Innosocium Nationwide Social Project Competition: Presentation of Completed Projects and Start of New Season
On 6 June 2019 at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019 (SPIEF) the Roscongress Foundation’s social platform presented the results of the first Innosocium Nationwide Social Project Competition and announced the categories for the next season.
The social platform is a strategic initiative of the Roscongress Foundation aimed at bringing together the participants of the social ecosystem: business structures, government, and civil society. During the first Innosocium competition, which kicked off in September 2018, Russian students were invited to implement social projects in the following categories: Inclusive Society, Territorial Development, and Active Longevity. The competition partners were the Art, Science and Sport Charity Foundation, the Memory of Generations Foundation and the Russian Copper Company. The competition jury and the expert council included cultural figures, rectors and heads of departments of leading Russian universities, government and business representatives, as well as creative agencies, experts in the field of education, and public figures.
Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation supported the competition. “The Innosocium contest is a great tradition from which several interesting joint projects have already emerged. The competition draws attention to important issues such as the development of an inclusive society, social responsibility, and the preservation of cultural values. For us it is important to support this undertaking since it involves young people, facilitates the development of leadership skills and independent project work, creates social responsibility, and enables participants to share their experience. The first winners have already been able to present their projects at major business forums – this is a serious foundation for career growth. It is essential to expand the use of these approaches and introduce them en masse in order to provide the maximum number of talented young people from different regions of Russia with a good start”, Russian Minister of Science and Higher Education Mikhail Kotyukov said.
The main objectives of the competition include attracting the attention of young people to socially significant problems that affect us today, searching for new ideas to solve them, rewarding talented students and developing their skills in implementing communicative social projects, and getting more students involved in such projects.
“We are very pleased with the initial results and the fact that the competition has garnered such a wide response among young people. The instillation of the right values and willingness to demonstrate civic-mindedness is the very foundation of a socially responsible society. And the success of the competition has inspired us to continue our work and set new ambitious goals,” said Elena Marinina, Deputy CEO of the Roscongress Foundation, Director of the Innosocium Foundation.
The winning projects of the competition were presented at the Innosocium LAB stand as part of the launch ceremony of the new season at SPIEF 2019. In the Active Longevity category, the forum participants were shown Olga Molostvova’s project ‘Nearby Home’ Educational Landscape Design Course which aims to get older people more socially involved and find employment opportunities as well as promote additional education.
In the Inclusive Society category, Irina Svyatskova presented the project ‘Audio Productions of Chuvash Folk Tales and Legends for Blind Children’ which aims to help preserve the architectural and cultural values, identity, culture, languages, and traditions of the peoples of the Russian Federation.
The third Innosocium winner to speak at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum was Svetlana Panyukova. She won the Territorial Development category with her project ‘Beyond Rigour’. Her project aims to create and develop brands for territories, promote and develop grassroots sports, active tourism, and leisure, promote the preservation of architectural and cultural values, facilitate the development of electronic forms of communication using mobile and internet resources as well as enhance public activities, civic participation, and initiatives by urban residents.
“We have supported the Innosocium competition since the time it was established and initiated the incorporation of the ‘Inclusion’ category, which is an integral part of modern society and an important focus of the foundation’s work. We are very pleased with the initial results, which speak for themselves: 25 regions are participating. This is a powerful incentive for active young people and for us as well to scale up the project, develop it, and contribute to the establishment of a culture of social inclusion in society”, Deputy Director of the Art, Science and Sports Charity Foundation Fatima Mukhomedzhan said.
During the session new categories were also announced and topics for the next round of projects, whose winners will be chosen before the end of 2019. The Culture: Regional Initiatives category will be supported by the Tretyakov Gallery All-Russian Museum Association. The partner of the Territorial Development category is Evraz, and LUKOIL is the partner of the Ecology category.
