Within the framework of the V International Forum NDExpo-2018 the panel discussion "Digitalization as a factor in increasing the competitiveness of large high-tech companies" took place.

The discussion was opened by Evgeny Kovnir, General Director of ANO Digital Economy. Further presentations were made by Ekaterina Solntseva, Director of Digitalization at Rosatom State Corporation, Alexei Borovkov, Vice-Rector for Advanced Projects at St. Petersburg State Pedagogical University, Eldar Shavaliev, Head of the Digital Transformation Center at KAMAZ, Oleg Teplov, Director General of VEB Innovations, Vasily Belov, Director General of Skolkovo - Venture Investments, and Alexei Minin, Executive Director of the Institute for Applied Data Analysis at Deloitte. The discussion was moderated by Pavel Anisimov, Development Director of ANO "Digital Economy".

Evgeny Kovnir, in particular, noted: "Today all leading Russian technology companies have embarked on the path of digital transformation. This is a complex path of systemic change, when with the help of big data and modern technologies of their processing there is a change of business processes, reduction of transaction chains, which leads to global changes in the economy. The engine of digital transformation is the people who will be able to launch the process correctly. We call these people leaders in digital transformation - CDO - chief data officer. Their preparation has already begun and will continue and expand with the involvement of all regions.

Ekaterina Solntseva shared the experience of the State Corporation in terms of mastering the practices introduced from the IT-business: it is both the ability to digitize the development to the state of the product and the understanding of the processes that need to be implemented in order to provide the product with an appropriate level of quality. She noted that these approaches are particularly important given the rapid transformations of our time. "Not many companies on the Russian market are able to gain experience in the production of their developments, and Rosatom has an excellent base, many programmers and scientists. Speaking of Rosatom 2030 and beyond, we now understand the image of the future in the following way: we have a single digital platform, we have absolutely no need for digital products at the expense of our own developments and partners. We need to understand that import substitution is not our direct goal, our goal is world-class products, which, and this is the third important aspect of the vision, will provide the entire Russian economy and help build an ecosystem of partnerships with world leaders," she said.

The discussion on building an ecosystem of digital partnerships has been given special attention. This was due to the need to discuss the ways of interaction necessary for the digital transformation of large corporations: intersectoral cooperation, partnerships with vendors and insourcing centers, dialogue with the government and the scientific community. According to Eldar Shavaliev, it is important to hear each other, and one of the most important factors of cooperation is the exchange of relevant data and interaction within the framework of new business models. "The speed of launching new business lines of large corporations will increase significantly if they not only seek to collect new data on their own, but also use the data already collected by each other," he said.

In the context of ecosystem issues, the participants discussed the role of young innovative companies and the possibility that Russian state corporations can become a key customer of innovative products for their own industry needs, as well as for the digitalization of business processes.

Oleg Teplov specified: "The creators of such products can be both startups working in the market and internal R&D departments, but it is very important to find a balance between internal key competencies and outsourcing. Innovative projects need to be helped not only in the output of products to a large customer and in attracting co-financing, but also to ensure implementation in the state corporation. "VEB Innovations is ready to act as such a two-way channel.