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Russian 
The plenary session "Hi-Tech: Humans at the Center of Technological Leadership" was the key event of the International Hi-Tech Future Skills Competition business program. During the discussion, held at the Yekaterinburg-Expo IEC, leading experts in public administration, industry, education, and international cooperation discussed how human capital is becoming the primary driver for Russia's achievement of technological leadership.
Experts focused on training engineers and highly skilled workers of the future—specialists who meet the demands of the high-tech industry. They focused on incentives and practices for professional growth, as well as new standards and solutions that Russia is prepared to offer to other countries through the "Hi-Tech" competition.
Artem Zhoga, Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Urals Federal District, welcomed the participants and audience of the plenary session. He recalled that teams from 15 countries had come to the championship, including Russia's BRICS partners, as well as Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and the states of Southeast Asia and South America.
"The Competition's central theme is technological leadership. Here, competitors share experiences and lay the foundation for key trends in industrial development and future professions. Russian President Vladimir Putin places great emphasis on providing the economy with qualified specialists and personnel. To this end, our country is implementing the national project "Personnel" and the educational program "Professionalism." It's no coincidence that this year, the International Festival of Scientific and Technical Creativity for Children and Youth is being held for the first time at the Championship venue. Young inventors presented solutions based on real-life cases from industrial enterprises. I am convinced that competitions like "High-Tech: Skills of the Future" help to unlock the talents of representatives of various professions and serve as an incentive for new discoveries," emphasized Artem Zhoga.
The discussion participants included Director of the Department of Strategic Development and Corporate Policy of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Alexey Matushansky, Director of the Young Professionals Department of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives Alexander Vaino, Acting Deputy Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region - Minister of Investment and Development of the Sverdlovsk Region Dmitry Ionin, Deputy Director General for Personnel of the State Atomic Energy Corporation "Rosatom" Tatiana Terentyeva, Member of the Board of Directors of the National Agency for Research and Innovation of the Republic of Indonesia, Chairman of the BRICS Business Council Working Group on Professional Training, Applied Technologies and Innovations (from the Republic of Indonesia) Tri Mumpuni.
The plenary session was moderated by Maria Elkina, CEO of the Skills Development Agency (the competition organizer). She set the tone for the discussion, noting the importance of developing human capital for achieving global goals. "Our championship movement is a projection of mass professionalism. Therefore, Hi-Tech is not only about technology, but also, first and foremost, about people and their motivations, about developing competencies," commented Maria Elkina.
Alexey Matushansky, Director of the Department of Strategic Development and Corporate Policy at the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, discussed in detail the economy's current talent needs and the implementation of technological leadership projects. He emphasized that the "Hi-Tech" competition has become a tool for testing new competencies and exploring approaches to solving new technological challenges.
"Companies actively use solutions developed at Hi-Tech, and this applied function of the championship is very important. The International Festival of Scientific and Technical Creativity of Children and Youth, which is held as part of the championship, is producing positive results in terms of career guidance for children, their inclusion in the industrial agenda, demonstrating the connection between the various competition levels, and providing guidance for the future," concluded Alexey Matushansky.
Acting Deputy Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region – Minister of Investment and Development of the Sverdlovsk Region Dmitry Ionin drew attention to the fact that the High-Tech competition plays an important role in popularizing engineering specialties and has an impact on the region in which it is traditionally held.
"Governor Denis Pasler has set a clear goal for us: to increase the region's investment attractiveness. The Hi-Tech competition helps achieve this goal not directly, but through people—by developing human resources. It's a powerful talent marketing tool that demonstrates to investors that the Sverdlovsk Region has young, competent professionals ready to work with new technologies. Ultimately, this translates into investment, new production facilities, and jobs, and thus, sustainable technological development in the region," said Dmitry Ionin.
Tatyana Terentyeva, Deputy Director General for Human Resources at the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom, described the competition as an ecosystem for developing human resource potential, bringing together participants of all ages. She noted that for schoolchildren, such projects serve as a crucial platform for career guidance, as they watch participants solve real-life problems devised by the expert community. For students, the championship serves as a launchpad for a successful career, as the best participants are offered jobs by companies that partner with Hi-Tech.
Chairperson of the BRICS Business Council Working Group on Professional Training, Applied Technologies and Innovation (from the Republic of Indonesia) Tri Mumpuni spoke about current technological solutions that are being applied in the BRICS countries, breakthrough technologies and key growth factors.
In his speech, Alexander Vaino, Director of the Young Professionals Department at the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI), outlined the key tasks for increasing labor productivity in the context of demographic decline. Among the effective tools, he highlighted three key aspects: regional, industry-specific, and professional-qualification-based.
"The key objective of the regional aspect is to inform young people about career opportunities in their hometown. People should be confident they can build their future there: provide for themselves, buy a home, and start a family. Relevant ministries, together with the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, have already developed methodological recommendations for guiding graduates to key regional enterprises. This will help mitigate the talent shortage in the long term. The second part of the work is to improve the Unified Model of Career Guidance in the country. This will help schoolchildren understand the specific enterprises available in their region and how to build a career trajectory for long-term employment," explained Alexander Vaino.
Currently, the ASI, together with the Russian Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, is testing a new form of professional navigation and career support at key enterprises, including through electronic interaction with career centers.
"The Hi-Tech competition focuses on professional development and qualifications. It's a kind of cross-section of competencies across the Russian industry as a whole. The championship allows us to assess the skills specialists already possess and which areas require further development. Hi-Tech trains "ultra-mentors" who become growth drivers for productivity at enterprises. Education development, including universities and the vocational education system, also plays a key role. A separate goal of ours is to establish a decentralized laboratory within Hi-Tech as early as next year, where we, together with international participants, will be able to work on the challenges facing our countries in developing technologies to meet the real needs of enterprises, namely, verifying production solutions, testing technological prototypes, and, ultimately, moving toward integrated product assembly, including taking into account the development of training standards," Vaino emphasized.
Summarizing the discussion, Maria Elkina, CEO of the Skills Development Agency, listed the key factors of technological growth identified by the experts during their presentations: "people," "desire," "motivation," "energy," "human, social, spiritual, and financial capital," "cooperation," and "human-centeredness." She emphasized that the opinions of the speakers and audience members surveyed during the meeting were consistent.
"The opinions of the professionals in the audience match those of the professionals on stage. This means we're moving in the same direction, developing human resources, working to move our country forward, and building constructive relationships with other countries. The theme of our meeting is 'People at the Center of Technological Leadership,' and the Hi-Tech platform demonstrates that such people exist in our country," Maria Elkina concluded.
The Competition is organized by the Skills Development Agency with the support of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, the Government of the Sverdlovsk Region, and the country's leading industrial corporations.
The International Hi-Tech Future Skills Competition brought together over 500 competitors representing over 50 companies from 15 countries. More than 120 international competitors and experts from 15 countries, including China, India, Iran, the UAE, Belarus, and the BRICS countries, are participating in person. Another 100+ people are joining the competition remotely.
More than 100 young inventors aged 12 to 20 – winners of the qualifying rounds – took part in the International Youth Science and Technology Creativity Festival.
