Over the five days of the international conference "Digitalization of Industrial Russia", more than 10,000 people from all regions of Russia and more than 40 countries of the world attended the event in Nizhny Novgorod. About 140 sessions were held as part of the business program, and 176 stands with digital solutions from Russian and international companies were presented at the annual exhibition. During the event, more than 300 agreements were signed, including those on IT cooperation with China, Cuba, Serbia, Iran, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan and Equatorial Guinea.
More than 4,000 participants, 45 sessions and 134 speakers – how was the Tech Friendly Weekend
From June 5 to 8, Nizhny Novgorod hosted the Tech Friendly Weekend Festival, a satellite of the CIPR conference and the main event about artificial intelligence and modern technologies. For four days, the festival focused on the main city site – the Nizhny Novgorod Fair and the Vysota Youth Center. Dozens of events were held here, which brought together over 4,000 participants from all over the country.
The program included 45 sessions – lectures, panel discussions, public talks, master classes and workshops. 134 speakers took part in the festival, including: tech blogger Wylsacom; scientist and Director of Strategic Marketing at Yandex Andrey Sebrant; founder of the agency SETTERS and SETTERS MEDIA Alexandra Zharkova; science popularizer and N+1 publisher Andrey Konyaev; Executive Director of the Sber Neuroscience Laboratory Denis Parshin; AI evangelist and journalist Daniel Trabun; CEO of the bQ Group digital communication agency Dmitry Beskromny; editor, journalist, blogger and author of the Telegram channel and YouTube show “Unfiltered” Anastasia Poletaeva; co-author of the #followmeto project, founder of the Ashram well-being center Natalia Osmann; editor-in-chief of the Architectural Excesses Telegram channel Pavel Gnilorybov; Tolstoy Digital project manager and journalist Fekla Tolstaya; Program Director of the GES-2 Cultural Center and the V–A–C Foundation Alisa Prudnikova; curator of Zielinski&Rozen and Rockets Concept Store, creator of the Hedonistcats telegram channel Yulia Susova, and many others. The participants were able to communicate directly with leading experts and practitioners, as well as take part in interactive and educational activities.
The key theme of the 2025 festival is artificial intelligence in the creative industries and its impact on familiar areas of life: from education and finance to fashion and copyright.
“Tech-Friendly Weekend is becoming a space where technology takes on a human face. We have created a format that unites the professional community and the widest audience – from schoolchildren to entrepreneurs, from students to families with children. This is not just a festival, but an open platform for an honest conversation about the future, in which artificial intelligence already plays a key role. Our goal is to make the technology agenda accessible, understandable and inspiring for everyone,” said Irina Efimova, General Director of OMG, organizer of the CIPR conference and the Tech Friendly Weekend Festival.
The festival program comprised 12 specialized tracks, including: “The Big Conversation about AI in Russia”, “Marketing and Media”, “Authorship”, “Fashion”, “Design”, “Culture”, “Economics”, “Finance in IT and Beyond”, “Ecology”, “Children”, “Cybersecurity” and “Human Capital”.
The key theme of the festival was the discussion program “The Big conversation about AI in Russia” – it brought together those who shape and redefine the country’s technological agenda. It was this section that set the tone for the entire Tech-Friendly Weekend program: here, they discussed what the future interaction between man and machine will be like, how to develop AI taking into account ethics and regulation, and what lies ahead for the creative and applied industries. It was here that industry leaders, experts, scientists and visionaries spoke – Wylsacom, Andrey Sebrant, Andrey Konyaev, Denis Parshin, Dmitry Borisov, Boris Ulitin.
“One of the main focuses of the festival is youth. We see how important it is today to create spaces where schoolchildren and students can not only hear about technology, but also try their hands in applied formats, develop skills and get familiarized with the opportunities that the digital age opens up. Tech Friendly Weekend helps young participants understand their place in a rapidly changing world, understand what professions and skills will be in demand tomorrow, and see that AI and digital technologies are about opportunities, not something scary. For many, this is the first step towards making a conscious choice of profession and understanding their role in the future,” stressed Olga Piven, co-founder and director of the CIPR Conference and the Tech Friendly Weekend Festival.
In addition to the business part, the festival included a diverse entertainment program. Participants competed in digital tournaments and cyber championships, tasted dishes at pop-up venues with food trucks and a fitness bar, listened to evening DJ sets and live performances. Nizhny Novgorod restaurants took part in the festival: many of them had a special menu that guests could try only during the Tech Friendly Weekend.
The festival was held with the support of partners: Alfa-Bank, Yandex.Food, Avito, ITG Corporation, eXpress, as well as the Ministry of Tourism of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, which, together with Tech-Friendly Weekend, released a special city guide.
Tech Friendly Weekend is a youth festival within the CIPR Conference aimed at popularizing technologies among the general public. It is held annually in Nizhny Novgorod. The organizer is OMG.
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