This year, the 24th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) took place from 2 to 5 June 2021. The event was held in strict accordance with health and safety measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 carefully drawn up by the Organizing Committee in line with the WHO recommendations. SPIEF 2021 provided a full range of services to enable participants to effectively nurture and expand their business network and enjoy safe, productive participation, including in an enriching cultural and sporting programme.
SPIEF is a unique event in the world of business and economics. It has been held since 1997, and since 2006, it has been held under the auspices of the President of the Russian Federation.
Over the last 21 years, the Forum has become a leading global platform for members of the business community to meet and discuss the key economic issues facing Russia, emerging markets, and the world as a whole.
As in previous years, the business programme focused on the global and Russian economies, social issues, and technological development.
On June 2, Director General of Almazov Centre took part in the session “Innovative Therapy: Access Code” as part of the Drug Safety theme. Evgeny Shlyakhto talked about the pressure put on cardiologists during the difficult period of the COVID-19 pandemic and highlighted that even though the pandemic has put an enormous workload on doctors, Russian cardiologists turned out to be more efficient than many of their Western peers. In general, according to the academician, the pandemic has once again raised the demand for timely diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases.
On June 2, Evgeny Shlyakhto attended the session held with the support of the Skolkovo Innovation Centre “Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology. Are Unicorns Possible in Russia?”
The speakers at the session discussed the impact of the pandemic on the transformation of biotechnological innovations and agreed that Russian scientists have already managed to demonstrate their successful developments to the world community and business in August 2020, when the world's first COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V was registered in Russia. To become a unicorn in biotechnology, a startup should offer the market a completely new product or a serious transformation of an existing one. In international practice, innovation in the biotech field is more often developed and created in a niche market and science area. During recent years in Russia, large industrial companies have been working closely with biotech startups, creating incubation and acceleration programs. As a result, young scientists under industrial leadership are developing entrepreneurial skills and innovative technologies at medical clinics, learning to attract investment, and gaining mentor support from experts.
On June 3, Director General of Almazov Centre gave a presentation at the session of the track “Technologies Expanding Horizons” devoted to the issues of technology development in medicine, e-commerce, the use of artificial intelligence in business and the arts, and cybersecurity. The participants of the discussion “Digital Healthcare: Transparency, Efficiency, Quality” discussed that the COVID-19 pandemic has hastened the digitalization of healthcare, providing a major impetus to the development of big-data technologies, the use of artificial intelligence, and the formation of infrastructure solutions for timely care to CVD and cancer patients. Remote monitoring and telemedicine solutions facilitating communication between doctors and supporting inpatient, at-home, and outpatient care are in high demand. The use of IT in global medicine has recently exploded, which has led to a new, high-tech era for the entire healthcare industry, making it more effective, safe, and convenient for doctors and patients.
Evgeny Shlyakhto emphasized that there are a lot of patents and innovative ideas in Russia, but they are not being implemented. In order for the system to work properly, special zones should be established at large universities and medical centres with conditions covering the entire cycle from idea to production. Such zones will become a place to fuse together science, clinic, education and experimental production.
The Academician also spoke about the concept of a smart clinic and how he sees it in the link between digital and big data medicine. He described how it is implemented at Almazov Centre, what makes the concept unique and how it can be correlated with the situation in the country.