The session "Man — State — Business" was held at the SPIEF

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum hosted the session "Man — State — Business: the Evolution of Digital Interaction and the Development of Russian online platforms." The discussion was moderated by Maxim Iksanov, CEO of News Media Holding.

The session was attended by the Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation Maksut Shadaev, Chairman of VEB.Igor Shuvalov, CEO of VK Vladimir Kiriyenko, Chairman of the Management Board of the Moscow Stock Exchange Viktor Zhidkov, First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Sovcombank Sergey Khotimsky, CEO of T2 Anton Godovikov and CEO of PJSC Magnit Evgeny Sluchevsky.

Opening the discussion, Maxim Iksanov noted that today the Russian digital industry is at a new stage of development: if previously the country used exclusively foreign tools, now the task is to create its own solutions that form a qualitatively new experience of interaction on the Web.

"How is Russia changing the digital environment itself and in what direction will Russian platforms develop in the future? We need to stop import substitution of certain foreign solutions and focus on creating a qualitatively new experience of interaction between people, the state and entrepreneurs," Maxim Iksanov emphasized.

The discussion focused on issues of digital sovereignty, the development of domestic platforms, the introduction of artificial intelligence, the creation of unified digital ecosystems and improving the quality of user experience. The participants agreed that Russian companies have managed to adapt to external constraints and in recent years have formed a full—fledged digital infrastructure in key areas such as finance, e-commerce, and public services. Chairman of VEB.Russian Federation Igor Shuvalov praised the new system: "We have gone through many sets of sanctions, and all these were restrictions, including on payments and digital services. We watch movies, we listen to music − everything, in my opinion, is fine. All our banking applications are working."

A good example of new solutions is the digital ID, developed jointly with the Ministry of Finance. VK CEO Vladimir Kiriyenko, one of the main tasks of the development was to identify a person on the Internet without forcing him to go through a very long path of logins, passwords and additional actions.: "By creating a unique digital ID technology in its own way, related to identification through Public Services, a large number of use cases have opened up."

Attention was also paid to the topic of cooperation between government and business. The entrepreneurs came to the conclusion that further development of the digital economy is impossible without partnership between technology companies, the financial sector, telecom, retail and government institutions.

The session led everyone to the idea that competition and cooperation in the digital environment do not contradict each other. Balance allows you to create new services, scale technologies, and create a user-friendly ecosystem.

Summing up the discussion, Maxim Iksanov noted that the Russian IT industry has managed to develop its own development model based on a combination of technological independence, openness to partnerships and user orientation.

"The requests and needs of users, businesses and government organizations are changing, but they are united by the main thing — the desire to build the most effective interaction with each other. The Russian digital industry has found a balance between competition and partnership, shaped its own development path and proved its ability to create world—class technological solutions in demand," said the head of News Media Holding.

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2026 is taking place from June 3-6. As part of a series of discussions, sessions and conferences, heads of enterprises and representatives of the country's largest industries discuss the problems and challenges of modern Russian business.