOboard – an online information and trading system that helps promising non-public innovative companies raise capital. The project is a part of Innovation & Investment Market (iIM) of the Moscow Exchange. In 2014 HSCI, supported by Moscow City Government, held the first international investment conference Moscow Life Sciences Investment Day-2014. In 2014 HSCI also won the biggest in Russian history lawsuit protecting the reputation of cell technology and cord blood banks.

Evgeny is a successful venture capitalist with more than twelve years’ investment experience in life sciences. Before joining RMI Partners he was a cofounder and general partner at Helix Ventures (Palo Alto, California) – an investment company focused on innovative therapeutic technologies (biopharmaceuticals and medical devices). Before that Evgeny was a partner at Pitch Johnson’s pioneer venture investment company Asset Management Company, one of the oldest venture firms in Silicon Valley. Evgeny has been involved in more than 30 investments in biomedical companies, including such success stories of venture capital as BiPar Sciences (acquired by Sanofi-Aventis), Chimerix (IPO NADSDAQ: CMRX), Enteric Medical Technologies (acquired by Boston Scientific), Fusion Medical Technologies (acquired by Baxter International), MicroVention (acquired by Terumo Corporation) and Coherus Biosciences (NASDAQ: CHRS). In his early career Evgeny was a Chief Scientific Officer at the Institute of Regional Medico-Ecological Problemsin Barnaul, the lead institute of the federal research program called “Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site – Altai” that was researching the consequences of nuclear tests for the environmental and human health. During seven yearsof his service, the Institute developed into a globally recognized research center focused on radioactive exposure consequences for human health. Evgeny Zaytsev is an active business community leaderin Russian and Silicon Valley. He was one of the founders the first president of US-Russia Technology Symposium at Stanford University (now Global Technology Symposium), and the annual Silicon Valley Open Doors investment conference. Evgeny Zaytsev is an author of more than 70 scientific and business publications on entrepreneurship, venture capital and biotechnology. Evgeny Zaytsev received his M.D. (cum laude) in 1991 and his Ph.D. in Medicine in 1993, both from the Altai State Medical University. He earned his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business (California) in 2002.

<b>New electronics - flexible, organic, printed and its importance in the future world</b><br> <br> Electronics has been the engine that drives not only computing, but also global wireless connectivity. We live today in a connected world. And yet, many more objects surrounding us could potentially be connected, when technologies are provided that allow to do this at the right cost point in the required volumes and with a flexible form factor. Flexible and printed electronics is precisely the technology that will offer that. By integrating electronic identification on packages, value paper, retail items, and so on, more and better information will be available, and this will lead to new services and new business models. Beyond identification, the new technology also allows to integrate thin-film sensors and display segments, leading to thin flexible sensor or display labels and patches. These will spur further innovative services related to food safety, anti-counterfeiting, product advertisement, health care, and so on. Indeed, this new form of electronics – flexible, organic, printed – is a fuel for innovation in the future world.

A graduate and master's degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto and a Ph.D. in Systems and Information Technology at the School of Engineering of the University of Minho.

Dr. Alexander Mityashin is a project manager in the thin-film electronics department at imec. In this role, he has responsibilities for imec’s R&D in thin-film electronics IC from 2014. He was awarded a MSc (Honors) degree from the Moscow State Technical University in 2008 and a PhD (summa cum laude) degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Leuven in 2013. He authored over 20 conference contributions and journal publications on fundamental science and technology of thin-film semiconductors.

Dr Calzada MBA is an academic entrepreneur working as Lecturer, Research Fellow and Senior Policy Adviser at the University of Oxford (UK) Future of Cities, Master in Global Sustainable Cities at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow (UK) and at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Center for Urban Studies (Belgium. He has been lecturer at Aston University in Birmingham (UK), Nevada (USA), Helsinki (Finland) and Mondragon (Spain). His main research interest concerns comparing social, economic, democratic and politically innovative processes in cities and regions by paying special attention to cases and issues of regional and metropolitan devolution. In particular, he is focused on investigating European City-Region and Smart City benchmarking case studies through the application of qualitative and action research methods. He also has experience outside academia working with stakeholders in the public, private and civic society sectors. Public sector: he has held the positions of Director of Research for the Basque Regional Government (2008-2010), Scientific Director of the City-Region Congress (2012) (www.basquecity.org) & Co-director of Political Innovation Summer School (2015-2017). Private sector, he has worked at the Mondragon Co-operative Corporation Group (2002-2015) and as a Deputy Manager of SMEs (1997-2002).

Vice Director of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research since March 2014. In 2012, Member of the Presidium of the Presidential Council of the Russian Federation for Science and Technology. A participant in the program and organizing committees for several international conferences on accelerator physics (RUPAC, STORI, COOL, and the Professor Sarantsev Memorial Seminar). Laureate of the Russian Federation Government Prize in Science and Technology in 2010 for the creation of new generation heavy ion accelerators for relativistic nuclear physics and innovative nuclear energy technologies (group award).

Director of National Research Center Kurchatov Institute Scientific Leader of the Faculty of Nano-, Bio-, Information Technology and Cognitive Science at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT); Head of the Department of Nanosystem Physics at the Faculty of Physics at Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Department of Neutron and Synchrotron Physics at St. Petersburg State University; Editor-in-Chief of Kristallografiya, a publication of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He is Head of the interdepartmental working group for Priority and Interdisciplinary Scientific Research under the Presidential Council of the Russian Federation for Science and Education, and Chairman of the Commission for Science and Innovation of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation.

Naledi Pandor is the Minister of Science and Technology in South Africa. She was the Minister of Home Affairs. Pandor previously served as the Minister of Education from 2004 to 2009. She is also the Deputy Chairperson of Joint Education Trust Board and National Director of Black Management Forum.

Dr. Cao Jianlin has been Vice Minister of Science and Technology and member of the CPC Leading Group of MOST since September 2006. Vice Minister Cao is in charge of high and new technologies and international cooperation. He oversees the Department of Hi-tech Development and Industrialization, the Department of International Cooperation (Office for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs) and the Joint Office for 863 Program.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the current Union Minister for Science & Technology in the Government of India. Initially, he was given the charge of Union Health Ministry. Formerly he had been the Minister of Law and Minister of Health in the Government of Delhi. He was first elected in 1993 as member of the Legislative Assembly of Delhi from Krishna Nagar Vidhan Sabha. Dr. Vardhan's contributions as Health Minister as well as his efforts to eradicate Polio were a huge success and appreciated by all. His Polio Eradication Plan was adopted by the Government of India and exercised throughout the nation. Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee described him as Swasthya Vardhan.

José Aldo Rebelo Figueiredo has been voted into the Chamber of Deputies of the Federal Government of São Paulo six times. He began his political career as Director of the Academic Center at Alagoas Federal University, and has also been President of the National Union of Students (UNE). One of the most influential lawmakers in the country, Rebelo was also Minister of Sport from 2011 to 2015. On 1 January 2015 he was appointed Brazil’s Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation.

Andrei Fursenko was appointed Aide to the President of the Russian Federation in 2012. Previously, from 2004, he was Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. In 2013 he was appointed Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Russian Science Foundation. While he was serving as First Deputy Minister of Russia’s Ministry of Industry, Science and Technology, provision for financing the scientific support of vital innovative projects of state significance was first included in the federal budget. He has been instrumental in the implementation of National Priority Project “Education”. His time in charge of the sector saw many changes to the process of integration between science and higher education.

Neuro- and Biofeedback-Therapist (Practice in Krefeld, Germany) CEO of NeuroFit GmbH, CEO of Home of attention (HOA, since 2011) Academic background: Lecturer in Psychology at the "University of Applied Sciences for civil rights and administration" State of Northrhine-Westfalia (City of Duisburg), branch of study: Police training and urban administration. Scientific assistant at the University clinic of Tubingen, Department of psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy (2003 - 2007). Graduation as Dr. phil. at the University of Wuppertal (Branch of study: Cognitive Psychology - „negative priming“ -128-channel EEG research). Founder member and lecturer of the Academy for Neurofeedback. Member of the board as lecturer of the German society for Biofeedback (DGBfb e.V., www.dgbfb.de). Cooperation with - and therapist at the University of Cologne, Ambulance for Psychotherapy, Department of Social studies Cooperation with - and advisor for the University of Applied Sciences Bonn Rhein-Sieg, Department of Business Studies, Prof. Theo Peters Cooperation with - and advisor for the University of Applied Sciences Wiesbaden Russelsheim, Department of advertising technologies and interactive media, Prof. Dr. Gernot Heisenberg

Alexey Nikolaev has worked for the Intel Corporation since 2004. With over 20 years’ experience in the field of IT (from research to the development of new products and the support of innovation and entrepreneurship within the corporation), Alexey develops and implements training and acceleration programs for innovative and entrepreneurial projects in the field of new “smart” devices, portable electronics and the Internet of Things. He is a start-up project mentor, and expert in start-up tenders and actions, a specialist in the practice of new educational formats and initiatives, and an exponent of technology-based innovation, “making” and the future of technological products and markets.

One of the world’s leading scientists working in the field of virtualization of computer software and hardware. The results of his research are being put into practice by over 11 million websites and by over 50 million email addresses. In 2013 he was elected Head of the Russian division of the IEEE Computer Society. He has over 120 patents to his name.

Igor Asonov is the Director of the Center for Youth Technical Creativity at St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, which includes the open digital manufacturing laboratory Fablab Polytech, and over 10 other groups for young people involved in engineering and scientific and technological projects. He is one of the driving forces, and a founder, of the Association of Centers of Youth Technical Creativity.

Dan E. Davidson, President of American Councils for International Education, has dedicated much of his life to developing and supporting global initiatives. For 40 years the organization has been involved in research into education and the development and implementation of academic exchange programs. Davidson participated in the development of the long-standing Russian–US partnership EURECA, aimed at the strengthening of scientific and entrepreneurial relations. He received his PhD in Slavic languages and literature from Harvard University. For the last 35 years he has been lecturing and conducting research into the study of Russian language.

Denis Yanyshev works at the Laboratory of Quantum Information at Lomonosov Moscow State University’s Faculty of Physics. His main interests are quantum optics, physics of particles in optical and electromagnetic traps, and the computer modeling of laser-matter interaction. He holds seminars and practical lessons on computer physics for first and second year students of the faculty. In addition, he participated in creating the faculty’s Center for Distance Learning for teaching physics and math to schoolchildren.

Andrei Lyamin is the Head of the Centre for Distance Learning at ITMO University. His main field of research is automated data processing and management systems in science and education. In addition to academic works (of which he has over 100 to his name), Andrei Lyamin is also involved in practical projects. He has developed remote testing technologies, created digital educational environments, prepared CPD programs in the field of IT, and improved the technology used in the Unified State Exam. In 2009, he was honored with a St. Petersburg Government award for his groundbreaking achievements.

Mike Feerick is the CEO and Founder of ALISON, one of the world’s largest free online learning platforms - focused on workplace skills development. Launched in 2007, ALISON now has 6 million users and 700,000 graduates worldwide, publishing 750 free courses ranging from Business, Health, Languages to IT. ALISON recently launched free learning management (LMS) and will soon launch free publishing. Mike’s services to social entrepreneurship has been honoured with numerous global awards: a WISE Award in 2013, a Diploma Award from UNESCO (2010), an Ashoka Fellowship (2011), and an Arthur Guinness Social Fund Award (2012). Mike founded the Irish National Diaspora Programme, Ireland XO. He holds degrees from the University of Limerick (BBS 89), Ireland and Harvard University (MBA 94).

Associate Fellow of the Academy of Medical and Technical Sciences of the Russian Federation. A graduate of the Biomedical Engineering Faculty of Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Andrey Vilenskiy has held senior positions in a number of large Russian medical and pharmaceutical companies. For over five years he led research at the All-Russian National Scientific, Research and Testing Institute for Medical Engineering in the fields of Analysis of the Medical Devices Market, and Nomenclature and Classification of Medical Devices. Andrey Vilenskiy is founder and head of the MEDITEX Scientific &amp; Technical Center whose portfolio includes about a hundred market research, consulting, and R&amp;D projects carried out for both commercial companies and government agencies. Andrey Vilenskiy is a member of ESOMAR (the European Society of Marketing Research Professionals). He speaks and moderates at major industry events. He is the author of more than 30 scientific and analytical papers on the condition and development of the medical devices market and government regulation of this market, as well as on the classification of medical devices.

The world's leading manufacturers consider medical technology a guarantor of current and future economic growth. The intensive proliferation of innovative developments in this field is directly associated with the ever-increasing role of nano-, bio- and IT technologies, and is only possible if given a public perception and conducted on a mass scale. The Open Innovations Forum provides scientists with this opportunity, giving them a platform to speak about the most advanced research projects in medicine and biotechnology

Dmitry Zubtsov is Vice Rector for Academic Affairs at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. He holds a PhD in physical and mathematical sciences in the field of molecular biology. His scientific interests include biophysics and bioinformatics. From 2009 to 2012 he was Deputy Head of the Department of Molecular Physics at MIPT.

Leonid has over 25 years of management experience in large companies in various sectors of the market. He currently is a member of the Board of Directors of RusnanoMedInvest (a life science venture capital fund), NovaMedica (a pharmaceutical company) and Doctor Ryadom (a network of medical clinics). Leonid is also the Founding Partner and the Chairman of the Board of RMI Partners (a venture capital investment company). Before 2012, when he became one of the leaders of Team Drive, Leonid was the President, the Chairman and a member of the Board of Directors of Systema JFSC (from 2008 to 2011). From 2006 to 2008, Leonid was managing a telecommunication company Mobile TeleSystems (MTS OJSC) as the President and the Chairman of the Management Board. During fifteen years from 1991 to 2006, Leonid was participating in creation and development of the insurance company ROSNO. In 2003 he became the head of ROSNO as its CEO and the Chairman of the Management Board. His personal “portfolio” includes participation in the Board of Directors of RussNeft OJSC as the Chairman (2010-2012) and a membership in the Supervisory Board of VTB OJSC (2012-2013). Currently, Leonid is a member of the Government Expert Council of the Russian Federation which goal is to involve the business community in the process of preparation and implementation of the Government’s decisions. Leonid graduated with honours from I.M. Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy and in 2006 he became a Doctor of Medical Sciences.

Gerd Leonhard is a widely-known and top-rated futurist, with over 1500 engagements in the past 15 years and a combined audience of over 1 million people. Gerd focusses on near-future, ‘nowist’ observations and actionable foresights in the sectors of humanity, society, business, media, technology and communications. Gerd is also an influential author, a sought-after executive ‘future trainer’ and a trusted strategic advisor. Gerd is considered a leading voice on a wide range of topics including digital transformation and the discovery of digitally-native business models, the opportunities and challenges of an exponential society, a sustainable business and cultural ecology, social media and communications, TV / film, radio and broadcasting futures, mobile content and commerce, innovation, leadership and entrepreneurship, ‘hard-future’ consumer trends, human-machine futures and AI, the IoT, big data and automation, next-generation advertising, marketing and branding, as well as sustainability and related ‘green future’ topics. His diverse client list of over 200 companies includes Unilever, Lloyds Bank, WWF, YouTube, Nokia, The Guardian, Google, Sony, Telkom Indonesia, Siemens, RTL, ITV, BBC, France Telecom, Orange, Deutsche Telekom, MTN, The Financial Times, DDB, Ogilvy, Omnicom, the European Commission, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, VISA, Volkswagen and many others.

In April 2013 Mr. Aho was appointed as an Executive Chairman of East Office of Finnish Industries representing the leading Finnish corporations in Russia. In addition to East Office of Finnish Industries, Esko Aho also chairs the board of Finnish-Russian Chamber of Commerce (FRCC) and the joint board of directors of Business Team for Russia, a partnership between the FRCC, East Office, Finland Chamber of Commerce and the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK. In addition, he is Consultative Partner at Nokia. Mr. Aho’s other domestic and international activities are coordinated through his private consulting company Verbatum Oy.

Axel Flaig was appointed Senior Vice-President for Research and Technology (R&amp;T) in September 2014. Prior to this role Mr. Flaig was Senior Vice-President for Flight Physics, position he held since 2009. Upon completion of his Aerospace Engineering studies in Aachen Technical College, Mr Flaig started his professional career in 1980 by joining VFW-FOKKER (Bremen, Germany), now Airbus, as a Flight Mechanics specialist. Then he was successively involved, as an aerodynamicist and later as a flight-test engineer, in A300, A310, A330, A340 and A321 projects. From 1996 Mr. Flaig progressively held different management responsibilities inside the aerodynamics department, leading him to take charge of the Wind-Tunnel Testing department from 2001 to 2006.  During this period the main projects for Airbus were A3XX and A400M. In 2006, following the launch of A350, Mr. Flaig was appointed A350 Integrated Flight Performance Team Leader. During this period, his role was to find an optimum configuration from an overall aircraft design point of view. From 2006 to 2009, Mr. Flaig was the Vice-president in charge of the aerodynamics department. In this role, he set-up and developed a new trans-national organization in line with a more and more trans-national and integrated Airbus.

Martin Peuker has been working in the healthcare system for more than 10 years. As the Deputy CIO of Charité, he is responsible for the implementation of new information technology strategies. Before joining Charité, Martin was a senior consultant at Steria Mummert Consulting, and Healthcare Solution Manager at Siemens. During that time, he oversaw the adoption of new reporting and hospital management structures. His new concept of managing cost by type of activity, and the implementation of this approach, played a large role in bringing in new business. Martin is one of the leading specialists in the field of medical data storage. At Charité, his efforts were key in the creation of a new data warehouse based on inMemory technology. He also oversees the development and introduction of new, modern clinical information systems that factor in the needs of scientific research.

Vitaly Prutsky graduated fr om the Pavlov First St. Petersburg State Medical University. He launched his academic career at the Research Institute of Influenza, where he worked for three years. In 1995, Vitaly resumed his education at Oxford University, where he earned a degree in experimental and computer virology.<br> For many years, he worked in the field of applied information technologies in research and development institutes in the UK and the Netherlands: fr om 2001 to 2005, Vitaly was employed by pharmaceutical company Organon, first in Scotland, wh ere he established a bioinformatics group, and then in the Netherlands, wh ere he led a project to introduce computer technologies into the drug toxicity evaluation process.<br> From 2005 to 2011, he managed the Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Department at Almac Group Limited (UK).<br> In 2011, Vitaly joined the AstraZeneca Russia team as Head of the Center for Bioinformatics and Predictive Medicine in St. Petersburg. He also managed information services for AstraZeneca’s R&amp;D departments in Russia and Eastern Europe.<br> In 2015, he became part of the Natsionalniy Bioservis project: the first biobank to be created in Russia.

Professor Alexander Kel has been a bioinformatics researcher for more than 20 years. In 1985, he graduated from Novosibirsk State University with a degree in mathematical biology, and in 1990, he earned the degree of Candidate of Biological Sciences (Ph.D.) in bioinformatics, molecular biology and genetics. During his 15 years at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics (ICG) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, his career path led him from a position as a programmer all the way to the post of Vice-Head of the Laboratory of Theoretical Molecular Genetics. In 1999, Alexander set up the Bioinformatics Group at ICG with funding from the Volkswagen Foundation. From 2000 to 2010, he was the Senior Vice President for Research &amp; Development at BIOBASE in Wolfenbüttel, Germany. He is currently Scientific Director of geneXplain in Germany, a company which he founded, and the CEO of Biosoft.ru, a Skolkovo resident firm. Alexander also heads the Bioinformatics Group at the Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk. Throughout his career, he has worked in nearly all modern fields of bioinformatics, including theoretical models of molecular genetic information systems, analysis of nucleotide and protein sequences, analysis and forecasting of promoters, analysis of secondary protein structures, prediction of secondary RNA structures, the theory of mutations and the recombination process, molecular evolution, databases, and gene expression research. Alexander is the author of more than 90 scientific publications, several chapters in books on bioinformatics and textbooks.

Mikhail Samsonov graduated from Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University. He holds an MD (Candidate of Medical Sciences) degree and is a cardiologist and immunologist; he completed his business education at INSEAD, and has appeared as a speaker and expert at many high-profile conferences in Russia and abroad. Mikhail has more than 17 years of management experience in the pharmaceutical industry in the UK, Belgium, the US, and Russia: at the American pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb (Executive Medical Director, European Markets; Executive Director of Regional Clinical Operations for Asia Pacific and EMEA); and at the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis (Chief Scientific Officer for Russia), contributing to the development of more than 10 new drugs and the creation of highly effective clinical departments in fast-growing markets.<br> He is currently forming, managing all the drug development for, and handling the registration activities of R-Pharm, as well as participating in technology transfer and the establishment of partnerships with foreign universities and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Vladislav Mileiko is a graduate of the Biology Department of Novosibirsk State University with a degree in molecular biology and has undertaken postgraduate studies at the Cellular Biology Laboratory at the Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. At the age of 24, Vladislav received the Zvorykin Award for an innovative project in 2010, for his precise, inexpensive method of analyzing extracellular DNA in blood to diagnose cancer. He was also the 2010 prizewinner at the Russian Youth Innovation Convention, and received a grant from the Ministry of Social Development in 2011. Since 2011, he has been an extramural resident of Skolkovo. Until June 2014, Vladislav was the Deputy Director of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Life Sciences Center. Since that time, he has co-founded and become CEO of the ReadSense Genomic Center. Vladislav is also the co-founder and Director of Genomika.

Kamil Isaev is a Vice President of EMC Corporation, a General Manager of EMC Moscow R&D Center. Before joining EMC, Kamil Isaev spent 16 years at Intel where he held a number of leadership positions: Academic Relations and Government Affairs Manager, Technology & Manufacturing Group Country Manager, Russia/CIS Marketing Director. From 2010 through 2013 he served as Intel Russia’s R&D GM. In this role he was responsible for Intel’s R&D sites in Russia, including development and implementation of Intel Russia strategy covering Academic, Government relations and Innovation programs. Over the last 16 years, Kamil Isaev’s significant contribution has helped to make Intel Russia one of the most visible and respected R&D centers in the country. Prior to Intel, Kamil Isaev worked for Russian Academy of Sciences, Coca-Cola, and Lancer. He holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Moscow State University.

Since 1995, Maxim Zharenov has worked in management positions at various Russian and international telecommunications and consulting firms, created new companies, and participated in the restructuring of existing ones. In 2002, he was the first person in Russia to begin promoting WiMAX technology, and 2007 saw him assume the post of CEO for Russia at TRIVON (Switzerland), a subsidiary of Virgin Group (UK). Before arriving at Skolkovo, Maxim founded and acted as the CEO of Russian Towers (USA).

nformation has always been a driving force for society. The modern paradigm of digitization, globalization and deregulation of access to all types of information has altered the balance of power between information suppliers and information consumers; between those who contribute the material resources, and those who contribute their intellect and talent. Unlike in the recent past, information channels have now become more personal, and the means of access to those channels have become more diverse. Will the existing operators in the global infocommunications infrastructure be able to maintain their position on the market? What will users’ information resource preferences and access technologies look like in the future? Who will ‘own’ the client? I invite everyone to come together and discuss these topics at the Open Innovation Forum!

Vasily Ryzhonkov leads Skolkovo’s Mobile Tech Hub, overseeing IoT &amp; wearable technology, AR and VR, mobile apps &amp; platforms, and human-machine interfaces. Vasily’s key tasks are developing and supporting high-tech startups in the mobile tech field, and developing and nurturing innovative ecosystems. Since 2011, he has participated in the business development of more than 250 tech startups. His experience in IT/Telecoms spans more than 10 years.

Technology and innovation are among most important drivers of human development. As I see it, humanity still faces three serious challenges in the fields of IT and computer science in the 21st century: autonomous robotics, artificial intelligence, and the technologies of virtual and augmented.

Lilia Boyko joined the Skolkovo project in 2011. Prior to this, she worked for many years at major Russian and international television networks, including as a writer and editor for a popular science program. Over the last 10 years, Lilia has built a career around professional communications. One area of focus that is rapidly expanding at Skoltech right now involves promoting scientific achievements and popularizing knowledge. Skoltech’s professors and researchers are frequent guests of various media outlets.

Science is a great asset when it comes to seduction. Those who are interested in science cannot possibly be boring or drab, because where the mind is at work, there is always drive and energy.

In the Skolkovo Nuclear Technologies Cluster, Alexander Fertman is responsible for cooperation between Russian research centers and their overseas counterparts; recruiting highly qualified scientists and engineers to the project; searching for new, promising ideas in the fields of nuclear science and industry; and helping researchers establish lines of communication with the business world. One of the most important elements of his job is the formation of the cluster’s expert community. He leads negotiations on the technological agenda for cooperation with industrial partners; his goals include the creation of partners’ research centers at Skolkovo.<br> Alexander is one of the organizers and Deputy Director of the FAIR-Russia Research Center. He also works as an assistant professor and Assistant Department Chair for Science in the Extreme Matter Physics Section of the Theoretical Nuclear Physics Department of the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute.

Open Innovations’ is a term used to denote a certain development model of large corporations. For startups working in the sphere of cutting-edge production technologies, it is very important that as many market leaders as possible choose that specific path of development. When that kind of problem-solving approach is used by companies, it significantly expands the market for technological solutions and raises the demand for startups that are capable of finding and implementing complex technical solutions in real time. Of course, developers and entrepreneurs have to understand that the status of supplier to a big company means not only steady income, but also a high level of responsibility for the quality and delivery on time of their part of the work. It is the ‘unreliability’ of small and medium-sized businesses that reinforces the tendency of large Russian players to strive to produce all of the elements of complex systems at their own facilities. This, in its turn, increases costs and reduces the competitiveness of the end product. I hope that this Forum, in its new, dynamic format, will provide industrial startups with the opportunity to make a better showing in front of potential clients, and bring us closer to a transition from talking about ‘open innovations’ to real, mutually beneficial cooperation between small and large business in the field of technology

Ruslan Yunusov has 10 years of experience as CFO and CEO of innovation, investment, oil and gas companies and currently is the CEO of the Russian Quantum Center. He is Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences who has authored a number of scientific publications in physics and economics.

Anastasiya Rakova is the Mayor of Moscow’s plenipotentiary in the Moscow City Duma. She is a qualified professional in the fields of state, municipal and constitutional law. She previously monitored the performance of Russia’s regional governors as part of her work in the Ministry of Regional Development. Anastasiya contributed to the development of a unified system to monitor local government authorities.

Tommaso Calarco is a great world authority on quantum informations. He is also Professor of Quantum Information University of Ulm (Germany) and the member of the International Advisory Board of the Russian Quantum Center. He is currently the coordinator of several European research projects on quantum information and the author of more than 100 publications in refereed journals.

Ivan Kudryavtsev is Editor-in-Chief of Filmpro.ru, a presenter with the Russia-24 news channel and host of the Movie Industry show. Ivan Kudryavtsev previously worked as a freelance correspondent for the country’s leading radio stations The Voice of Russia, Mayak and Vesti FM, and as a presenter for the Vesti TV channel. He produces and curates film documentary projects.

Mikhail Abyzov is responsible for organizing the work of the Government Commission for the Coordination of Open Government. He is co-owner of the Digital October Center, the Russian capital’s preeminent venue for entrepreneurship and IT conferences and presentations. He won the 2003 Russian Federation Government Prize in Science and Technology for developing and implementing the scientific foundations of the federal wholesale electric power market.

Joe Sabia is a video artist who heads development at Condé Nast Entertainment. Joe is the creator and director of two popular online shows, 73 Questions for Vogue magazine and Improv Imagination for Vanity Fair. While working at HBO, he created a series of viral online videos to promote various series broadcast on the channel. He has worked with YouTube Next Lab, HLN and Comcast. He is the co-founder and author of the popular YouTube musical project CDZA, which received an innovation grant from YouTube.

Ilya Naishuller is a Russian director. His debut was the fantasy action film Hardcore, produced by Timur Bekmambetov. Hardcore was filmed from a first person perspective. The trailer was seen by 1.5 million people all over the world in the first two days of its release.

Yulia Shakhnovskaya is Director of the Polytechnic Museum. A trained lawyer, Yulia has overseen a range of large-scale cultural projects, and played a leading role in creating the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art and in organizing the Ilya and Emilia Kabakov - An Alternative History of Art exhibition and exhibitions of the collection of the François Pinault Foundation. <br>

Peter Bishop is an architect, Professor of Urban Design at the Bartlett School of Architecture, former Urban Design Advisor to the Mayor of London and a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He worked on the development of the BBC campus at White City and on the Kings Cross scheme. He is a visiting professor at the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment at Nottingham Trent University in the UK, and was Chairman of the National Board of the Architecture Centre Network.

Alexander Ruchev is a Russian businessman and President of Morton Group, one of Russia’s 500 largest companies. According to the Top 1,000 Russian Managers ranking, he is one of the ten most professional and influential leaders in the Russian construction sector. Since 2013, he has headed the Management Board of the Mutual Civil Liability Insurance Company for Developers.<br>

Richard Hsu heads TEDxShanghai: an educational platform and ecosystem that brings together architects, city planners, cultural leaders, and communications and education specialists. He has spearheaded design projects and advertising campaigns for The New York Times, Sotheby's, Madison Square Garden, Boeing, Sony, Johnson &amp; Johnson, Shiseido, Nike, IBM, and many others. He lectures at universities in the US, Berlin, Malaysia and Shanghai.

Maria Gracheva is a veteran member of the Yandex team and the company’s former Business Development Director. She was behind the introduction of a whole range of new products, including the Yandex.Money bank card. Maria specializes in designing services that allow users to link bank cards and e-wallets, enabling digital money transfers between the two. She is one of the country’s leading e-payment specialists and presents lectures and seminars on the topic.

Dmitry Navosha founded a major sports-themed web portal, which has more than 5 million users. He was among the first to offer a sports e-publication as a mobile app. Dmitry is an influential sports media figure and founder of Russia’s first sports-themed online television channel.

Rudi Cartuyvels works in the field of semiconductor technologies. He specializes in research and experimental design, business development, and key performance and management indicators. Rudi is Senior Vice President of Smart Systems &amp; Energy Technologies at IMEC, a leading global company conducting research in nanoelectronics and nanotechnology. IMEC’s research supports the development of drugs, smart technologies, energy solutions and safe transport.

Rutan is a legendary aerospace designer, having worked on dozens of aircraft projects including the Rutan Voyager, the first aircraft to circumnavigate the entire globe without stopping or refuelling, and the suborbital spacecraft SpaceShipOne.

Igor Agamirzian is one of Russia’s leading experts in computing and information technology. He led the department responsible for relations with corporate clients and government organizations in Microsoft’s Russian office. He then held the position of Chief Strategy Officer, Cabinet of the Chairman of Microsoft in Russia and CIS Countries. Igor has been CEO of Russian Venture Company (RVC) since April 2009. He was one of the pioneers of the Association of Computer and Information Technology Enterprises.

Chairman of the Executive Board, Rusnano

Marco Mareggi is a professor in the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies at the Politecnico di Milano. He specializes in time geography and is the author of Ritmi urbani (Urban Rhythms). Professor Mareggi uses big data to advise cities on how to optimize urban time plans. Professor Mareggi will give a lecture on the analysis of urban time and approaches to developing urban policy.

Time analysis is already being used by municipal authorities to support the decision-making process. The quality of such analysis depends in large part on the ability to work with big data. Big data is a big challenge for urban authorities. By learning to use it effectively, cities gain a powerful tool for urban development and urban time planning.

Andrey Egorov is the CEO of Open University Skolkovo, which he helped found in 2011. As the senior ambassador for TEDx in Russia, he organizes TEDxSkolkovo and TEDxMoscow events and regularly attends TED conferences around the world. He also played a role in establishing the 360° Contemporary Science Film Festival and was one of the founders of the Alexander Piatigorsky Foundation. Andrey graduated from the Higher School of Economics and has studied at leading universities in Europe and the United States.

Open University Skolkovo helps students and young scientists to choose a career trajectory within Russia’s innovative ecosystem by completing one or several of the programs on offer at the Open University. These programs bring together knowledge acquired through academic study and the skills which are essential in order to succeed at Skolkovo – in other words the ability to create and commercialize new high-tech projects.

Boris Kozlov is a partner in SIU System, Russia’s largest supplier of 3D equipment. He is an expert on introducing additive technologies into the manufacturing process.

Additive technologies make it possible to simplify and accelerate the introduction of production design solutions, thereby giving engineers greater freedom while making significant savings compared to traditional methods.<br> All of this opens up many opportunities, particularly in Russia where there is an urgent need to increase the proportion of local high-tech production. The Open Innovations Forum is an excellent opportunity to highlight the future potential of introducing additive technologies to the Russian market in the current economy.<br>

Sergei Nugaev heads the Moscow Coding School, where he teaches developers from leading Russian and western companies. He graduated from the Mechanics and Mathematics Faculty at Moscow State University and specializes in pattern recognition. Alongside his main occupation, he delivers his own course on programming for children and teaches higher mathematics. He fills any gaps in his timetable by broadening his web development credentials, which include special projects for Google and Look At Media, work for Astroshock and collaboration with Beat Film Festival.

With every passing day, once-established boundaries become more and more blurred. This is also true to the limits on how and how much information can be acquired. People have an option. They can choose their own course of study on a daily basis: for the day, the month, or for years in advance. Whether or not you make use of this choice is the key to the essence of education today.

Robert Fogel works in the cloud computing space. His background includes a previous role as the Vice President of the Open Grid Forum; several years in the field of high performance computing (HPC) addressing complex computational problems in the automotive, aerospace, pharmaceutical, finance, geophysical, astrophysics, quantum physics, genomics and other industries; and systems architecture for JPL/NASA’s Deep Space Network. He has also developed reusable communications satellites, optical storage devices, network file servers, electromagnetic reproducing pianos, and digital signal/image processing technology. Fogel taught systems engineering, systems architecture and software engineering courses at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and earned an Electrical Engineering degree from Cornell University.

Specialist and project leader in the diagnosis of normal and altered states of the human brain and the creation of a new generation of brain-computer interfaces. Alexander Kaplan’s work has been supported by grants from various agencies and organizations, including the Russian Foundation for Humanities, the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the Skolkovo Foundation. He was awarded the Russian Government’s 2002 Science and Technology Prize for his biomedical research. The work of Alexander and his team has been published in more than 150 peer-reviewed scientific periodicals both in Russia and abroad, has been granted four patents, and was awarded the Russian Government’s 2002 Science and Technology Prize.

Fernando Rodriguez-Villa drives Business Development and Strategy at Knewton, the world’s leading adaptive learning company. He is responsible for supporting Knewton's international expansion throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and developing partnerships with leading publishers, universities, startups, and governments. Teachers, schools, and education companies around the globe use Knewton to power digital course materials that dynamically adapt to each student’s unique needs. Previously, Fernando spent three years as an investment banking Analyst and Associate in Mergers & Acquisitions at J.P. Morgan in London where he took on a point role in execution of transactions. He holds a B.A. in History and Economics from Dartmouth College.

Soshnikov holds a PhD in Medical Sciences and is the Head of Department of Mathematical Modeling in Healthcare at the Russian Ministry of Health Federal Research Institute for Health Organization and Informatics, Assistant Professor at the Department of Medical Statistics and Informatics of the Russian Medical Academy for Post-Graduate Education, and Scientific Director at SQlab. In 2011–2012, he worked as a guest researcher on the development of mathematical modeling of disease at the mathematics department of Central Michigan University, USA. His research interests include: evidence-based medicine, public health and health care, health statistics, clinical epidemiology, mathematical modeling of medicosocial processes and diseases, and pharmacometrics. Soshnikov has been published in leading international and Russian journals and has coauthored books on public health care organization.

A healthy population is a strategic resource for the state. In times of economic shocks, changes or reforms, it’s a key factor in retaining the country’s existing potential and creating the future. Participating in the Open Innovations Forum is yet another opportunity to demonstrate the advantages of developing scientifically grounded management in health care, where managerial decisions are taken not on the basis of opinion but on the results of research, including mathematical prediction models. This is what I hope to discuss at the Forum.

In his position as Vice-President and Executive Director of the IT Cluster at the Skolkovo Foundation, Igor Bogachev relies on 20 years of experience in the IT industry. He is well-versed in the latest IT trends and in best IT practices developed by companies from around the world and by major Russian corporations. Prior to joining the Skolkovo Foundation, Igor served as CEO of SAP CIS. Before that, he spent 12 years at XEROX, where he was in charge of business development, sales and technical support. He holds the Six Sigma Green Belt certification.

The goal of any company focused on developing an innovative product is to be able to introduce it as quickly as possible to as many potential customers as possible, collect feedback and establish a client base. Major companies are keen to drive technological progress and increase their productivity. This requires, among other things, an influx of fresh ideas. The Open Innovations Forum is here to bring these two parties together in a professional and friendly atmosphere.

As Vice-President and Executive Director of the Space and Telecommunications Technologies Cluster at the Skolkovo Foundation, Alexei Belyakov is in charge of recruiting, financing and accelerating the growth of private aerospace companies. He also oversees cooperation with state-owned aerospace companies. Alexei previously headed the Moscow office of I2BF Global Ventures. He has played a key role in putting together and closing over 20 international deals with leading venture capital (KPCB, Firelake Capital, Khosla Ventures) and strategic (BP Ventures, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, GE Ventures) partners. During his tenure at I2BF Global Ventures, Alexei was responsible for deals in the fields of energy and resource efficiency, new materials, robotics and aerospace. Two of the companies were sold successfully. One has released an IPO.

As the private space exploration sector grows before our very eyes, it has great potential to completely change the face of Russia’s aerospace industry, and beyond that, to transform our daily lives. From taxicab apps to global Internet access, the products and services created using data collected by the satellite networks that orbit the planet are making our lives safer and more comfortable. In the first half of 2015 alone, private space exploration companies raked in USD 1.75 billion in venture capital. And this is only the beginning: technologies developed by the new generation of aerospace startups, such as zero-gravity additive manufacturing and extraterrestrial resource mining, could easily become a key element in future space exploration and development.

Earlier, he was Strategy and Investment Director at the Rosatom State Corporation and Head of Strategy and Development at Sibur and Transmashholding.

Unfortunately, the so-called ‘open innovation’ model—in which large, leading companies issue public calls for innovation and then choose from a number of solutions proposed by both internal and external contractors, thereby spending years on cultivating networks of development teams—has not yet taken off in Russia. There are significant opportunities here, which, if realized, will enable us to significantly increase the competitiveness of Russian big business, both domestically and abroad. This is actually the key objective for every head of R&D at every major Russian company.