TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a world-famous non-profit organization that is known for its annual conferences. TED's mission is to support "ideas worth spreading." Its first conference was conducted in 1984 in California. TED conferences are conducted as intellectual shows that feature presentations on relevant topics and demonstration of research and technological achievements. The speakers at the conferences are people who have unique life experiences and are willing to share them with others.
TEDx was created in the spirit of TED's mission. This is a program for local, independently organized events that aim to bring together such people and give them an opportunity to share the TED experience. In the course of such events, screening of TEDTalks (video recordings of TED reports) is combined with live presentations, thus encouraging the participants to have genuine debates and communication in small groups.
The TEDxSZIU conference organized by The Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration aims to translate and develop the TED experience on a regional level by bringing the most outstanding speakers (innovators, entrepreneurs, scientists and sportsmen) to St. Petersburg.
The event took place on July 8 at the Manege Central Exhibition Hall, where its guests could also attend the Petersburg 2103 exhibition that tells about the city's past, present, and future. The conference’s general topic was "Traversing borders - expanding horizons"; nine speakers shared their vision with the conference's guests.
Why St. Petersburg is the city of the future?
Ivan Filippov, Chairman of the Committee for Economic Policy and Strategic Planning of St. Petersburg, spoke about the reasons for living and working in St. Petersburg. The speaker began his presentation with a life story. More than a hundred years ago, his great-grandfather, son of a barge hauler who dreamed of mastering shoemaking, came to St. Petersburg.
"I can't even comprehend how he succeeded in surviving in an absolutely unfamiliar city. He took any work he was offered, saved every coin. He did everything to pay for his apprenticeship training. He succeeded in doing that, and became a shoemaker. And then, one day when he was walking through the city, he came up with a brilliant business idea, if we were to speak in modern language," was how Ivan Filippov started this tale.
You see, back in those times, the belts of different mechanisms that are now made of rubber were made from leather, as there was no other suitable material. Mr. Filippov's great-grandfather bought the used belts at cheaper prices and used the material for making shoes. The idea proved to be a fantastic commercial success: the footwear from such leather that has been processed several times over was both sturdy and cheap. This was how his ancestor founded a merchant company that became famous both in St. Petersburg and around the country.
Ivan Filippov believes that this story is highly indicative of the opportunities that St. Petersburg gives its citizens and just everyone who wants to fulfill their potential here. As another example, he gave modern indications that the city can already take pride in.
"I strongly believe that St. Petersburg is amongst the world's most promising cities. A sceptic would say: "What sort of cheap propaganda is that?". Still, I would like to persuade the doubtful. I'd like to start with figures, as they speak louder than words. Even now, the share of foreign students in St. Petersburg has reached 8%. In this respect, we've already caught up with Madrid and Amsterdam, which the city's founder looked up to. Seven St. Petersburg universities have been included in international rankings, though just some five years back, there were none. When speaking about the promising IT cluster, it can be mentioned that one-fourth of Russian software development is based in St. Petersburg," comments the Chairman of the Committee for Economic Policy and Strategic Planning of St. Petersburg.
The innovative cluster is also developing rapidly. According to Mr. Filippov, one-fourth of innovative growth in Russia is concentrated in our city. Its Ingria business incubator has already made it to the list of Europe's best. And in recent years, the number of art clusters and creative spaces has also increased.
St. Petersburg has unique opportunities for becoming the launching pad for a countrywide technological transformation, believes Ivan Filippov. The reasons for that are not just its advantageous geographical location and rich historical heritage, but also the currently developing innovative environment that gives talented people the opportunity to develop their novel ideas.
Why urban living is more complex than its administrative breakdown and how interdisciplinary teams help to make the city better
Mikhail Klimovsky, an adviser to the Rector of ITMO University and head of the Petersburg 2013 project, expanded on the development of Urban Science in St. Petersburg and the transformation of methods to solving the city's problems.
"When I came to St. Petersburg 15 years ago, it was the city itself that encouraged me to do Urban Science. It seemed to me a most interesting subject. As the city was developed from scratch according to a master plan, it seemed like such a unique environment. Gradually, I started to partake in its transformation," shared the speaker.
For instance, when Mikhail was working with the 33+1 group, different art projects that could be conducted in public spaces were among the key concepts for transforming the urban environment. At the next stage, he understood that artists can't conduct full-fledged urban transformation all by themselves. This idea developed into the understanding of the necessity of combining different fields of knowledge and forming interdisciplinary teams, which they did in 2011 at the Arteria festival. The event brought together not just artists and activists, but also poets, representatives of scenic art and many other incentivized people - all of them searched for new ways of transforming the city and its architectural space.
Gradually, representatives of other fields became involved in their discussion - sociologists, architects, etc., who also contributed to understanding the possible ways of the city's development. At a certain point, it became evident that the citizens aren't really involved in this process, and that something has to be done about it. For that purpose, the “Do it yourself” marathon has been organized, that aims to turn the public attention to the necessity of solving the city's local problems. At about the same time, many ecological practices and movements also began to emerge.
As a result, multiple initiatives in different fields led to the emergence of a common competence center whose purpose is to provide for a comprehensive take on the city. This is how ITMO's Institute of Design & Urban Studies came to be.
"I addressed our Rector and proposed to develop a program aimed at bringing up a whole generation of urbanists. This was the first program of this kind in St. Petersburg, and the second in Russia. We invited lots of specialists from different fields, including our international colleagues. I knew from the very start that our city has great potential, that we have very motivated people who can really make a difference. Sometime later, we launched the Spatial Development Forum in order to discuss relevant issues of the city's development with representatives of business and the city administration," comments Mikhail Klimovsky.
What is more, modern Urban Science now actively draws on the achievements of information technology for developing its Smart City concept. Such instruments present specialists with an opportunity to not just solve particular problems, but also to properly enunciate the most relevant tasks.
Having told about his projects, the speaker summarized his 5 key ideas:
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Urban living is more complex than its administrative breakdown
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A will of a single person can transform a city
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A lack of resources is not a cause for despair and negligence
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We need to develop the art of living in cities
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Having an active life attitude implies being optimistic
Why it’s not hierarchy and authority that will help us to make the first step into a new world
Still, can a single person really influence the situation, or is it that everything is still being solved by strict hierarchical structures where a person's personality, professional qualities, ambitions, and skills aren't enough to attain success? According to Ilya Fomintsev, Director of the Cancer Prophylactics Fund, there are two kinds of people in the modern world: some respect self-esteem and creativity, others - hierarchy and authority. Mr. Fomintsev believes that it is communities that shape social networks, ones with no hierarchy and authority, that can become the drivers of change.
Before everything else, people compete for social ties which, in turn, help them acquire particular resources. In traditional hierarchical structures with a strict system of authority, the ones at the top of the pyramid have most such ties. What is more, one's progress towards the top, i.e. the opportunities for getting social capital, often depends on things other than one's professional capabilities. Being obedient and loyal to the system is sometimes even more important. Still, the modern world and the rapid development of information technologies bring colossal changes to this classical design: nowadays, one does not have to comply with this centuries-old paradigm in order to get social ties.
"The Internet and the increase in social networks' popularity offers everyone the opportunity to get the necessary amount of social capital. Hierarchies, on the other hand, are beginning to lose their significance as a universal means of obtaining it. It has become a lot easier to do that horizontally, as all of a network's participants are also interested in getting social ties," explains Ilya Fomintsev.
New professional communities, as well as the new person-focused concept of education that focuses on freedom of expression rather than allegiance to authority, are becoming all the more popular throughout the world. According to Mr. Fomintsev, one example of such a community is the Higher School of Oncology. Within this network, each person teaches the others, and there are no opinion leaders, as each participant can be an authority to their colleagues. Ilya Fomintsev believes that this example, which is only one of the many professional communities that are emerging in our country, speaks in favor of the idea that such groups can be formed by anyone.
Among other speakers for the TEDxSZIU conference were Alexey Remez, General Director of the UNIM medical and technological startup, Irina Inkinzhinova, referee for the Russian Rugby League, Gosha Bondarev, founder of Waf-waf company, and others. You can learn about the project in more detail and follow its news here.
