MOSCOW, April 11. The international forum «Open Innovations» — 2024 began its work in Moscow on April 10, with more than 300 speakers taking part in it, including experts from India, China, the UAE and South Africa, the forum press center reports.
The business program of the first day became a kind of audit of the country's technological development. The topics of the sessions covered all its aspects: from training future tech entrepreneurs to export prospects for domestic developments.
The Open Innovations Expo is organized at the site, where technology solution providers and independent companies demonstrate their developments.
A register of small technology companies has been created. A “Startup Showcase” was organized for investors and potential industrial partners. More than 1,400 companies developing artificial intelligence are already registered in the register of innovative companies of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development. 
“Without competition, we will not create demand for new technologies from large and medium-sized companies,” the words of First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Andrei Belousov, who spoke at the plenary discussion of the forum, are quoted on the website of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.
The forum experts during their presentation stated that high-tech business is developing at a faster pace: the industry is showing growth many times higher than in the SME sector as a whole. The contribution of small companies to Russia's technological development is constantly growing, and their support is the focus of the government's attention.
As Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov said during the plenary session, high demand allows technology companies to show revenue, wages and employment three times higher than the average for the SME sector.
The forum press center added that the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation has taken on the role of organizing a communication infrastructure that allows all interested parties to be involved in the scientific development process. Among the initiatives launched under the auspices of the ministry are technology transfer centers in universities and scientific organizations, and advanced engineering schools.
It is specified that since 2021, the country’s leading universities have trained more than 17.6 thousand specialists in the field of artificial intelligence alone. More than 100 universities are implementing new educational programs in AI technology, and 12 research centers have been launched in this area.
The Open Innovations Forum has been held since 2012 and is one of the most influential discussion platforms dedicated to innovative development. Organizer — Skolkovo Foundation (VEB.RF Group), co-organizer — Moscow government.