OREANDA-NEWS. January 22, 2016.The Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO began its tenth anniversary year with active participation in the World Economic Forum, which was launched today in Davos, Switzerland. The main theme of the 2016 Forum is “Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution”.

It is the second year in a row that the experts of the SKOLKOVO Business School participate in the development of the Forum's content agenda in respect of Russia. This year, the team of the SKOLKOVO Institute for Emerging Market Studies (SKOLKOVO IEMS) has prepared two articles on the digitalisation of the Russian regions for the Digital Russia media project initiated by the WEF's Global Agenda Council on Russia. The project is a series of articles by leading scientists, businessmen, and public figures about the digital future of the country. The articles by SKOLKOVO IEMS experts, posted on the website of the project, present the results of the study "The Russian Cities Digitalisation Index," dedicated to the penetration of digital technologies into seven areas of daily life in 15 cities with a million-plus population, as well as review major regional online projects.

"Influenced by the global trend of the hyper-local Internet, more than a year ago we became interested in the digitisation of Russian regions. Today, the topic is critical in the context of the demand for the innovative growth of Russian regional economies; therefore, it has rightly become an essential element of the Russian agenda in Davos. We cannot overcome stagnation through the efforts of the country's government only; to achieve this, we need an independent modern competitive initiative across the country,"

Vladimir Korovkin, Head of the Digital Technologies of the SKOLKOVO Institute for Emerging Market Studies.

Consolidated results of the Digital Russia project will be presented and discussed during the Forum.

In addition, this year is the first time that the SKOLKOVO Business School is represented at the World Economic Forum by its alumni entrepreneurial projects. Marina Ross, a graduate of the SKOLKOVO MBA programme and the founder of the HYDROP startup project, was the only young entrepreneur from Russia to be included in the 50 Global Shapers — an international movement and WEF's dialogue platform to involve young leaders in decision-making at the global level. The competition was tough — more than 4,000 candidates from all over the world applied to participate in the Forum, but Marina Ross was one of the few selected. The business programme for the Global Shapers participants in Davos includes an exclusive meeting with the leaders of thought, the leading international representatives of business and government. This year, the organisers of the Forum have planned for them, among other things, an exclusive meeting with Professor Klaus Martin Schwab, the founder and president of the WEF, as well as a meeting with Justin Trudeau, a Canadian politician, the new Prime Minister of Canada.

"I am the only one from Russia, who was honored to represent the generation of young leaders from our country on the World Economic Forum in Davos. Generally, more than 2,500 participants from slightly fewer than 100 countries gather in Davos-2016: 1500 business leaders, more than 40 heads of state and government, including royals, and also more than 300 public figures. This year the president of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Martin Schwab, calls participants from the whole world for a dialog about the status and prospects of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Therefore, the majority of sessions will be devoted to the new technologies and their integration into our life. Being an entrepreneur in the technological sphere I am very interested in these topics. During the Forum we are going to think about the difference between humans and robots with the intelligence. We will also try to figure out how to humanize a robotic world. It is considered that WEF is the most accurate global “barometer”, which reflects the development of the world economy. That’s why for me it is a great pride and responsibility to act here as a kind of voice of the SKOLKOVO and the whole Russian business community”

Marina Ross, SKOLKOVO MBA graduate, founder of HYDROP brand.

Together with Marina Ross, seven projects of SKOLKOVO alumni have the honour to introduce the Russian business community to the world's elite as well as to the leading Russian and international media in Davos. In the Russian House of Innovation—an open area for meetings of the managers of global companies, the world's leading economists, scientists, and representatives of the Russian delegation, there is a booth displaying the information about the startups of the SKOLKOVO Business School graduates.

The projects selected to participate in the Russian House of Innovation are as follows:

  • Visionlabs – a company that develops face recognition software and cloud services for the finance, retail, video surveillance, and security sectors;
  • Fibrum - a company engaged in the manufacture of mobile head-mounted virtual reality displays and the development of mobile VR applications for them;
  • Today Delivery - a service for express delivery of food, parcels, and correspondence for restaurants, shops, businesses, and individuals;
  • WATTS is a startup for the production of up-to-date portable batteries;
  • 2Can – the first Russian mobile acquiring service approved by the international payment systems Visa and MasterCard;
  • Knopka Zhyzni (Life Button) - the first Russian company to provide quality services of telemedicine;
  • Vitamins - an online healthy foods store.

    "Last spring, the investment funds Almaz Capital Partners and InVenture Partners started work to facilitate joining 2Can and the ibox project and help the incorporated company enter the international market. These funds formed a new team to launch the 2Can project in South-East Asia (Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand). I am grateful to the SKOLKOVO Business School for this opportunity and I hope that the presence of 2Can (ibox) on the booth in the Russian House at the World Economic Forum in Davos helps the investment funds and the new team raise the awareness of the successful Russian financial and technological project in the international market, thereby speeding up its development in South-East Asia"

    Nikolay Zhmurenko, the founder and shareholder of 2Can, a graduate of the SKOLKOVO Startup Academy.

    The host of the Russian House of Innovation is Юлмартcompany. It is expected that more than 1,000 participants will visit the Russian House during the time of the World Economic Forum.