On August 23, 2022, Moscow Expocentre hosted one of the
most significant events in the automotive industry: the 13th International
Moscow Automotive Forum IMAF 2022. The forum was organized as part of the 26th
international exhibition of spare parts, automotive components, equipment and
goods for vehicle maintenance MIMS Automobility Moscow 2022 - the largest event
in the automotive industry in Russia and Eastern Europe.
This year, experts paid special attention to the issues of overcoming
uncertainties in the current crisis situation, discussed the necessary measures
of state support, changes in supply chains.
At the beginning of the plenary session, Anna Manvelova, General Director, ITEMF
Expo addressed the Forum participants with a welcoming speech. Philippe Pegorier,
Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Association of European Businesses expressed
his gratitude to the organizers and participants of the forum for the unique
opportunity provided to car manufacturers, representatives of government
agencies, the dealer segment, consulting and legal companies to exchange views
on the current state of the Russian automotive industry and its development
prospects. Mr. Pegorier particularly noted that the issue of the state and
future of the Russian automotive industry always remains relevant both for its
direct participants and for the entire Russian industry and economy.
During the plenary session, moderated by Andrey Tomyshev, Partner, Head of
Automotive Services in the CIS, B1, speakers discussed the most pressing current
problems in the automotive industry, such as disruptions in supply chains,
falling production and sales.
Andrey Nazarov, Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of
Bashkortostan, spoke about the work of automotive industry enterprises in the
Republic of Bashkortostan, investment projects and the potential of the region
in the development of automotive industry enterprises.
Dmitry Pronin, Chief Executive Officer of JSC MAZ Moskvich, and Alexey Likhachev,
Director of Strategy and Digital Technologies of GAZ Group, shared practical
cases of the development of the automotive industry in the current conditions.
Dmitry Gulin, Vice-President of ROAD and Member of Board of Director at “Avtomir”,
highlighted the specifics of the dealer segment in the changed market
conditions. Mikhail Blinkin, Academic Supervisor of the Faculty of Urban and
Regional Development, National Research University Higher School of Economics,
spoke about the problems of developing the electric car market in Russia and the
prospects for self-driving cars.
Tatiana Arabadji, Director, NAPI, and Sergey Tselikov, Director, AUTOSTAT,
presented statistics and expressed the professional view over the production and
sales of trucks, cars and buses. Experts noted significant changes in the
structure of the market.
Wilhelmina Shavshina, Chairman of the AEB Customs and Transport Committee,
speaking about the state support measures for the automotive industry, drew
attention to the initiative of zero customs duties for automotive components.
The topic of current legislative initiatives was continued by the experts of the
second session, moderated by Tatiana Kofanova, Automotive Group Leader in Russia
and CIS, DRT. Anton Bankovskiy, Chairman, AEB Intellectual Property Committee,
SEAMLESS Legal, spoke about the consequences of the legalization of parallel
imports for the automotive sector and the problem of controlling counterfeit
products. Ekaterina Erova, Chairman, AEB Working Group on Consumer Rights’
Protection, Baker McKenzie, presented judicial practice in consumer protection
cases.
Within the innovation session, moderated by Kirill Zhanaydarov, Head of
Transport Infrastructure Projects, Skolkovo Foundation, experts discussed
self-driving technologies, digital twins, and R&D opportunities.
Viktoria Sinichkina, Director, Advisory, Automotive, Technologies of Trust, Olga
Mudrova, Executive Director of the Russian Association of Robotics, Andrey
Malyshev, Head of Calibration Department for Hybrid Power Units and Vehicles,
FSUE NAMI, and Vladimir Vorontsov, Projects Manager at Development and Supplies
launching of composite materials to automotive industry, NPP Polyplastic,
discussed the prospects for electric and self-driving vehicles in Russia and
trends in the development of new technologies. Alexey Belyaev, Chairman of the
AEB Automotive Suppliers Committee, Strategic Projects Director, Smart Driving
Labs, spoke about the technology of using data and its benefits for both drivers
and businesses.
At the end of the forum a round table "BIG Data in the automotive industry" was
traditionally held and was moderated by Vadim Sakhonko, Head of the NTI "Autonet".
The participants discussed the ownership of the data generated by the car,
technologies for collecting, processing and managing data, the prospects for the
development of the Autodata platform, cybersecurity and data protection. The
speakers of the round table were Dmitry Rudenko, CEO, Absolut Strakhovaniye,
Alexey Kasatkin, Head of Project Office, IT insurance products’ company Simble,
Evgeniya Ponomareva, Business Development Manager, Kaspersky, Sergey Naumovskiy,
Expert, ROAD, Sergey Burgazliev, Independent expert on industry “Automobiles and
transport”, Denis Klimanov, Leading Design Engineer, JSC AVTOVAZ.
Despite the fact that the participants of the automotive market in Russia are
currently facing the most difficult challenges, we are confident that the forum
allowed the speakers and the delegates and participants to find answers to their
concerns. The organizers of the Forum would like to thank the IMAF 2022 general
partner Smart Driving Labs and partners Sintec Group; Polyplastic; B1.
