Last week the Russian government and the World Economic Forum announced Russia is joining the WEF’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (CFIR) Network. The agreement was inked in Moscow by WEF President Børge Brende and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko.
CFIR Russia will be hosted by Digital Economy, a Moscow-based non-profit created by national technology leaders to facilitate the industry’s dialogue with the government. As part of this global network, CFIR Russia will focus, in particular, on legal protocols as well AI and IoT approaches that “maximize benefits and minimise risks.”
“The new Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Moscow will be an important part of the Forum’s global network,” said Brende, who insists on the need for “coordinated, impact-orientated action” to manage today’s changes and “work across borders to shape a future that leaves no one behind.”
“Today, Russia is building a digital economy actively in the industrial and social spheres as well as in public administration,” stated Chernyshenko, who believes “an unprecedented breakthrough development” is underway.
The Deputy Prime Minister sees in CFIR Russia an instrument to “raise awareness of Russia’s role as part of the global expert community,” “share the WEF’s experience and expertise around the world,” and support Russia’s export effort in the field of information technologies.
Russia will leverage the AI technologies which have emerged in the countries for the past few years: “there are more than 800 such solutions and some of them are already visible on international markets,” Chernyshenko claimed.
According to him, CFIR Russia’s first projects will be launched “before the end of this year” with pilot projects in the fields of self-driving cars, drones, medicine and data processing.
From AI to clean tech
Launched in 2017, the CFIR presents itself as “a hub for global, multistakeholder co-operation to “pilot new approaches to technology adoption and governance.” This network spans across 15 countries (now including Russia), partnering with governments, businesses, academia and civil society.
The initiative covers eight areas, including: AI/ML; IoT and connected devices; blockchain; autonomous and urban mobility; drones and airspace; precision medicine; e-commerce and international trade; as well as “Fourth Industrial Revolution for the Earth” (addressing environmental challenges) and “Data policy” (humanitarian and beneficial uses of data and related policy-making)
Thus, for the past five years, CFIR project teams have worked on “policies for drones and commercial aircraft to fly in the same airspace, government procurement of artificial intelligence and accelerated responsible blockchain deployment across the global supply chain.”
Source: WEF
