The Boiling point is a project of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI), an open venue for project leaders to meet and present their best practice in innovation, business, industry and social entrepreneurship.
Since 2016, Boiling points are being opened in Russian regions; there are currently seven coworking spaces of this new format – in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ivanovo, Petrozavodsk, Novosibirsk, Vladivostok and Khabarovsk.
The venue is due to open in the end of 2017. At this time, the concept and activities for the coming year are being elaborated. The initiative to create this new space in Tomsk was supported by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, Tomsk companies, universities and the Governor of the Tomsk region, Sergey Zhvachkin.
As Liana Kobzeva, the programming director of the Tomsk Boiling point noted in the beginning of the meeting, Tomsk has had the need for such space for a long time, as all other coworking spaces that appeared in Tomsk are trying to implement their business model. Unlike those, the Boiling point is going to become a free-to-access common place to meet and communicate for technology and social entrepreneurs, people from universities and academia, authorities, non-profit and volunteer organizations. “Over the last six months the concept for the Tomsk Boiling point that needs to be refined along with the teams from various backgrounds” – Liana Kobzeva says – “The main focus of the Tomsk Boiling point is on the deal, partnership and trust that would enable multilateral cooperation to launch new social practices, products and business models”.
The events program of the Tomsk Boiling point will be based on several themes. These include the agenda of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (National Technology Initiative, National Entrepreneurial Initiative, New education model, etc.), the agenda of local communities, Science, Art & Design, and the so-called special projects that include social services, social entrepreneurship, learning in circles and mentorship. The space of the Boiling point allows for events in different formats – foresight sessions, acceleration programs, project sessions, working meetings, forums and conferences, exhibitions and presentations, master classes, brainstorms, lectures, business negotiations etc.
The participants of the meeting agreed that the Tomsk Boiling point should become a neutral and free-access venue for events, a space for individual and teamwork. Tomsk needs the Boiling point, as there is no well-equipped venue that would provide an informal space where members of various communities could meet, discuss joint initiatives and create products.
During the meeting, the participants split into small groups and presented their view on existing Tomsk communities and their key features. The participants believe that the core of Tomsk communities is made of IT-community, education community (further training was identified as a separate community), and the community of technology entrepreneurs.
This being said, new type communities are being formed in Tomsk; for them the Boiling point will become sort of a tool to achieve their objectives. These include the defenders of digital twins’s rights (digital right, relations with artificial intelligence), community of animation artists (currently there are three small animation studios and about ten more amateur groups), etc.
According to the organizers of the meeting, all proposals will be taken into account to form the concept of the Boiling point and the plan of activities for 2018. The exact opening date of the Tomsk Boiling point will be announced later.