ASI and MAER Media Holding are doubling the geography of the "People Change the Country" project

11 cities have joined the information campaign of the project "People Change the Country" launched in July 2024 by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) together with the MAER media holding. The new cities include Krasnodar, Anapa, Kazan, Orenburg, Buzuluk (Orenburg Region), Perm, Tyumen, Omsk, Kemerovo, Krasnoyarsk, and Khabarovsk. Thus, the geography has grown to 22 Russian cities.

The special project "People Change the Country" was launched in the summer in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Ufa, Samara, Volgograd, Vladivostok, Voronezh, and Chelyabinsk. Its goal is to tell Russians more about the leaders of change and their breakthrough initiatives supported by ASI.

"The Agency unites people who love their work and their country. Their stories are inspiring, so we believe it is important for people in the regions to see those who are changing the city, the region and Russia as a whole. I am sure that thanks to our campaign with MAER, citizens will learn about their fellow countrymen and their projects that are already being implemented, and will be proud of their achievements," said ASI Director General Svetlana Chupsheva.

"We are creating a unified digital media space in Russia. The rapid digitalization of the advertising market in the regions opens up completely new opportunities for business, promotion of national and socially significant projects, and government policy. "People Change the Country" is one of our flagship projects, which we are implementing together with the Agency for Strategic Change. It was launched in 2024: on digital screens and media facades, city residents can see the creators of projects, such as developers of 5D printers for industrial equipment or organizers of bicycle trips along unusual routes in Russia. In 2025, the project will be expanded to include new cities and we will be able to reach over 27 million people. In just one year, the videos will be seen over 3 billion times," said Konstantin Major, owner and CEO of MAER Media Holding.

He added that the information campaign "People Change the Country" last year covered more than 26.5 million people across Russia. The airtime provided by the media holding provided over 1.7 billion views.

The series "People Change the Country" tells the stories of leaders who, with the support of the ASI, are implementing projects aimed at improving the lives of citizens in all areas. The special project featured finalists from the Strong Ideas for New Times forum and project leaders who had already been selected by the agency. Their solutions received expert evaluation and targeted support from ASI. For example, the agency helps leaders to promote their solutions in the Russian and foreign markets, to find new industrial and sectoral partners, and to remove administrative barriers.

One example of such leaders is Yuri Matvienko, head of Motorika, a company that develops and manufactures electromechanical prostheses with a myocontrol system (removal of electrical impulses from muscles). These include active traction prosthetic hands, bionic prosthetic arms and legs for the disabled, including disabled children.

Anastasia Knor created a volunteer movement to preserve the historical environment. Anastasia, director of the Samara Regional Public Organization "For Information Society", winner of the forum "Strong Ideas for New Times", proposes to develop regulations for citizen participation in the improvement of public property and spaces, including those with historical value - cultural heritage sites, embankments, public gardens. In addition, she has an idea to formalize the participation of apartment building residents in the management of common areas (adjacent territories, basements, attics, stairwells, elevator halls, non-residential premises of the first floors) to form socially useful spaces together with municipal authorities and support consumer cooperation.

Daria Tokareva, CEO of Spaun LLC, opened a company where new furniture is produced from waste and unique mushrooms. Daria's company created SPAWN technology for processing cellulose-containing composite waste (disposable tableware, cigarette butts, checks, etc.) with the help of the author's unique strain of mushrooms. Shredded garbage is mixed with mushrooms, the resulting mass is placed in a certain mold representing the future product. Mushrooms, feeding on garbage, grow and fill this mold, creating the final product.