Today, Internet itself is a strategic industry that provides innovative and knowledge-based progress. The innovativeness of the Net is reflected in new state governance paradigm (e.g. internet-based government services), revolutionary business models (start-ups, spin-offs et cetera as well as e-commerce), new ways of providing educational, medical and social services (e.g. social networks).

One of the key peculiarities of the Internet as a set of innovation tools is that it greatly speeds up information and ideas turnover. This, in turn, requires new skills and new response times for changing information landscape. Speaking of technologies, the Internet provides new communication interfaces between its actors, and these, too, help to improve these processes greatly. Finally, the Internet broadens the communication barriers significantly, bringing the ‘global village’ idea closer to its practical implementation.

How close the government, business and society are to adopting and using these models? Who and to what extent should favor their further development? How universal the innovative models, as well as tools of social and economic advance, are?
These and many other questions will be answered by recognized Internet governance experts.

Most experts consider that in the future, as well as of today, the motive forces for Internet progress will be information and communication technology, new and traditional media, social networks and projects, citizens and government. However, the experts differ in opinion on who will be the defining leader for the future of the Net.

In a two-way discussion American experts will present three possible global network development scenarios to year 2020, while their Russian colleagues will give them reality check and present their vision of the future.