On April 16, 2026, the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation hosted the conference "Dialogue Platform – InterUNI: A City in Motion", dedicated to the development of Moscow's transport infrastructure. The event was organised by the Foundation for International Business Communications with the support of the Department for External Economic and International Relations of Moscow and the Civic Chamber of Russia.
The event was held in preparation for the International Municipal Forum 2026 and marked the beginning of a programme of international interuniversity cooperation aimed at studying and developing the best urban practices.
The conference brought together about 150 participants — designers, IT specialists, urbanists, logisticians, and managers. The business programme focused on innovative materials, artificial intelligence in the road industry, the "green" agenda, inclusion and the economy of transport.
The welcoming speeches to the conference participants were delivered by: Vyacheslav Manuilov, Deputy Head of the Department for External Economic and International Relations of Moscow; Stepan Orlov, Deputy Chairman of the Moscow City Duma; Vladimir Platonov, Chairman of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Andrey Maksimov, Chairman of the Commission on Territorial Development, Urban Environment, and Infrastructure of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation; Sergey Butorin, Deputy Chairman of the Commission on Housing and Communal Services of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation; Vyacheslav Shoptenko, Director of the RANEPA Institute for Organisational Development and Strategic Initiatives; Elena Didenko, Vice-Rector for Additional Professional Education at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation; Ignatiy Pavlov, CEO of Vedomosti, a leading Russian business publication.
Elena Belyakova, Managing Director of the Foundation for International Business Communications, opened the conference: "Moscow is the largest laboratory of urban solutions. The best practices of the capital today set standards for other cities and reach the international level. Everyone has their own vision of a city of the future, but it can only be built by joining forces."
The organisers expressed gratitude to the Moscow Government, the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, representatives of the research community, business, government authorities, and the media for their support and invited participants to further dialogue at the "Days of Moscow" in Harbin, China.
Moscow builds links with foreign cities through universities and establishes joint educational and research projects. This was stated by Vyacheslav Manuilov, Deputy Head of the Department for External Economic and International Relations of Moscow.
He reminded that as of 2024, under the plan of the Russian Federation's BRICS charimanship and on behalf of the Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, the Moscow Government, represented by the Department for External Economic and International Relations (DVMS), has been acting as the general partner of the International Municipal Forum. And this year, by Executive Order of the Russian President Vladimir Putin, dated December 29, 2025, the Forum acquired the status of a federal annual event. It is held for the purpose of ensuring favourable living conditions for the population, creating a comfortable and safe environment, as well as promotion of international cooperation on the development of cities, regions, and municipalities.
Vyacheslav Manuilov stressed that today Moscow is actively developing cooperation with universities: "Together with the leading universities of the city, we are launching applied research in the field of transport development, ecology, digital city management, and the implementation of artificial intelligence. We involve students and young professionals in various urban projects, from modeling transport platforms to developing solutions for smart city concepts. We implement joint educational programmes, organise and implement internships in executive authorities’ offices for students." He drew attention to the fact that the Moscow Government and the Department for External Economic and International Relations are always open for cooperation with students, and also expressed the hope that the conference "Dialogue Platform – InterUNI: A City in Motion" would become an effective communication platform for interaction between higher education institutions.
"I am confident that today's conference will results not only in interesting ideas but also specific projects that can be implemented in the near future at the city and regional levels within the framework of international cooperation," Vyacheslav Manuilov said.
Deputy Chairman of the Moscow City Duma Stepan Orlov took part in the opening of the conference and read out a welcoming speech by Chairman of the Moscow Parliament Alexei Shaposhnikov. Stepan Orlov specificly noted the topic of legislative regulation of the field and work on legal and administrative barriers of urban transport architecture: "A number of important agreements have been signed, which, in our common opinion, will certainly contribute to the further successful development of the Moscow transport complex."
Vladimir Platonov, Chairman of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Industry, called youth the main engine of the capital's development. Speaking at the conference, he stressed that Moscow is actively investing in the future, creating conditions for education, self-realisation, and business initiatives. Within the framework of the "Start Your Business with Moscow" project, which has been implemented for a third year in a row, students of the capital have the opportunity to turn their ideas into operating startups: "Those who do not work with young people have no future. Moscow has a wonderful present, a wonderful future, because Moscow is actively working with young people. And all in all, with regards to its development, Moscow has a wonderful engine — it's youth...> Moscow is fully prepared to share its experience with other regions. We understand perfectly well that we need to develop together, and that we are not teachers. All of us — every region, every city — are partners."
Andrey Maksimov, Chairman of the Commission on Territorial Development, Urban Environment, and Infrastructure of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, said that Russian cities have made a drastic leap over the past quarter century, turning from "housing machines" into modern spaces with vibrant life and new points of attraction. Speaking at the conference, he stressed that today Moscow is objectively the best metropolis in the world, and Russia's small towns have ceased to be back-blocks thanks to the advent of public spaces, festivals, and digital services. According to Andrey Maksimov, a special role in these changes was played by the very site of the Civic Chamber, where ideas are born, which are then picked up at the federal level - up to the President.
"We see that today Moscow is the leader of urban development in the Russian Federation. It is already being called the best city on Earth, which is not a mere rhetoric, because when we travel to big cities in other countries of the world, megacities, we see how much our capital stands head and shoulders above other global cities. <...> In small towns, if literally 10 years ago there were still back-blocks, now there are new public spaces everywhere, fascinating tourist festivals everywhere. The level of development has reached the point where digital cities are emerging, where the mayor controls the system, seeing in real time what is happening on every street," said Andrey Maksimov, Chairman of the Commission on Territorial Development, Urban Environment, and Infrastructure of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation.
Sergey Butorin, Deputy Chairman of the Commission on Housing and Communal Services of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation, urged his colleagues to focus on developing key trends and broadcasting the best domestic practices on the international stage: "We need to talk through all the best cases and practices that we will be presenting in order to prove that our country is stronger, more powerful, and Moscow is indeed one of the leaders in structural and spatial development".
Vyacheslav Shoptenko, Director of the RANEPA Institute for Organisational Development and Strategic Initiatives, read out a greeting by Alexey Kolesnikov, Vice-Rector of RANEPA, and stated the key role of synchronising the interests of business and government for urban development: "Government and business have different languages, and they often have to be translated. We need to synchronise the agenda in order to create the most comfortable conditions for businesses to implement projects that will benefit the development of our cities, so that cities are really moving forward."
Speaking at the conference, Elena Didenko, Vice-rector for Continuing Professional Education at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, stressed the special role of youth in forming an effective dialogue between business, government, research, and education: "It is very important that young people take a direct, active part in urban development, because this is our future. Research by, for example, Stanford University shows that the main ideas and discoveries that humanity uses are often conceived by people under 40. Therefore, a platform that unites and engages young people in solving important tasks is extremely important today. Today, it is extremely important to combine the efforts of universities of different profiles. The Financial University is about financial and economic education, but the future lies in joint projects with technical universities. Monospecialisation sometimes hinders development. We are ready to provide our own platform and experience for the implementation of such youth projects."
Ignatiy Pavlov, CEO of Vedomosti, a leading Russian business publication, noted that last October, Vedomosti became the General information partner of the International Municipal BRICS Forum. The "City in Motion" conference is not just a logical, but a necessary continuation of work on the topic of urban development: "We see a huge interest of the audience in the issues of cities, transport, and self-government. Today we are reaching a new audience — students, young engineers, urbanists, who in a few years will be fostering the urban space in which we all live. Interuniversity dialogue is not just an educational tool, but a key mechanism for the development of a new generation of urban management specialists. A city can develop rapidly when business, government, and universities begin to speak the same language even before young professionals enter the workplace. The future of Russian cities is planned not only in high offices, but also in university classrooms. It is here, in the intergenerational dialogue, that the ideas that will become the basis for the successful and high-quality development of our cities tomorrow are conceived."
The conference included three sessions: "A City in Motion" (transport and logistics), "Practices of Urban Environment Development" (space design, transport architecture, green agenda, inclusion, city roadmap, principles of territorial development) and a separate session on modern technologies and the use of AI in transport management.
The conference ended with a project lab supported by LeePrime Group and a discussion of the InterUNI role in the implementation of intermunicipal and international initiatives. Moderator - Veronika Ulbrecht, technology broker, business tracker, trusted expert and NTI tracker, mentor and supervisor of SME Corporation programmes, University 2035 expert.
Students and representatives of organizations completed the full cycle of creating a municipal project: from setting the task and selecting the best solutions to patenting, legislative regulation, implementation of developments, and commercialisation.
During the conference, the Foundation for International Business Communications signed Agreements with public organisations and business associations.
The full list of experts is available on the website of the Foundation for International Business Communications.
Media partners of the Conference: "Vedomosti.City", "Big Asia" media group, "Embassy Life" online media, "World of Roads" magazine, "World Leaders" magazine, "People's place business" magazine.