The Global Digital Forum is being held in Nizhny Novgorod on 5 – 6 June. The event serves as a platform for dialogue among representatives of Russian and foreign IT companies, government authorities, the academic community and experts. During the plenary session “A New Digital World: From Monopolies to Equal Partnerships,” a report was delivered by Dmitry Grigorenko, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Chief of the Government Staff of the Russian Federation.
Digital technologies in Russia have become an integral means of boosting efficiency across many spheres—from public administration and the provision of electronic state services to medicine and new opportunities in education. Eighty-five per cent of all permits and licences in the country are now issued electronically, and every second marriage application is submitted to the civil-registry office via the Gosuslugi portal.
“Russia is focusing on developing domestic technologies and is actively introducing artificial intelligence in various sectors. AI can yield significant economic effects, speeding up and simplifying many tasks. Our country has numerous solutions that match foreign analogues; in biometrics, for example, services already make everyday life easier—hotel check-ins, transactions at multipurpose service centres,” — Dmitry Grigorenko.
The Deputy Prime Minister noted that the Russian IT sector is showing confident growth. Over the past five years the number of companies in the register of accredited IT firms has doubled, while their profits have increased seven-fold. Competitive solutions comparable to foreign ones have emerged, he added, and these should be regarded not only as products for the domestic market but as full-fledged export commodities. The greatest export potential lies in information-security solutions, platform technologies and artificial intelligence.
A welcoming address to Forum participants was given by the Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, Gleb Nikitin:
“Today the Nizhny Novgorod Region is rightly considered one of Russia’s key IT hubs. We rank third in the country—after Moscow and St Petersburg—in the development of the software industry, and first in the effectiveness of state support for IT. We are building the nation’s only IT campus, ‘Neimark,’ and alongside it we will erect a modern IT technopark to house offices of leading tech companies—from international giants to fast-growing start-ups,” he said.
Earlier, at CIPR-2025, the results of IT-industry monitoring for 2024 were presented: accredited IT companies contributed 6 % to Russia’s economy, and every rouble of state support generated two roubles in tax revenue.
