YOUTH STRATEGIC SESSION

YOUTH STRATEGIC SESSION FOR PROJECT LEADERS OF CENTRAL RUSSIA PROVES A SUCCESS

On July 1, 2016, the Institute for Economic Strategies held the youth strategic session titled “My role in the development of the next economy: projects, teams, leaders” as part of the 5th Central Russian Economic Forum. The session was preceded by an exhibition presentation of promising projects and solutions of young researchers and entrepreneurs of Central Russia and remote evaluation of the passports of projects provided by the developers.

The panel of judges was chaired by Alexander Ageev (CEO of Institute for Economic Strategies, Doctor of Economics, Professor) who moderated the strategic session. The business game held during the strategic session was moderated by Vera Smirnova (Head of the Business School, Institute for Economic Strategies, business coach).

The panel of judges included:

Vyacheslav Aleshin, Deputy Head oft he executive committee, Analitica Association
Oksana Bestuzheva, Chair of the Board of Directors, AK&M Rating Agency
Varlam Keshelava, Adviser to Head of JSC Scientific Research Institute of Chemical Technology for intellectual property commercialization
Vladimir Kurdyumov, Deputy CEO, Institute for Economic Strategies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Vyacheslav Lipatov, Doctor of Medicine, Professor, operative surgery and topographic anatomy department, Kursk State Medical University; CEO, MedTestInfo LLC; member of the Board and Chairman, Kursk regional department, All-Russian non-governmental organisation “The Russian Union of Young Scientists”
Alexander Loktionov, CEO, LOGA Group&Seed
Yevgeny Miroshnichenko, Chairman, Union of Young Engineers of Russia (union of research, education and production organizations)
Konstantin Sorokin, CEO, Prostagnost LLC
Svetlana Shimchuk, member of the Board of Directors, OJSC NEFTEMASH-SAPKON

Valentina Matvienko, Chair of Russia’s Federation Council, noted in her welcome address: “Our current challenges require new public administration approaches… Undertakings aimed at increasing productivity, supporting small and medium-sized businesses should be prioritized. Such cross-cutting projects concern various economic sectors and require active involvement of regions and municipalities. This year, the Central Russian Economic Forum theme is ‘Economy in the interest of new generations’. The Forum will include cross-industry discussions, round tables, and a youth strategic session which are meant not only to reveal the real potential of businesses, but also to demonstrate the innovative capabilities of the youth. Young researchers and entrepreneurs from Central Russia will present their projects at the Forum. I have no doubt that such exchange of experience will be both interesting and useful, and the best solutions will find application in the economy.”

The key objective of the youth strategic session was formulated with reference to a problem which frequently occurs in youth projects, namely, a low level of managerial elaboration of interesting technical solutions. In particular, the preliminary assessment stage showed that the projects need a more thorough analysis of interested parties, a clearer definition of objectives and a more accurate placement of the proposed innovations in the market, in regional and national development programs, the experts noted.

To give these problems thorough consideration, 25 projects (delegates) were broken down into groups (teams) depending on the sectoral similarity of the projects and placed into a simulated environment of negotiations and interaction with partners within the framework of their respective projects. The simulation model based on the judges’ roles, with inherent factors of risks and opportunities was used to generate typical ‘parties’, such as: private investors, public funds and government authorities, corrupt officials, banks, raiders, industrial spies, media, political parties and movements, as well as a variety of “accidental” global external environment factors. For each game situation, the team decided on a project with the greatest potential in terms of the game situation. The participants faced two levels of competition: the team was to make the right choice of the project playing in a specific situation, in order to prevail over other teams, while the team member’s task was to get the project involved in game situations as frequently as possible, to win against the team members.

An essential factor of external environment unpredictability for the teams was the secrecy of roles: the teams (representing start-up companies) had to estimate potential partners based on their requests for information about the projects and negotiation tactics. The key decision to be taken by the team in the simulated environment was to choose a “reliable” partner and to conclude an agreement with this partner amidst the lack of uncertainty and competition for “reliable” partners. It should be noted that the teams basically succeeded in analyzing partners and negotiated cooperation agreements with two private investors, a bank and a public fund. Unfortunately, one of the teams failed to correctly puzzle out the negotiation tactic of the expert simulating a corrupt official and made an agreement with this expert. The error became obvious at the next stage when the experts disclosed their roles; the strategic failure cost the team 10 points which destroyed its chance to win.

As a result of the strategic session, the teams were offered to conduct a retrospective self-analysis and to voice the lessons and practical solutions arising from their recent experience. It is pleasant to note that the game objectives were achieved: the youth promised to give more attention to the project documentation, to analyze and respect their partners’ interests in the further development of projects and to be committed to self-improvement through education.