Russia Joins Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution Network

Moscow, Russia, 13 October 2021 – Russia will take a leading role in shaping the trajectory of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Today, leaders from the Russian Federation and the World Economic Forum announced the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Russia.

Part of the Forum’s global Network, the new Centre will bring together leading businesses, policy makers and members of civil society to co-design and pilot innovative approaches to technology governance.

Over the past five years, the World Economic Forum Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network has expanded to 15 countries. Project teams worked across public and private sectors to built new policies for drones and commercial aircraft to fly in the same airspace, government procurement of artificial intelligence and accelerated responsible blockchain deployment across the global supply chain.

The Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Russia will be hosted by ANO Digital Economy in Moscow. It will work across the global network to maximize the benefits of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things, while minimizing its risks.

The President of the World Economic Forum, Børge Brende and the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Dmitry Chernyshenko, on behalf of the Russian government signed the agreement today in Moscow.

“Rapid technological discovery is disrupting our economic and social systems. Coordinated, impact-orientated action is needed to manage this change,” says Børge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum. “The new Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Moscow will be an important part of the Forum’s global network. It is important we work across borders to shape a future that leaves no one behind.”

“Today, Russia is building digital economy actively in industrial and social spheres as well as in public administration,” said Dmitry Chernyshenko, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. “We are now witnessing an unprecedented breakthrough development. The main purpose of the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Moscow is to grow awareness of Russia’s role as part of the global expert community. This is an opportunity to share experience and expertise gained by the World Economic Forum and its partners around the world.”

Chernyshenko continued, “There are plans of launching pilot projects on legal protocols, AI and IoT together with the Forum at the Centre. The first projects will be launched before the end of this year and will include self-driving cars, drones, medicine and data processing. Russia has been actively implementing AI technologies over the past few years. Today there are more than 800 such solutions and some of them are already visible on international markets. In general, cooperation with the Forum will be carried out in various areas such as data policy, smart cities, export support and promotion of Russian IT technologies to foreign markets.”

“We are glad to join the global network of Centers for the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” said General Director of ANO “Digital economy” Evgeny Kovnir. “Our organization brings together leading Russian technology companies. We will work together with leaders from these companies and across the network to explore and implement the best international AI, IoT, and data policy solutions. We will bring Russia’s advancements in these areas to the global network and help to shape global progress in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”