About the complex

On April 22–23, the EXPOFORUM hosted the Exhibition “The City of Dogs. Spring 2023”.

Over 2,000 of man’s best friends and their owners gathered on the same venue. Variety of breeds was amazing. Among the well-known and popular four-legged pets, there were Leonbergers, American miniature shepherds, Thai ridgebacks, Basenjis, Bernese mountain dogs. The real exclusive was a Swiss mountain hound. There is only one representative of the breed in Russia, and it was shown at “The City of Dogs”.

The Exhibition headliners were American bullies, Basenjis and Dachshunds. National exhibitions of the SAS-CRKF rank with the special status (SAS in each class, Specialty), the Grand Prix “Spring Petersburg 2023” and the Grand Prix “Elite-Petersburg 2023”, as well as exhibitions on the SKOR system “PITER DOG”, “PROCYON”, “CHAMPION of the BREED 2023” took place.

The breed festival participants told everything about habits, peculiarities of keeping and feeding animals.

At the festival of shelters “The Way Home”, volunteers taught careful attitude to animals and explained why it is important for dogs to live at home with their owner. Anyone could help animals in shelters or take a new friend at home.

In the eco zone from the “RazDelny Sbor” movement, the guests learned how to introduce environmental habits into everyday life, took a tour at the museum of recyclables, and participated in workshops on making clothes and toys for pets.

Over 9,000 people visited the exhibition for 2 days.

Follow the news of the project and join our community of people with common values and interests in social networks and at the exhibition website.

In Saint Petersburg, the Russian International Energy Forum (RIEF), one of the largest and most significant events in the fuel and energy sector, which annually gathers thousands of participants, has come to its end.

More than 20 events were held within the business and congress program of the RIEF-2023. These were various conferences, round tables, discussions, presentations. They were attended not only by Russian companies, but also by representatives of China, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. And the multi-project Business Contact Center was the platform for more than 1.5 thousand meetings of buyers and suppliers.

Key issues discussed during the RIEF were sustainability of energy development in Russia, import substitution, expansion of international cooperation in the fuel and energy sector, and the future of low-carbon segment in the energy industry.

The industry experts highly appreciate significance of the RIEF. “Today, the RIEF has rightfully had the status of the key annual event in the Russian energy sector”, Nikolay Rogalev, President of NP “NTS UES”, is confident.

“The platform of the Russian International Energy Forum has traditionally been the important permanent mechanism for interaction between heads of energy companies, industry experts, representatives of government agencies and public organizations on the wide range of energy policy issues”, said Dmitry Vologzhanin, Director of the Council of Energy Producers Association.

“In the current geopolitical conditions, it is increasingly important to unite efforts of the largest companies in the energy industry so that Russia could maintain its position in the world market”, said Sergey Voronkov, CEO of the EF International Ltd.

In his opinion, one of economic growth foundations is energy saving. “Therefore, the industry modernization, and introduction of the latest technologies in its various branches to increase energy efficiency, will be one of the most urgent tasks in the near future”, Sergey Voronkov added.

At the Plenary Session of the Forum, experts discussed challenges and threats to Russia’s energy security. Russia is still largely dependent on foreign equipment in the fuel and energy sector, but by 2025, the share of domestic manufacturers in this segment is planned to increase to 80 %. Despite external restrictions, the Russian energy system continues to be updated: only last year, facilities with a total capacity of more than 2 thousand MW were put in operation and modernized in the country.

Experts call green energy one of the most important segments of the fuel and energy sector. Aleksey Zhikharev, Director of the Association for Development of Renewable Power Engineering, said that renewable generation facilities operated in more than 50 regions of the country.

There are also a number of problems in the industry. One of them was articulated by Georgy Kutovoy, the expert of NON-PROFIT PARTNERSHIP “SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL COUNCIL OF THE UNIFIED ENERGY SYSTEM”, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Energy Strategy and Development of the Fuel and Energy Complex of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation. “Today, the price per kilowatt-hour is not the balance of economic interests, but has turned into our economic development brake, a risk factor for the country’s economic security”, the expert says.

According to Denis Pilenieks, Development Director of the Unified Energy System, Head of the Directorate of “System Operator of the Unified Energy System” JSC, other core problems of the industry are personnel shortage and aging of the generating equipment, the average age of which is about 30 years.

The RIEF participants also demonstrated their new developments. For example, State Unitary Enterprise “Fuel and Energy Complex of Saint Petersburg” (SUE “TEK SPb”) demonstrated the system of robotic diagnostics to search for incipient defects, and VR glasses, which make it possible to visit inside a gas boiler room.

SUE “Vodokanal of Saint Petersburg” presented the water metering device of the increased accuracy class, as well as test equipment for metrological verification of metering devices and flowmeters by the non-dismounting method.

Saint Petersburg State Budgetary Institution “Lensvet” (SPb GBU “Lensvet”) showed the interactive map of development of outdoor lighting, due to which citizens receive up-to-date information on the work carried out in the city.

“Transneft – Verkhnyaya Volga” JSC demonstrated automated combined burners with modulating control, which operate using three types of fuel: oil, diesel and natural gas.

Four exhibitions were held on the same venue, simultaneously with the RIEF-2023: “Energy Industry and Electrical Engineering”, “Welding”, “Rustproofing”, as well as “Housing and Communal Services of Russia”. Within the projects, more than 20 events were held, which were attended by representatives of government, business and the expert community.

Discussing problems of housing and communal services, participants of the Exhibition with the same name noted importance of improving legislation regarding managing companies and other sectors of housing and communal services. According to Vladislav Voronkov, General Director of NP PZHK “Mezhregionrazvitie”, the most pressing issues include, inter alia, the lack of the mechanism for collecting payment for housing and communal services from apartment owners. The amount of the arrears for one apartment can reach up to 1 million rubles in various regions of Russia, and debts of 300 thousand rubles will not surprise anyone, Vladislav Voronkov said.

To remedy the situation, it is needed to develop mechanisms for effectively collecting debts for housing and communal services, as well as to introduce the mechanism for confiscating the debtors’ property because of arrears for these services, the expert noted.

Andrey Ryabokon, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg, told about other legislative problems in the housing and communal services sector. According to him, under the current legislation, families that have owed payment for housing and communal services cannot receive subsidies to pay for these services. However, in many cases, receiving subsidies could solve problems with the arrears. For example, subsidies to families having the debt could be immediately transferred to the managing companies, and not to debtors directly, Andrey Ryabokon suggests.

Essential issues in the segment of welding and metal processing were discussed by experts of the exhibitions “Welding” and “Rustproofing”. It is unusual, that, for the first time, the collective stand of 12 companies from China was presented at the Exhibition, which confirms interest in development of Sino-Russian relations.

One of the problems in the industry is poor quality of training specialists. “Today, the average age of teachers training welders is 70 years”, said Sergey Petrov, Chief of the Head Center for Welding and Welding Technologies for Transport, operating at the Russian University of Transport, during the RIEF Plenary Session.

“Over the past 14 years, we have seen degradation in training normal engineering personnel in welding. To stop this, we need to talk frankly about the situation in education, otherwise nothing good will happen”, the expert said.

Besides, Russian manufacturers of welding materials and equipment have not yet been able to take advantage of the opportunities that have arisen due to foreign suppliers’ departure from Russia, because of sanctions. According to Sergey Kuznetsov, Technical Director of the National Welding Control Agency (NAKS), import substitution can take place in the industry only as the consequence of changing duties. “Today, the duties on those materials that Russian companies are able to produce, are minimal. And the duties for those components that the domestic industry needs and cannot replaced yet, are high. I would like it to be the opposite”, the expert noted.

Participants of the XI International Exhibition “Welding” also discussed the welding production specialist certification system. As the NAKS representatives noted, this system constantly transforms considering the economic and geopolitical situation, and currently requires another revision of the legislative framework, within which its functioning is based.

“In particular, the next changes to the welders’ qualification certification system are being actively developed, and all the industry participants can submit their proposals on this issue to the relevant communities”, the NAKS representatives said.

In turn, at the XXV International Exhibition-Congress “Rustproofing”, the experts stated that Russia needs the nationwide program for combating this phenomenon. According to Vasily Bocharov, CEO of Tsinker LLC, “Corrosion is a silent enemy of the Russian economy”: it annually causes the damage amounting to 3–5 % of GDP”.

Economic losses from metal corrosion are huge, significant material and financial resources are spent on combating corrosion of pipelines, bridges, marine structures, ships. “Given the possible corrosion, we have to overestimate the strength and cross-sections of load-bearing structures. This increases metal consumption, and leads to additional economic expenses. Corrosion losses account for about 30 % of the annual steel production, and about 10 % of the corroded metal is irretrievably lost in the form of rust”, said Vladislav Polkin, CEO of the Zinc Development Center.

Denis Dyachenko, Head of the Specialized Institute for Corrosion Studies and Materials Science of “NK Rosneft” PJSC, also stated that rustproofing requires large financing. “Corrosion losses are measured in fairly large amounts – up to 3.5 % of GDP. If we consider all countries, the figure will be colossal. The whole logic of corrosion management can be reduced to the management of specific corrosion processes at all stages of the life cycle of pipeline equipment”, commented Denis Dyachenko.

It is important to note that the RIEF program included not only congress and business events. In framework of the Forum, excursions to the South-Western Thermal Power Plant and the Nevsky Plant, as well as the welcome reception, were organized for its participants.

Sergey Voronkov, CEO of the company EF International Ltd., has won the Most Influential People in MICE Award.

Following the results of the expert vote, Sergey Georgievich won in the nomination “Representative of the Media, Industry Organization or Community”.

In 2022, Sergey Voronkov became the top manager of the year, according to the “Delovoy Petersburg” newspaper.

On April 22–23, at the Exhibition “the City of Dogs” at the EXPOFORUM, you will be told how to help animals in trouble and homeless ones, how to save the planet and its inhabitants, and also present rare and exclusive breeds.

2,000 dogs of 400 breeds on one venue. You can’t miss this! Bright bully shows, incendiary performances, dancing with dogs, the Young Handler competition, workshops, lectures and, of course, your favorite breed festival.

Breeders will present rare breeds, tell about their features, maintenance and care, and four-legged friends will demonstrate their skills. Real exclusives will be presented at the breed festival – Leonberger, American Miniature Shepherd, Thai Ridgeback, Czechoslovakian Wolfdog.

“The City of Dogs” will host national exhibitions of the CAC-CRKF rank with a special status (CAC in each class, Specialty), the Grand Prix “Spring Petersburg 2023”, and the Grand Prix “Elite-Petersburg 2023”.

There will also be dog shows by the SKOR system – “PITER DOG”, “PROCYON”, “CHAMPION OF the BREED 2023”.

The headliners are American bullys, basenjis and dachshunds.

Traditionally, the festival of dog-shelters “The Way Home” will be held.

The project’s volunteers will teach careful attitude to animals, tell about peculiarities of their behavior, and explain why it is important for dogs to live at home with their owner. Anyone can help animals in shelters or take a new friend with them.

“The City of Dogs” promotes ideas of attentive attitude and care not only about animals, but also about nature as whole. Therefore, the eco zone from the “RazDelny Sbor” movement will work at the Exhibition. They will tell you how to introduce environmental habits into everyday life, organize a tour at the museum of recyclables, as well as hold workshops on making clothes and toys for pets.

Moreover, “The City of Dogs” is the most positive event uniting people with common interests and values in the community.

On April 22–23, the EXPOFORUM hosts one of the largest exhibitions in Russia on construction, repair and design – the International Construction Exhibition “Building a House” and specialized exhibitions “Interior Salon” and “Engineering Systems”.

For professionals, the Exhibition “Building a House” means their chance to establish new business contacts, learn about the latest trends in the construction market, get acquainted with competitors.

For individuals, it is the opportunity for purchasing construction services and materials with discounts and under special conditions, available only here. The opportunity for getting advice from the leading industry experts. And you can learn a lot in the program “Building a House Show”, with seminars and interactive workshops.

The exhibition presents: suburban real estate, ready-made houses, baths, house kits, gazebos, building materials, construction technologies, engineering systems, communications, fireplaces, stoves, chimneys.

Over 250 companies take part and demonstrate their products and services at the Exhibition “Interior Salon”. Visitors to the event can compare offers, get expert advice, buy profitably or conclude a contract with the cost preservation.

Over 200 companies participate in the exhibition. More than 60 % of them are regular participants. The companies will present: design studios and design bureaus, plasters, wallpaper, paints, fireplaces and stoves, doors and locks, floor coatings. curtains, textile, curtain rods, blinds, lighting and electrical products, bathrooms and kitchens.

The exposition of the Exhibition “Engineering Systems” is represented by technological solutions and developments in engineering systems design and operation. Leading Russian and foreign companies take part in the Exhibition.

The Exhibition sections: ventilation, air conditioning, water supply, heating, gas supply, automation, heat supply, smoke removal, electricity, cold supply, sewerage and fire safety.

Open hours: April 22–23, 11:00 – 18:00.

Venue: Pavilion G.

Free shuttle buses run from Moskovskaya Metro Station to the EXPOFORUM.

On April 18, the Russian International Energy Forum opened at the EXPOFORUM. Vice-Governor of Saint Petersburg Sergey Dregval visited the Exhibition and highly appreciated achievements of domestic companies that ensure technological independence in the energy industry.

4 specialized exhibitions are held on the same venue, together with the RIEF-2023: “Energy Industry and Electrical Engineering”, “Housing and Communal Services of Russia”, “Welding” and the “Exhibition-Congress “Rustproofing”. There are over 200 companies in the total exposition. Sergey Dregval took a look at the key participants’ latest developments and technologies.

The tour of the Exhibition started from the stand of the Saint Petersburg Government. Representatives of the Energy Saving Center of the Committee on Energy and Engineering Support of Saint Petersburg demonstrated to the Vice-Governor the unique energy sneakers. The shoes are equipped with triboelectric generators and piezoelectric elements, which makes it possible to convert the human movement energy into electricity. The sneakers can be used as a power source for electronic devices. Besides, specialists of the Center are developing an energy jacket that generates electricity due to the human body’s heat.

At the same stand of the city Government, State Unitary Enterprise “Fuel and Energy Complex of Saint Petersburg” (SUE “TEK SPb”) demonstrated the system of robotic diagnostics to search for incipient defects, and VR glasses, which make it possible for you to visit inside a gas boiler room.

SUE “Vodokanal of Saint Petersburg” presented a water metering device of the increased accuracy class, as well as test equipment for metrological verification of metering devices and flowmeters by the non-dismounting method.

Saint Petersburg State Budgetary Institution “Lensvet” (SPb GBU “Lensvet”) showed the interactive map of development of outdoor lighting, due to which citizens receive up-to-date information on the work carried out in the city and plans for the near future.

Another collective stand at the Exhibition “Energy Industry and Electrical Engineering” is the joint exposition of Zelenograd enterprises. Their latest developments include inverters and permanent magnet electric motors from the Company “AmperMagnit”. According to its representatives, all products consist entirely of domestic components.

At the stand of “Gazpromneft Energosystemy”, they told about achievements in the field of import substitution, as well as the presentation day of “Gazprom Neft” PJSC at the RIEF-2023. The event contributes to achievement of technological independence in the electric power generation unit.

“Rosseti Lenenergo” PJSC demonstrated capabilities of the innovative educational complex in the village of Tervolovo, in the Leningrad Region. The complex is furnished with modern equipment, which allows training, retraining and advanced training in all specialties of the electric grid industry, as well as conducting professional skill competitions, exercises and trainings. “Lenenergo” actively uses the infrastructure of the complex to train its employees, including support services: lawyers, accountants, PR managers, etc., so that each employee of the company could understand specific features of its work.

Among the novelties presented by “Transneft Verkhnyaya Volga” JSC, there are fully automated combined burners with modulating control, which operate using three types of fuel: oil, diesel and natural gas, as well as the automation system for block heating points for ensuring continuous automatic temperature control of the coolant entering the hot water supply system depending on the room temperature and the outside air temperature.

“Prosoft Systems” demonstrated the latest solutions for automation of substations and power systems, relay protection and emergency automation, as well as software.

One of key participants of the Exhibition “Housing and Communal Services of Russia” is the Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK). Its representatives shared their best practices in production of pipes for the fuel and energy sector, large-diameter industrial pipes and rustproof pipes.

The exposition “Welding” was visited by the Head of the Chief Welder Division of the Department of “Gazprom” PJSC Evgeny Vyshemirsky. He was shown inverter welding machines “Forsazh” for all types of electric arc welding, developed by the Ryazan State Instrument Plant, plasma cutting machines and specialized CNC machines and filter ventilation units from “NPO Invertor”, induction and resistive heating equipment from the company “KATRAN”, intelligent welding sources from “Megmeet” and other domestic developments.

Vyshemirsky noted that Saint Petersburg became the capital of welding for three days. It was in Saint Petersburg where physicist Vasily Petrov conducted experiments on obtaining welding arc for the first time in the world.

“The largest number of welding methods were developed in our country in the 30–80s during the Iron Curtain. The current prospects of the Russian welding industry are good, though sometimes an external kick is needed for starting to actively introduce innovative technologies”, said the Head of the Chief Welder Division of “Gazprom” PJSC.

Among strategic objectives of the Russian economy, there are not only import substitution and development of domestic innovative technologies, but also strengthening international cooperation with friendly countries. Therefore, the collective stand of 12 organizations from China works at the Exhibition “Welding”.

The Russian International Energy Forum and other industrial projects take place at the EXPOFORUM on April 18–20. See all the details at the official website.

There are many problems in the welding industry, which have arisen both as the result of sanctions and because of system errors, but all of them are solvable.

This conclusion was reached by the participants of the Plenary Session “One Step Ahead: the Consequences of Introduction of International Economic Sanctions and Options for Overcoming Them. Strategic goals in the welding industry”, which took place in framework of the Exhibition “Welding”.

Sergey Parshin, Director of the Russian-German Laser Technology Center of Peter the Great Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University, noted three areas that need to be developed in the current conditions. It’s about innovation, science and education.

The report on measures for supporting the industry by the state, in face of sanctions, was presented by the Russian Scientific and Technical Welding Society. The measures suggest inclusion of welding equipment and materials in the list of modern technologies, financial support for projects by issuing loans at the rate from 1 % to 5 %, subsidizing expenses for modern technology R&D within investment projects, development of the element base production on the basis of the formed needs of the industry, creation of the data platform for Russian manufacturers of the element base.

Sergey Petrov, Chief of the Head Center for Welding and Welding Technologies for Transport at the Russian University of Transport, also spoke about the need for restoring order in the personnel training. According to him, today the system of training welders has greatly degraded, compared to the times of the USSR. “Previously, welders were trained in three specialties. In 2009, by the Government’s Order, all technological basic specialties were merged into one – “Mechanical Engineering Technology”. Yes, there is specialization in welding. But if we compare the current training in this area with the Soviet one, today no more than 15–20 % of the earlier program remains. In this situation, it is difficult to say that complete engineers graduate from universities. And if there is no engineers, there won’t be those whom they can teach, and the future of science is also in great doubt”, the expert noted. “Over the past 14 years, we have seen degradation in training normal engineering personnel in welding. To stop this, we need to talk frankly about the situation in education, otherwise nothing good will happen”, Sergey Petrov said.

Svetlana Chuprak, member of the Public Council at Rosstandart, Head of the Department of Technical Regulation and Standardization of the Self-Regulating Organization “Association “National Welding Control Agency” (SRO “Association NAKS”, member of Technical Committee (TC) 364 “Welding and Related Processes”, spoke about importance of the standardization process in welding. She recalled that this work has been systematically carried out since 2020, both in terms of materials and equipment. According to the expert, it’s about product quality, the opportunity for full-fledged import substitution. Another important area is creation of single technical language. “The corresponding dictionary has already been developed. Defects of geometry and missteps in metal materials during melting and pressure welding are also classified. Defects of welded joints of thermoplastics are described”, the expert said. She clarified plans for developing standards in welding for 2023–2024: 9 GOST R ISO will be revised, 12 more are under development.