Creative Business Forum

The Arctic is a treasure trove of cultural values, a civilization that is distinctive and harmonious with nature, and whose values are becoming a priority for the development of all mankind before our eyes. The year 2022 launched the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, a global UN initiative aimed at keeping many indigenous languages alive until the end of this century. Each language is not only a means of communication, but also a repository of unique knowledge, philosophies, worldviews, and creativity. All this knowledge can feed the creative economy with new ideas and meanings. New thinking about the preservation of linguistic and cultural diversity makes it possible not only to preserve, document, and digitize, but also to shape the cultural heritage of the future in real time. How do modern information technologies transform the socio-cultural space of the Polar Region? How can we give an impetus to documenting and expanding the traditional knowledge base of indigenous peoples? What kind of language content is most in demand? How can language activists be supported in the digital realm? What synergy can interregional and international cooperation offer? How to develop cross-border language projects amidst the crisis of international relations?

Moderator
Aleksei Tsykarev, Vice Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Northern Crafts ID Project Coordinator at Association ECHO

Panellists
Eremey Aipin, Writer
Nikolay Aprosimov, Head, AYANA Innovation Project; Head, A-PRO
Nina Veysalova, Vice President, Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON)
Antonina Gorbunova, Member of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Vadim Duda, General Director, Russian State Library
Kunihiko Yoshida, law professor of Hokkaido University (online)
Aysen Nikolaev, Head of Sakha Republic (Yakutia)
Lyubov Odzyal, President, Resident Public Organization Association of Indigenous People of the North of the Khabarovsk Region
Maya Sekine, Representative of the Ainu people (online)
Andrey Chemyshev, Researcher, Mari Research Institute of Language, Literature and History. V.M. Vasilyeva
Joseph Lewis Erb, Cherokee computer animator, film producer, educator, language technologist and artist (online)

Nina Veysalova

Vice President, Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON)

In 1996, she graduated from Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia in St. Petersburg (Department of the Peoples of the North) specializing in Philology and gained the qualification of a teacher of Russian and Even language and literature.

Career:
1996 to 2006 – teacher of Even language and literature, teacher of Russian language and literature at Yerbogachen secondary school.
2006 to 2010 – municipal service, a head specialist on issues of indigenous minorities of the North of the Katangsky District, deputy head of the Erbogachensky municipality.
2010 to 2015 – public service, an adviser to the Governor of the Irkutsk Region on the affairs of the indigenous peoples of the North.
2015 to 2018 – Chief of Staff of the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East.
2018 – present – Advisor to the Rector of Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia.

Holds a civil service rank: Full State Councillor 3rd Class of the Russian Federation.

Community Service:
She is an expert in national policy issues.
First Vice-President of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation.
President of the Irkutsk Regional Public Organization ‘Union of Indigenous Minorities of the North of the Irkutsk Region’ at the Congress of Indigenous Minorities of the Irkutsk Region.
She is a member of the Public Council of the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs, the Advisory Council on Indigenous Minorities of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation with the Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative in the Siberian Federal District, and the Council of the International Public Association Reindeer Herding.

In 2018, she became one of the presidential candidate Vladimir Putin’s election campaign activists.

Vadim Duda

General Director, Russian State Library

In 1991, he received a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Moscow Aviation Institute. In 2005, he earned an MBA in corporate finance, the American Institute of Business and Economics.
In 1984 the very first job was the Librarian assistant in the Moscow Aviation Institute Library.
Vadim Duda held senior positions in both Russian and international companies, with the focus on international relations, culture, IT and new media.
In 2012 – 2013 as Director of Information Policy and International Relations Department at Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation he launched federal state internet projects, like Culture Portal and National Electronic Library.
In 2013 – 2015 he was involved in the development of the Model Library Standard for modernization of municipal libraries launched several modern rural libraries.
From 2015 to 2018 Vadim Duda served as Director General of Rudomino All-Russia State Library for Foreign Literature. Under his leadership, the Library doubled the number of its active users.
Vadim Duda was appointed Director General of the Russian State Library on 28 August 2018.

Aysen Nikolaev

Head of Sakha Republic (Yakutia)

Born on January 22, 1972 in Leningrad
1994 - graduated from the physics department of Lomonosov Moscow State University
Started his career in finance corporation «SAPI»
1995 – Deputy Chairman of the Board of «Almazergienbank»
1998 – The Chairman of «Almazergienbank»
2004 – Minister of Finance of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia)
2007 – Chief of the Presidential and Government Administration of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia)
2011 – First Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia)
2012 - 2017 – Mayor of the city of Yakutsk
May 2018 – appointed as acting Head of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia)
The Head of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) since September 2018
He was elected to the State Assembly (Il Tumen) of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia).
Granted title of honor «Honored Worker of National Economy of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia)». Decorated with diplomas of the Federation Council, The State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.