The e-Development Partnership in Russia (hereafter Partnership or
PRIOR) was established on November 30, 2001 on the basis of consortium
of the Russia Development Gateway Project, the latter being initiated
in March 2001 with the support of the info Dev Program of the World Bank.
The Partnership has been developing dynamically: since it was
founded the number of the participants has increased more than five
times. The member organizations of PRIOR represent all major
development communities: the government, business, civil society,
research and educational community, donors and investors [1].
The Partnership members represent different organizations - from
individual entrepreneur companies to the major Russian universities and
research institutes, renowned public organizations, and leaders of the
Russian ICT market, including RosBusinessConsulting, IT, Borlas IBC,
Cyril and Methodius, Compulink, Moscow Telecommunications Corporation
COMCOR, NIKoil Financial Group, Rambler Internet Holding, Research
Institute "Voskhod", ASVT Public Corporation, Institute of the
Information Society, ROCIT, as well as local representative offices of
Verysell, Golden Telecom, Sybase, Microsoft, UnitSpace, and others.
Starting in February 2003, individual participants and online media
started joining PRIOR. The Partnership membership includes different
organizations - from one-man companies to the major Russian
universities and research institutes, renowned social organizations,
leaders of the Russian ICT market, including RosBusinessConsulting, IT,
Borlas IBC, Cyril and Methodius, Compulink, Moscow Telecommunications
Corporation COMCOR, NIKoil Financial Group, Rambler Internet Holding,
Research Institute "Voskhod", ASVT Public Corporation, Institute of the
Information Society, ROCIT, as well as local representative offices of
Verysell, Golden Telecom, Sybase, Microsoft, UnitSpace and others.
Starting from February 2003, individual participants (private persons,
online media) started joining PRIOR.
PRIOR's principles and philosophy are shared by 29 Russian regions.
Independent regional segments of PRIOR were created in the
North-Western Federal District, in Stavropol Territory, as well as in
Kaliningrad, Novgorod, Tula and Perm regions, in South Ural region (in
Chelyabinsk region as well as municipal segment in the City of
Magnitogorsk), in the Republic of Tatarstan, and in Khanty-Mansi
autonomous region (Yugra) with its municipal segment in Nizhnevartovsk.
PRIOR is a voluntary association of organizations interested in
assisting Russia to gain a prominent position among the leading
developed countries within the emerging Information Society by way of
implementing the modern technologies and utilizing its strong
intellectual potential and rich scientific and cultural resources.
This large-scale problem can be resolved only through synergetic
collaboration and systematic long-term efforts of all stakeholders in
the process of developing and implementing Russia's national
development strategy for the emerging global Information Society [2] and the Knowledge Economy [3]. Such approach corresponds to the recommendations provided by the competent international associations.
In particular, the Digital Opportunities Task Force (), created upon signing of the
in July 2000, emphasized in its recommendations to the G8 leaders at
the July 2001 Summit in Genoa that the strategy for the Information
Society development should become the main and unalienable part of the
national development strategy of any state in present conditions. In
addition, in the process of preparing for the World Summit on
Information Society (WSIS) much attention is paid to the development of
clear expression of political will and of concrete action plan aimed at
achieving the goals of the Information Society reflecting multiple
interests of all stakeholders.
The
(MDGs) reflect the necessity to undertake the measures to enable
everyone to benefit from the new technologies, particularly information
and communication technologies.
(UN ICT Task Force) created a special working group on national and
regional e-Strategies. The purpose of this working group is to expand
the international cooperation and experience sharing in the area of
e-Strategy development.
Acting as an independent public-private initiative, PRIOR studies thoroughly all global development [4]
tendencies, but is largely guided by the practical experience of its
numerous participants and takes into account Russia's specificity.
The objective of the present document is creation of a "guidebook"
for the Partnership's further development, which implies development of
strategic vision and presenting mission, goals and objectives, main
directions and implementation stages as well as methods of evaluation
of the PRIOR Strategy implementation and correcting its activity. The
first version of the PRIOR Strategy was adopted at the Organizational
Conference of the Partnership, which took place in November 2001. The
present edition of the Strategy is summing up almost three years of
activity of the Partnership taking into account the accumulated
experience and new circumstances.
PRIOR Strategy contains the most important conditions for planning
further activity and represents the basis for dynamic development of
the PRIOR Action Plan.
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