With panels covering such issues as e-economy 2.0, cloud computing and privacy in the digital age, the impact of the Internet and new technologies on our economies and societies will be one of the main topics of discussion at the 2011 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
To Russia watchers, this should not come as much of a surprise. Rather, the prominence of Internet issues at this year’s SPIEF reflects the increasing importance of the digital sector in Russia, where such concepts as “e-economy” and “e-society” are steadily becoming a reality.
As the country with the second largest number of web users in Europe, Russia is one of the world’s most promising markets for Internet and technological innovation. Major Russian websites like mail.ru and Yandex have recently conducted highly successful Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) on international stock exchanges, only shy of Google’s record breaking $27 million IPO in 2004.
Aware of the global challenges posed by the shift to the digital economy currently underway, Russia has spoken out about international cooperation on Internet governance. Moscow’s initiatives on countering cybercrime and ensuring adequate protection of privacy and intellectual property rights were discussed at the G8 Summit in Deauville in May. Following these discussions, a working group headed by First Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov was launched with plans to discuss and determine further concrete proposals.
As the Russian Internet (Runet) increases in size and number of users, government regulation of Russian Internet access is adapting to meet the challenges of the expanding online frontier. The government has launched e-government initiatives bolstering its own campaign to combat corruption while promoting Internet and software innovation at places like Skolkovo.
Russian consumers are also increasingly being given the opportunities that their Western counterparts have enjoyed for years. Cyrillic domain names went online late last year and Runet’s largest retail sites such as KupiVIP and Ozon are expanding their business to match the increase in Internet access throughout the country and its surrounding regions.
For more information on the government regulation of Internet access, e-commerce and other elements of the Russian Internet, please see the following ModernRussia.com factsheet, “Internet in Russia”, below.
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