Participation in the Fourth Small Business Forum of SCO and BRICS Member States

From October 18 to 19, 2018, the Fourth Small Business Forum of the Regions of SCO and BRICS Member States was held in Ufa, Republic of Bashkortostan. It brought together more than 1,400 participants from 24 countries and 40 constituent entities of the Russian Federation, with the aim of creating conditions for the accelerated development of entrepreneurship among entrepreneurs of the member states, discussing the declarations of heads of state, attracting investment, and increasing the number of joint business projects.

The Fourth Small Business Forum of the Regions of SCO and BRICS Member States was held with the support of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Republic of Bashkortostan, and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Bashkortostan.

The Forum's program was extensive and included a business contact exchange for entrepreneurs from various regions, round tables, presentations by representatives of various business sectors, and speeches by government officials.

In his speech, Prime Minister of the Government of Bashkortostan Rustem Mardanov emphasized that, thanks to this forum, the number of people engaged in entrepreneurship in the region has increased by 13,500 over the past three years, and that entrepreneurs from SCO and BRICS member states account for a significant share of the region's foreign trade turnover.

Milena Arslanova, Head of the Investment Policy Department of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, noted that decisions currently being taken at the federal level are aimed at developing and supporting entrepreneurship in the regions, and that as early as next year they will make it possible to increase subsidized financing for small and medium-sized businesses to 1 trillion rubles, with this amount growing by 100–200 billion rubles each subsequent year.

Alexey Gorodishenin, Partner of KRIF and Marketing Director of RCML ASIA, delivered a presentation at the Forum. KRIF's main objectives are to build relations between Russia and China in entrepreneurship and investment, and to create a platform where business ideas and operating projects can receive support from the state and investors in the markets of both countries.

Drawing on his extensive entrepreneurial experience, Alexey shared the achievements of one of KRIF's projects — RCML, a developer and integrator of robotics solutions for industry. In 2017, the KRIF team began facilitating technology exchange and promoting the technology in China. The main area of work is the development of artificial intelligence (AI) software for robotic cells with industrial robots, which has already become an integral part of Industry 4.0. The technology is based on creating a digital twin of a shop floor with industrial equipment and a new approach to describing the task to be performed, involving programming the task rather than the robots.

In addition to discussing the RCML project, Alexey spoke about the typical barriers to working with the Chinese market, as well as the advantages of working with China, the market's limitless scale, and the opportunities offered by technology parks and incubators in China. The KRIF team proposes developing a network of official trade representative offices in major cities across SCO member states to support entrepreneurs.