“A country reborn from its ashes, like a child Russia has undergone a phase of experimentation, of ego creation, and is now coming of age. And maturity calls for responsibility. When speaking about what Russia can give to the world, “giving” is seen as a defining responsibility and the key to success in the global community.

In the same way new technologies are sometimes the product of exploration of previously inaccessible natural environments, we believe an investigation into the Russian culture and soul will reveal a bouquet of values and “skills” which may serve the rest of the world in times of overload such as these. Russia’s strength, often in defiance of its seeming vulnerability is testimony to an often tested but unwavering faith in the future and of its ability to outplay conventional wisdom. Russian entrepreneurs, many having seen their life change dramatically two or three times in the past 20 years, may have something to say about living through a crisis. Not surprisingly, “Victory over the Future” is the title of this year’s Russian exhibit at the Venice Biennale of Art. Cinema is also a focus, as we see its instrumentality in depicting future scenarios.

As the Internet becomes more influential than conventional media, and networks create communities which defy territorial boundaries, the ability to attract exceeds the power to control as the instrument of choice to succeed. This conference is about looking beyond and into the future, it is about realizing around what forces of attraction Russia will build its recognition within the global community: Russia’s ‘soft power’.”

Pierfederico Lossa is a businessman living and working in Moscow, Russian Federation. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Economics from Brown University (USA) and a graduate degree in Economics from Universita’ Carlo Cattaneo, Italy, where he is also a senior associate of the Interdisciplinary Unit for Sustainable Economy, founded and currently headed by Professor Dipak R. Pant. He formerly worked as Manager with Arthur Andersen’s Corporate Finance division, and Deputy CEO for Italian pharmaceutical multinational Zambon Group. He is co-author of Cultura, Economia e Business (“Culture, Economy and Business” – Guerini Scientifica, 1998) and contributed to Antropologia e Strategia: Saggio sull’essere umano e sull’economia sostenibile (“Anthropology and Strategy: Essays on Human Being and Sustainable Economy” – Guerini Scientifica, 2004). In Moscow he heads Origin Ltd. (www.origin-ltd.ru).