Concept

Perm forum 2012
Person. Society. Nation.

What is going on? This is the question that the millions of people from different countries on different continents ask themselves more and more often. The world is changing rapidly, the pace of changes is increasing, many processes and events become even more interdependent. Financial crisis hinders the economic development, the ability of the governments to finance new social programs declines, which leads to immediate political destabilization against the background of growth of efficiency of powerful catalysts of global changes: ongoing progress of new media and total involvement of a man in defining social agenda.

The well-established models of interaction of a man, economic, social and governmental institutions are reconsidered radically. Europe, North America, Asia, Arab world and Russia almost simultaneously face the challenge of core transformation of the social compact. This is the new global shift. Considerable growth of political activity of the society spurred by the opportunities Internet and social networks provide can not be restrained now through further escalation of social expenditures of state budgets and increasing of the governmental debts.

Russia, being an open part of the world, has also entered the new development paradigm. Causing of possible global economic turbulence does not give a hope for further stable financing of increasing budget liabilities through the favorable situation with raw materials. Further institutional reforms and hard work on improving the economic competitiveness is essential here.

Explosive growth of social and political activity after the decades of civil apathy form completely new conditions in Russia for transformation of the social compact developed in early 2000s, fundamentally changes the essence of relations between the society, business, regions and federal center. The authorities will have to find a more comprehensive response to a mass public inquiry about decentralization of the entire country development pattern.

However, long-term risks for Russia are connected not with the situation with raw materials or politics. The state effectiveness and stable economic development, as well as social stability in the long-term perspective, in the modern world depend first of all on the quality of human capital and level of development of social institutions. Only the strong society can become the responsible guarantor of the high-quality governmental system and stable development of the country. And the strong society consists of healthy, educated, cultured people responsible for their future and oriented towards continuous development.

Perm Forum 2012 is dedicated to the search for answers to three key questions urgent for the entire world and for Russia:

• What is the state of basic features of the quality of human capital and what must be made to progress it?
• What is the state of social institutions and to what extent can they become the basis for stable development?
• What is the efficiency of governmental services and what transformations are of top priority for the immediate future?

The forum will preserve the multi-disciplinary approach to development of solutions. The main forum matters will be worked on by the expert of the following sections: «Social policy», «Business», «Culture», «Environment», «Civil society», «Media». The groundwork of round tables, brain storms and workshops made in the framework of theme sections will be presented on the final plenary session and will later be reflected in the framework of long-term public journalistic cycle sponsored by the Perm Forum.

Moreover, the most important part of the forum is a traditional international brainstorm about the further line of development of the Perm Territory. This time the region will bring to the judgement of experts the complex investment project of post-industrial development of the region — «Perm 3.0» — the first Russian mega-project of territorial development aimed at economic capitalization of humanitarian innovations.

Perm Forum 2012 is expanded and will include not only the basic conference but also a number of events arranged by independent residents on the site of Perm Forum. This is the way to initiate one of the top-priority lines of development of the territory — congress and exhibition cluster.