The conclusions of the 8th Perm Forum: put the pieces of the mosaic together and get to work

The tone for the final day of the 8th Perm Forum was set by the morning plenary session entitled “Project in the context of Russian and foreign territorial development mega-projects”. It was dedicated to setting the topics for further work in the individual sections, where participants spent an hour and a half discussing the problems associated with transforming the urban environment in the region. As part of the concluding plenary session, the moderators of the discussion groups presented the highlights of those conversations to the assembled forum participants.

According to Alexander Epstein, the Director of the Institute for Regional Studies and Urban Planning at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, who served as the moderator of the “Strategic Master-plan” discussion group, its participants came to the conclusion that the transformation of urban space in the forum must immediately begin moving in several new directions. Contemporary urban design ideas must be made to work in harmony with the requirements of a comfortable city and the issue of industry. “The city should be mixed – convenient for all residents and for the performing of all functions”, Epstein emphasized.

Nikolay Karpushin, the Perm Region Education Minister, described his group’s work. He explained that the region currently has the highest concentration of National Research Universities (NRUs) in Russia: this status applies to the local polytechnical and classical universities, as well as the branch of the Higher School of Economics. They must be used as the foundation for the creation of new educational projects that will provide a reserve of qualified personnel for a creative economy. This group’s experts also expressed their certainty that the Perm Medical and Pharmacological Academies are quite capable of becoming NRUs. Nikolay Novichkov, the Head of the Cultural Alliance Project’s Federal Directorate and moderator of the “Culture” discussion group presented the results of their discussion. In his words, the transformation of the urban environment as part of the “Perm: a Cultural Capital” concept has progressed further than the others. “It is now important to safeguard all implemented projects: the Opera and Ballet Theater, Museum Mile, the new conservatory and the cultural brands that have been created”, Novichkov stated.

Representatives from the “Congress-Exhibition Sector” discussion suggested creating a non-commercial bureau in Perm: it would organize venues for negotiation and exhibitions as well as forums, and encouraging representatives of business on the regional and national level to participate in that sphere.

The participants in the group agree that the creation of a structure of this kind will make it possible for Perm to win a leading position in the Russian rating for “event-friendly” cities. The participants in the “Innovation Cluster” discussion stated that creative business requires opening up a platform for exchanging ideas, which could be created on the foundation of the business incubators that are already in place. “There are a great many worthwhile interdisciplinary projects, but not enough information of discussion venues for a synergetic effect to emerge”, explained the moderator of the section, Yury Vasiliev, the CEO of SEZ “Zelenograd”.

Alexander Pochinok, a member of the Federation Council from the Perm Region, who acted as the moderator of the entire concluding plenary session, offered a unique assessment of the presentations that were aired there. “I’ve been at a lot of forums, and this is the only one that offers the greatest luxury of modern life, making people think. Now what we have to do is put this mosaic together and get to work”, he said, offering a concise description of the third day of the event.

The concluding remarks for the entire forum were made by Oleg Chirkunov, the head of the regional government; he devoted particular attention to the format that was chosen for the third day of the forum. “Today we resolved the issues that we were concerned about. I think that at the next forum we will spend just one day on the federal agenda and two on discussing the problems of the regions”, said the Governor of the Perm Region.